I'm a Mac

Remember that commercial?  Did you feel attached to the hip, comfortable Mac or the stuffy, nervous PC?

I've thought a lot about the earlier post I wrote and it was bothering me that we could be limiting our students and my children by presenting them with technology we're comfortable with rather than allowing them to learn the process, learn the 21st Century skills that involve flexibility and openness to new ideas and comfort with technology.

I'm pushing 40 and identify myself with a generation of transition.  Transitioning from family structures, societal norms and limited thinking.  I grew up in a house where racism, sexism and bigotry were present and, over the years, I transitioned into where I am now: free from that thinking.  I didn't have a computer in my house when I was there; in fact, I didn't get my first one until I was 22.  Now, I own a pair of Google Glass.

I think about the limits some of my peers, my colleagues and even some of my students put on themselves ("I can't use a Mac!") and worry that this narrow thinking is going to be passed along to our children, placing a ceiling on what they strive to understand.

And then my 8 year old did her homework and I did what I do best:  I watched.

"Dad, did you bring your computer home?"

"Why?"

"I'm researching and I want to be able to type."

"Why don't you use the iPad?" (She's taken mine and now it no longer has the sleek black keyboard case but rather an indestructible "girly" case)

"I can't use my home-row keys."

Conversation over.  She retrieved my laptop (Mac) from my backpack and proceeded to go to Chrome, search with the voice-recognition feature and then find out that Mrs. Waffenschmidt was in Italy.  I was floored at her comfort and capability.  I kept my cool.  After all, I'm a Mac.

I realized something as I watched her work.  I realized that she wasn't a Mac or a PC.  She's not a Chromebook or an iPad.  She's a 21st Century learner.  I didn't teach her how to use a Mac vs. a PC.  Granted, she's had technology around her and available for, like, ever.  She has absolutely no hesitation in picking up a piece of technology, any technology, and just using it.  It's not because I put it in her hand and insist on it, it's because she's not afraid.

She's not worried that she's going to break it or lose a file.  She doesn't worry that there's two buttons on the track pad of my wife's PC and none on my computer.  If she can't scroll with two fingers on the pad, then she grabs the scroll bar, clicks and holds and moves down the page.  She does all of this without hesitation and doesn't let something unfamiliar stop her from moving forward.

She's a critical thinker, a problem solver and a learner.

And she's only 8.

Let's all take a lesson from her and from the rest of the children that are digital natives:

Let them go.  Stop putting limits on them because we feel uncomfortable.  Let them go and follow them and learn.

Stop saying "don't do that" and start saying "Wow, I didn't expect that to happen.  I learned something new."

This post wasn't as much about Google Glass as it was about potential.

I'll make a prediction.  At the start of next school year or very close to it, a 9 year old girl will be sporting a pair of Google Glass that used to be mine.

And she'll use them without fear.

And I'll learn from her.

Watch out, Mrs. Waffenschmidt, it's going to be a lot harder to hide from her.