Digital Natives

A number of things have happened recently to contribute to this post. At work, I have been spending a lot of time trying to figgure out how to identify the next big thing in consumer electronics. One of the perspectives regarding the youth of today, is that they are Digital Natives. This term refers to someone who 'grows-up' in a world where everything is digital... i.e. our kids.

Examples of this mind-shift between us and our kids are common. I am reminded of times when I have to explain to Andy why we can't 'fast-forward' when watching a show because it's 'live TV'. Or when Katie looks at me like I'm lying when I tell her that we can't just watch anything she wants on TV, whenever she wants, that some shows aren't available.

This notion of 'on-demand' pervades the little-tykes heads. The idea that everyone and everything is always available whenever the whim presents itself. It's a bit frightening actually, and I'm sure our parents said the same thing about us when the PC came about, or the Internet.

OK, so what's my point, why all the tech-talk? Hang-on, still more preamble... Well, I was talking with a buddy of mine the other day. He has a few kids who have taken on the video-camera as a new toy. They are making movies and uploading them to YouTube. His kids are scarcely older than mine. They actually have some pretty entertaining stuff. So we have started messing around as well...

Then earlier this week we were getting a new tape in the camera to get ready for Christmas. We decided to watch the old tape that was in the camera for giggles and came across some of our Hawaii video from May. There was one scene in there where Katie did the filming. Katie was emulating the kinds of things her parents say when they interview you on film. It's pretty cute, I especially like how she moves the camera around. Notice how Jen wrestles with either a) to tell her to hold it still, or b) to try and move her face to the center of where Katie is pointing. Check it out.



OK, so to my point, finally. Well, actually I didn't really have one. Just a bunch of semi-related video type stories that I thought might become interesting if spewed forth on the blog. Hey, not every post is a masterpiece.