I just read an article about how being a Gen-xer makes me the last generation to have grown up without technology. It also occurred to me that we are also the first generation to learn life skills from our children. Younger generations are teaching their parents and grandparents how to set up Facebook accounts and showing us how to send photos from our phones. When in history can we say that the youth taught the adults how to adapt to changing times? Sure many of the youth in the 60’s presented an often controversial view of the world to their elders, but when in history were skills passed on from the younger generation?
Last night I experienced this first hand. As a musician trying to stay current with the media and technological times, I have been falling short when it comes to learning the latest terms like “tweeting” and “Instagram” – and what is “snap chat?”
As I sat down with the 14 year old who lives in my house to learn the newest forms of communication, I became bleary eyed as she talked extremely fast, pressed lots of keys on my computer and set up my very first “Twitter” account. Although I’m still not sure exactly how my new account works, I do know that this is the first of many lessons I will share with this kid…and I’m looking forward to my next tutorial.
Check out my new twitter account @ambiencejazz
Leah Natale 