New Serna Baby

Digital Kid?

You will never know a world without internet. You will never know a world without cell phones and text messaging. You will never know a world without digital cameras and camcorders. You weren’t but a few hours old yet and I had already posted videos to YouTube.com chronicling your entrance into the world.

You and your cousin Rogan (not to mention little Kaitie and Liam, who shall be very special penpals) are going to have access to some of the coolest technology the world has ever seen. I was talking with Liam’s dad, Mr. Don, and we were discussing how kids in developing nations are beginning to have access to educational laptops that can be hand powered out in the middle of the desert, jungle, or whatever. Even kids in third world countries are going to be plugged in.

Suddenly there’s this huge responsibility to ensure you learn not to use a hammer to drive a screw in - electronically speaking. One of these educational laptops I was looking at had installed the first computer programming language I ever learned back in 1st or 2nd grade. Logo (better know for its Turtle Graphics) is kind of like a digital etch-a-sketch that we used to use to command a robot turtle. Admittedly I became somewhat nostalgic realizing that the basics I learned are still viable tools for teaching today. Then once the nostalgia wore off, I was struck by the idea that kids in third world countries are going to know more than kids in the United States about what makes their Xbox 360 tick.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m no more worried about this than teaching you how to read or properly throw a football. I am just continually blown away as I look at you at just how pristine and unspoiled your little mind is, and how much fun it’s going to be to introduce you to all the hows and whys of the myriad of electronics you’re going to grow up with.

Speaking of YouTube, this seems to be the most popular of the videos I’ve posted so far - and probably will eventually be the most embarrassing for you, which is naturally why I posted it here:

(Of course, the other videos can be accessed by clicking the YouTube.com link in the first paragraph)