In Focus

Defy Gravity

Do you ever get upset with your parents because they are from "another generation"? Do you feel as if they are so out of touch that they wouldn't understand three of your sentences? Well, I've got news. We are becoming them. When it comes to the Internet and its potential, we need to stop and look at "another generation" -- the next one. We need to open our minds to what they are saying. They are the future. (How cliché-ish is that? Next I'll say something like, "We are the World.")

Here's the conversation I had with my teenager this week:

"Mom, I'm going to download Napster, okay?" Taylor said.

"You're downloading what? What's Napster again? I need to read about it. Isn't that the program that Slim Shady, the real Slim Shady was mad about?" I answered. (At least I know a little bit about her music.)

The Next Day

"Mom, I'm downloading Napster now."

"STOP! I didn't research it yet. I don't want it taking up too much memory on the computer. I do my work on that thing and who knows what this Napster rapster program does to your computer. Besides, isn't it illegal*? Ask me again tomorrow and we'll discuss it."

Day Three

"Mom, I'm going to download Napster now. It's just a free computer program that lets me share music files with my friends. Everyone has it. I can put a search out there for music, like that new Soul Decision song 'Gravity,' and then when I see who has it, my computer goes into their computer and gets it. Then it copies it onto my computer and I can burn it onto a CD. So I'm going to download it now, okay?"

"First of all young lady, it is not YOUR computer, it's MY computer. I paid for it, so I say what goes on it." Here she interjected that I should just buy her her own laptop so she wouldn't have to have all this boring Chicks stuff on the computer. I explained that this Chicks stuff was her future and if she dare talk back to me one more time she would be grounded from the computer. "Fine," she said, "I'll just go over to Katie's then." Our communication stopped.

Since when did we start calling them music files? When did the word download become regular vocabulary? And then, "burn a music file onto a CD"?!? I was staring across that infamous Generation Gap. I'm a hip Mom. I even let my son bleach his hair so he could look like Justin of N'Sync. But this whole Napster program, downloading music files, and burning CD's thingy had me stressed.

While I hummed and hawed, she downloaded Napster. My computer made friends with all of her friends' computers over the Internet. The machines talked to each other. The computer network she "found" gave her all the hit songs she wanted. Then she burned them onto her CD. (Which you are able to do with a CD burner. Simply put, you transfer the songs from your computer onto a blank CD. That's just the term used. burn.)

I'm embarrassed to say, I've been listening to this new CD every minute she's out of the house. I exercise to it, I drive carpool with it on and I even have it cranked right now. It's the best CD I own. I mean, she owns.

So what's the point of today's Chicks Eye View -- now that I've totally let you in on my arguments with my child? When it comes to the Internet and its future, our adult minds are not able to think out of the box. We think we know what the future of the Internet will be, but in reality, we have no clue. Until a few days ago, I saw it as a library and a shopping tool. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my computer would be able to have intercourse with other computers. (What else are you supposed to call it? Kleptomania? )

This past week in the Chicks Eye View we've been talking about Internet sites. There are great success stories, and then some unfortunate failures. When you hear the word Internet, you think online bookstores, stock market sites or the latest dot-com that just went under. This is where our adult mind stops. at the dot-com address. We think that any success that was going to be had in Internet stocks is over. We live inside a World Wide Web box. We need to open up.

There are Internet related companies out there that are going to change our world. We can't shut the door on the Internet just because of failed dot-coms. We need to pay attention to our kids; we need to let our minds think like kids to really grasp the potential of the Internet.

Somehow, I just need to learn how to do it without arguing with a pipsqueak.