When I read page 3 Rishahls’ book, I kept thinking “Well, of course. who doesn’t know this?”  However, when I started college in ’92, students on campus communicated using VAX/VMS and moved around the internet using commands. I used to huddle in a closet-like room on 2nd floor of Hagg-Sauer and typed in commands like “fi pickles” which would tell me if “pickles” was online or when he lasted logged in. The finger command, I suppose, is somewhat like “poke” in MySpace–or is that Facebook? I get them confused–they blur into spacebook or myface in my head, but I digress. I had never heard of email, never browsed a web-page, and certainly never thought about writing online content. I’m reminded of the exponential growth of computer-related technology and how much it dominates my daily activities. This is not new or earth-shattering, but I can’t stop thinking about it.

A few weeks ago, a speaker on our campus talked about iJustine as an example of the digital native. Last week, I watched parts of Frontline’s program “Growing Up Online.” Then, at work yesterday, a colleague mentioned that she was telling her students about cases of people not being hired for (or being fired from) jobs simply because of their myspace pages, which Risdhal alludes to on page 151. The colleague and I then discussed the… ahem …sultry poses and gazes that dominates many of these photos.

I was curious to see if anyone had written about the photo phenomenon, but a quick Google search revealed a lot of “how to” info for posting myspace pictures. I finally found another blogger who briefly writes about it. Then an ABC News article made me tired of the whole subject of these photos and the arguments for the pros/cons of these sites.

In my own home, my husband and I often discuss how our daughter will have to teach us the technology eventually. At two-and-a-half, she plays Dora games on her computer. Thanks to the DVR, she expects her favorite shows to magically appear “on demand” (thanks, Dish Network) and can’t understand why that doesn’t work at Grandma’s house (or why mommy’s Jeep doesn’t have a TV/DVD player for her like Daddy’s car does).

About a month ago, she found the digital camera and recorded her own little adventure of walking through the house, scaring the cat, and wondering upstairs to find Daddy in the man-cave. While it was more coincidental, it was fun to watch the trip from her perspective. Now she can, to some degree, frame people in the shot. She took a great photo of her uncle and cousins the other day. I wonder what she’ll learn next. Will she facebook? Will she have a second life? Will she attend classes or appear on a screen? Probably none of the above. She’ll be doing things I haven’t even imagined yet (on and offline). Scary.

So there is my narrative post for today. I don’t know how useful this is, how compelling or influential. You are welcome to leave comments though.