Journal Entry #6

What is this generation coming to? I was at community service on Wednesday at the Harriet Tubman Center in Poughkeepsie. Here, I help children in grades k-5 with their homework after school for two hours every Wednesday. The children live in the Tubman Projects and the majority are from low income households with parents who don't really care about their school work or behaviors. It is great to go there and help out because I know that I am making a huge difference in their lives. However, it amazes me the knowledge these young kids have about media. Some of the fifth grade girls I work with were talking about all the different cell phones they've had and all the different kinds out there, such as the LG Dare, Voyager, or Glide. As they were making picture collages that reflect themselves, the kids were cutting out pictures of Blackberries, Ipods, cell phones, and digitial cameras from magazines. When I was in fifth grade, I was just starting to talk to friends on AIM and only had an email address. I didn't own a digital camera; I used those throw away Kodak cameras, along with all of my friends. We were all well off, but when we were that age, media didn't consume our lives. It shocked me when a second grade boy was talking to me about his MySpace. It's unreal how a second grader has a MySpace... I never even had one! I go on to ask him, "you really have a Myspace!? Do your parents know about this, or do you share it with them?" He replies, "I share it with my younger sister." The fact that a second grader and his younger sister share a MySpace just blows my mind. The things that are portrayed on MySpace such as the graphics and layouts, are not something for such young children to be seeing. It's crazy how generations have changed so drastically, because when we were in second grade, we could barely use a computer. It's also amazing how children are the owners of Ipods and cell phones these days. I know from personal experience, that my family got my little cousins who are in kindergarden and second grade, each their own Ipod's for their birthdays. We also got my grandpa who just turned 70 an Ipod. Years ago, it would have been unreal to see elderly or young children with such hip and updated technologies, but today it is almost unreal to not see them with these devices. Media has a huge impact on today's generations and is quickly taking over.