Darryl Patterson

I started coding in Basic on the Commodore PET when I was 11 (1982-ish). I used to spend hours hand typing in code from magazines, saving them to cassette tape drives, trying my best to debug code I didn’t quite understand. In 1989, I connected to Compuserve for the first time, opening up my world to the world. I got into making multimedia in 1991, and started coding HTML in 1992. I’ve been working in the Internet biz ever since. I started using cell phones early in the game, especially digital phones when they came out. I’ve had digital organizers, Palm Pilots, Apple’s Newton… just about every tech device that’s come out. I use a BlackBerry 8800 & the iPod Touch, and play around with Windows Mobile and cell phones of all types. So I consider myself someone who “grew up” with technology. Well, leave it to a 10 year old to put me in my place.

Today on my TTC ride home from work, I was listening to an episode of Ideas on CBC Radio. In this episode, titled “Second Life and First”, cyberspace researchers Abby Goodrum and Kirsten Pullen explore the confusions and contradictions of online identity, and ponder how the virtual world may be altering our sense of community, and of ourselves. The hosts mention that they are “digital immigrants” as they didn’t grow up surrounded by technology as our kids are today. They consider kids of today to be “digital natives”. While listening, considering my background, I’m putting myself in the digital native pile.

Now back to the 10 year old…

My son, while driving home from a school event tonight, starts telling me about his friends playing a game of tag. Great, tag, we all know and love tag. Then he starts explaining how the people who are hiding use their Nintendo DS’ to let each other know where the person looking for them is. What?!? That’s awesome! Using the DS to text each other wirelessly during tag!

Then my mind brings me back to the radio show I heard earlier. It was then that I came to the sad realization that I am indeed a digital immigrant. I’ll never experience technology the way my kids experience technology today. They’ll never be in a world without the Internet, without wireless, without mobile. They don’t have to learn about these technologies, they just use them… to play tag no less! Using a DS to play tag is as natural to my kids as using walkie-talkies was for me when I was 10.

So here’s to all my fellow digital immigrants! It’ll be interesting to see where the digital natives take us ten years from now.