Tony Messenger (@tonymess) tweets us to this lament by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan who confesses to being “proud of knowing nothing about the Internet.”
“But all around me the Others, with their secret knowledge, are gaining power. I got another e-mail today about optimizing search engines. Also, a note that an editor will be helping us refine our blogging, social networking and sub-channel pages.
Like a student who feels an increasing sense of panic as he hears the teacher talk in gibberish about an upcoming test, I realize that none of the terms mean anything to me.”
I know quite a few people who share Mr. McClellan’s views/pain. Most seem to resent being expected to know how to use the Internet and computers and such. I’m grateful I’m not in a position of “forcing” anyone to learn these skills and happy that I am able to help those who want to.
This is how it happens, no? The new generation’s power increases, the old generation’s power wanes. Easy for me to say, I suppose, since my power is ascendant, but:
1) My time will come and go as well. I will try to keep up as best I can (and I would like to think I’ll be more open to new ideas than others might be) but ultimately the day will arrive where I, too, will be viewed as an anachronistic old crank.
2) Who is to say that this is any different from how it has happened with new developments in other forms of literacy? Bill McClellan and his lip curtains are welcome to stay in the past; it doesn’t mean that our culture has gone too far. These sorts of arguments seem to suggest that we should all take a step back– as if we could un-invent things or should kill our sense of wonder and curiosity. Piss on him if he can’t deal with laptops and cell phones.