June 10-12

Cognition: the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

A result of this; a perception, sensation, notion, or intuition. (As defined by Google)

My Experience With Technology

As I learn more and more about cognition, particularly where technology is involved, I am beginning to understand myself more. Growing up in a very poor family, we didn't have the opportunities many of my peers had. Most of my friends were of the "haves" group, where I was in the "have nots" group, with a few others. The most technology we had, besides a VCR, was a late 70s Atari System. Being married to a "techie," my children have always had handhelds, iPods, phones (at appropriate ages, WITH LIMITS), game systems, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and so forth. My 3 boys have been very adept to all those things. My daughter, however, was not very interested in any of the gaming things. And she was, and still is, a bit behind her brothers on the technology, but still way better than me. (All my kids are grown now, ages 19-26.)

I have never been one to be particularly inclined toward technology; I never really cared for the game systems my friends had. I was never really interested in playing at the video arcades. I would rather talk or read a book. In algebra, as part of our curriculum, we got 4 1/2 weeks on the computers. (You know, the early 1980s gigantic pre-mouse things.) And I was totally lost the entire 23 days. To this day, learning something new on my computer/iPhone/iPad puts me into a panic at varying degrees, depending on whether it is somehow connected or related to any background knowledge I may already possess. (Panic is a daily occurrence these days.:))

So, the question is, Was I not interested in technology because I had such limited exposure and was already behind my peers? Or is that just the way my brain is wired? And can it be rewired to catch up, at least to some degree? It seems, from what I've observed, that had we not had all this technology in our home, my daughter would have been more like me, and perhaps lag behind her peers. So maybe it IS the way my brain works. Maybe some kids are not necessarily going to be "techno-savvy" just because they have unlimited exposure. However, I have noticed that the kids in my class, no matter how much exposure to technology they may have, are not afraid to explore and figure things out, where as I freeze if I can't recall specific steps (something I am really working on!). Oh, this technology strand is stretching me!