Welcome to the Digital Age. World Wide Web, Friendster, Facebook, Youtube, Maplestory,Digital Gaming, E-mails, MSN, Google, Yahoo....etc etc etc. "TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT." This is my concern. Can I adopt such attitude towards these new changes to technology. The face of communication is changing. Modernisation has moved by leaps and bounds by the improvements in technology. We are now in this digital age.
If you ask me, I have tried as hard as possible to avoid the nudging from friends inviting me to join Friendster. Time and time again, I had ignored the calls to be in the digital community. Why? Time is precious. It is not important for me to get connected to the hundreds and thousands of people who are online. I have a steady job and keeping it may not be an issue. But I do not think it is avoidable any longer. I have now, in 2008, has a Facebook account and a weblog! I have succumbed to the peer pressurre to do the IN thing.
It is easy for me to nudge and avoid as I was not born into the digital age. My son, on the other hand, is born into the world of computers, msn, telecommunication, video gaming. By the age of six months, he has been introduced to the computer and the internet. I have introduced him to baby games that did the PEEK-A BOO by the press of the button. Should I be worried? For my son, I think he needs to be savvy of the technological advances and to harness its strength to his benefit.
He may need to be in Friendster and MSN etc, but most importantly, he needs to get connected. Digital resumes may be way in the future where jobs are temporary and one has to be ahead of the competition in this fast-paced world to succeed.
However, there is the flip side of the coin. I need to protect my son from the unsavoury websites on the world wide web, I need to ensure that he understand that that there are tricksters who also harness ICT to clean a person's bank account in a matter of minutes. The key to protecting him is information.
Youths today cannot avoid how ICT may influence the way they think and learn and live their lives. It does not matter that sentences will become disjointed, with vowels becoming redundant, and language is 'polluted' with incorrect grammar rules. Language is not a static commodity and it has been evolving to meet the demands of communication.
But we must prepare our youths for the challenges of this digital age. We need to provide them with the correct values that is required in using digital information. We need to teach them about copyright infringements, online piracy, illegal downloadings, spamming and the list goes on.
While I understand the important role ICT play in shaping the way our youths learn and think, I am more concern if we are actually doing enough to prepare them for the challenges ahead. If you ask me, I have not at all.
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1 comment:
Yes, Su...I do agree with you. We can't run from the fact that our kids would probably be more IT savvy than us. I just need to teach my kids how to google and voila! they are now surfing the net like a pro. Of course, all they surf are games websites (for a start that is...dare not think of the future yet!)
I agree that we are not doing enough to prepare them for the challenges ahead but really, where do we start when we ourselves are not certain about what the future holds especially when technology is advancing at a rate faster than we can keep up and use it.
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