And I’m 26. The marketing and blogging events I attend are flooded with people who are new to this environment. It saddens me but it means there is a niche market, especially here in South Africa, for people like me. Or those who are even better connected and more plugged in.

I like the term “digital native” – it’s interesting that our generation is being thought of that way. Most of the people I grew up with are very non-technical and believe that understanding computing is difficult and beyond their capacity to understand. While I think we were exposed to computing at a young age, it was not a cool thing to be a computer geek. Computing is becoming a cool thing to younger people, and that we will see people who are more savvy, and who may be more comfortable with these concepts in coming years.

I agree with you in that I think it’s unfortunate that Universities don’t put as much emphasis on the importance of these technologies, especially when they are supposedly behind the design and development (and sometimes the movements) of the underlying technologies and standards which eventually become adopted by industry professionals. This aligns with my personal belief that for education in technology, the professors should not be allowed to become stagnant and basically ruin whole classes of students who would benefit from the kind of exposure you talk about in your article.

A side note – I interview for a job in the Ft. Laudy area tomorrow. I’m hoping to get down there by the end of the month!

As a graphic designer I work daily with people from many different fields. I am continually amazed at how little the average business person knows about technology, their computers, their email, text messaging, how the internet works, how their cell phone works, that there are different types of office tools other than MS Office, and on-and-on…

I never fault people for not knowing something, and certainly don’t think everyone should know how to field strip a cell phone, but as the world slips further and further into a technological information based society, it is EXTREMELY important that everyone take the time to learn the basics, and then be willing to relearn them as often as possible.

If you learned the basics somewhere around 1995 and have been surfing on that knowledge ever since, you are about to be washed away in the tsunami of the information age.

I think a lot of people are missing the boat here…those new to social media and the various tools within are trying to get without giving. But the whole thing only works if you give first.