Remember that one? The truth is nobody ever learned to program a VCR and certainly not en eight year old. I think my Dad did once shortly after he got one in a well meaning attempt to record NASCAR but it never worked out quite right. My own eight year old still needs help firing up Netflix on the Wii but we'll get him there because he really wants on-demand cartoons. It's that need, that got have it craving, that compels a person (of any generation) to learn how to use technology. Like Darwin's finches with beaks shaped to reach termites we find people who self-specialized to master the areas that satisfy their cravings. Knowledge follows interest, no one ever opened Word without an eye to writing something or downloaded a torrent client just to see what it was.
Having worked collaboratively with a fair number of the Net Generation I can say that in many cases, I (a tail end Gen X'er) often find myself teaching them how to use modern tools. Most of them are stuck on the Word 2000 their high school taught them, nevermind sharing docs or adding graphics to a project. Theres a vast difference between using Xbox Live and using a networked printer but this distinction seems lost on the media and for that I appreciate Neil Selwyn's paper. His behind the hype perspective is a welcome breath of fresh air into the panic stricken halls of the establishment, the establishment which has been all too willing to play the hapless Grandparent when it comes to new technology. Changes are coming to be sure, no more record stores and maybe no more bookstore, nobody wants the yellowpages and yes you can find anybody on facebook but enough already with new world leaving the old behind. Culture is a meshing together of all of us, when the train leaves the station for whatever lies ahead we'll all be on board, even Gramps.
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