Sunday, December 24, 2006

Thumbs and Pointers


For Christmas this year, we not only have our two daughters we also have the boyfriend of one and for a couple of days the BFF (a charming gay man we’ve known since he came out) of the other. Two lesbians, 1 queen, 2 breeders living in sin and unattached eldest twin – gender bending hits a new level.

At a recent library meeting, we had a presentation on “thumbs” and “pointers”. Those of us who are digital immigrants use our pointer fingers to operate all these new
gizmos and gadgets, those of us who are digital natives use their thumbs. 4 of the current members of the household are natives and 2 are immigrants (there are also 5 cats but they appear to be indifferent to the controversy).

The 6 people are accompanied by 6 cell phones (each with a different ring tone), 5 laptops and 5 iPods. When several cell phones ring at once, the colophony of sound is overwhelming.

Every morning the “thumbs” drift downstairs, grab a coke from the fridge and fire up their laptops to check e-mail and pursue the daily news and weather. Need a phone number? Don’t need the yellow pages – Yahoo has the information. What time does the movie start? Don’t need the paper, don’t need to call the theater, just check on line. Plane delayed? Ask Southwest to send a text message so that airport times can be calculated. Where’s the museum? Don’t need a paper map - Mapquest suffices nicely. Anything good on television? Hope on over to Directtv.com and check the listings.

This morning I looked up and all six of us were sitting around with our laptops checking our various e-mails, blogs, Hollywood gossip sites and news sources.

The Houston Chronicle , our daily paper newspaper? It lay unread and ignored on the dining room table. Times they are a’changing.

3 comments:

Margaret said...

it is truly amazing how much we have become "unable to live without" so many things that weren't available just a few years ago. Happy,merry!

Norma said...

The guy in #1 spent too much time in #3, and thus he lost respect for himself and others.

My TT this week is on new year's finances. And visit my Friday Photo before you dash off.

alice, uptown said...

I love the idea of separating the digital natives from the immigrants. We immigrants never planned to make this journey, whereas the natives have never known any other.