Thursday, October 29, 2015

New Age

The generation that I come from is interesting. I was at a conscious enough age when I was younger to know what the world was like before the internet. I grew up with the generations that have only known of a world with the internet. I had classes in elementary school that taught us how to use the internet, how to set up an email, how to use powerpoint etc. Today, those skills are almost second nature. I remember I laughed when my aunt wanted to sign into her email account and typed in the browser.. www.pamelabrowne@hotmail.com. I've never been amazingly tech savvy. I was never into gadgets or technology. I didn't even own an iphone until about last year. I owned a prepaid phone from 7-eleven. The most technologically advanced thing I had were my macbooks. I have two. But now every kid is getting a macbook. It's not just for the creatives anymore. You see kids in strollers with their moms with an ipad or some touchscreen device playing angry birds or watching a movie. Downloading apps on their own, taking photographs all these things that still kind of amazes me. I'm actually still amazed about how a telephone works. haha.

The phrase "The world is at our fingertips" has been redefined and has never been so true. You can have access to almost anything with the internet, having a computer or even a cellular phone. You can see everything that's going on in the world. You can learn anything you want. There is online tutorial for everything. I was never a big fan of school. I agree that education is key. These days, you almost don't have to go to school and go through 4-5 years of university to have a good job and make a living. People these days are educating themselves. If you're not, it is very very easy to do so. It's a combination of both these days. School education and work skill. As a creative, opportunities to learn and advance yourself are endless. You don't have to go to school. You can buy a camera and start learning about photography or filmography, do some shoots, do some videos, gain a client base and network and bam, you have a career. That could happen within a year of purchasing a camera and that is a real example. I have a friend who has succeeded within a year of buying a camera and landed jobs that someone who is sitting in a classroom is dreaming of right now. 

There are pros and cons about the new age in technology. This information age. I can see how my parents or even my grandparents don't understand things that are going on. Or that they don't even want to. Because they can still live a life without touch screen gadgets and facebook. Sometimes we look down on people this day in age that are "always on their phones" or on some social networking app or social media app. The youth these days are glued to these screens and we're like "what is this world coming to!!" We don't realize that, that's normal for them. It's not "bad" or "sad" that it's the norm. We blame the internet . Our parents probably looked at us and blamed television. But look at us, we turned out fine. So will they. There will be bad outcomes to this day in age and there will be positives. Let's focus on the positives and how we can turn the negatives into positives. 

My parents were immigrants. They taught me the value of hard work. Living and working honestly, humbly and provision. Just because some jobs are made easier by the click of a button, that doesn't mean we still cannot teach our future generations these same values. I look at my parents and what they went through and I'm fortunate that they were able to give me a better life because I didn't grow up working in rice fields and farms in a 3rd world country. Although I never grew up like that, there will always be hardships in every generation, every generation has it's rice field. Mine just looks different than my parents. - God is Love 

No comments: