Media Literacy Post 2: This immigrant is restless

It was April of 2011 when I recognized that my socialization regarding technology, left unchecked, would lead me to place of fearful bitterness, surrounded in a kind of anti-Valhalla by the willfully ignorant elder males of my family coldly staring at the inscrutable blinking of their VCR clocks.  Despite their laudable life accomplishments, as a group, these men have always preferred to affect corny bemusement in the face of advancing technology rather than engaging it.  Even though they cut off their nose to spite their face, to them it is a source of some pride to have no working knowledge of anything more complex than a toaster oven.  

Seeing that I had potential to inherit some of these tendencies, I, like Ray, decided to dive in.  Instead of getting the banal new phone for which Verizon told me I was eligible, I upgraded to a web-enabled device - the very latest that was available at the time - during the spring vacation week last year.  That was very out of character for me and I have been thanking myself every day since then for having made the choice I did.  This being the first time I encounter the term Digital Native on anything more than a cursory level, I am hesitant to self-identify as one or not.  I do know that anything I have done or experienced digitally in the last 15 months was born out of the decision I made to no longer be afraid of technology I didn't fully understand.  The results have been great, and embracing technology has made me a better teacher, coach, person, and has brought my family closer.

It's likely that the same stubbornness that causes my uncles to associate technology use with capitulation to a less authentic way of living is what guided me toward untrammeled, headlong immersion.  Given that, I will perhaps still not be the person who incorporates Pinterest into his daily routine.  But I won't be scared to try.  I may not be a Presnskian Digital Native, but I have lived long enough to have experienced sea changes in other venues and feel confident in my ability to make my place in the new order.  Anything to prevent this from happening, right?