Technology Dark Ages

After the appropriately named Generation X, the title of the following generation appeared to stump demographic specialists. I’ve seen various labels pop up from the somewhat anti-climatic Generation Y, the corny Generation Next, to the intriguing Echo Generation. My personal favourite is the I-generation or more streamlined, i-gen. They are the first generation to grow up with the technology for instantaneous connection to news, friends, entertainment, and knowledge through a touch of a computer keyboard, the flip of a phone, or the push of a half a dozen ‘On’ buttons.

When I pressed that ‘On’ button on my laptop this week and nothing happened, my instantaneous world came crashing down. As an international student and an i-gen enthusiasts, my life is literally digital.

I maintain contact with a global network of friends through e-mail, social networking sites, and chat services. I do all my research online from scanning Google scholar and Google books to see if a source would actually to helpful to pulling articles from Informaworld and Interconnect. I don’t even know where the academic journals are kept in the school’s library. Even with real books, I take all my notes electronically so that they are easier to organize for writing papers. Of course, I stupidly saved the notes on my desktop and not the school's network so now I have no access to them.

I don’t own a television or a radio. Why would I when I can use I-tunes and YouTube or stream music live from my favourite independent radio station in Akron, Ohio USA over the Internet. I read half a dozen newspapers a day, all online (not counting of course my slight addiction to the gossipy free papers in the subway). Even my pictures are digital and shared through sites like Picasso, Snapfish, and Facebook.

As I wait for the replacement part from America, I spend my days in the computer lab at the library. I’ve formed a kind of kindred with the students who spend six hours at a time in the warm dungeon of the academic fortress. While other students flutter in and out, checking their mail quickly before heading to class, the lifers stake out our territory. We each have one computer that we use every day. We spread our stuff out across the table and even leave everything there when going on those inconvenient food runs or bathroom breaks; the others will make sure none of our stuff is stolen.

When I reached home this evening, I was at a loss as to what to do. I couldn’t work on one of the three papers due in a month. I couldn’t order those books I needed for my dissertation on Amazon or through the library catalogue. I couldn’t even look up on Wikipedia what the third language was on the Rosetta Stone. That quandary bothered me on my commute home, and I couldn’t think of the answer. (Turns out it’s Greek and TWO scripts of ancient Egyptian.) Instead, I’m writing a blog entry LONG hand to transcribe online on my return to my electronic lair tomorrow.

This i-gen’er cannot wait until a certain piece of snail mail arrives.