My 21st Century Girl

My daughter's favorite song, for the moment anyway, is 21st Century Girl by Willow.  One night during bath time, she asked me for the song.  I found it on iTunes, previewed a section of it (so Bridget could tell me I had the right one, and so I could see if I objected to it), got her promise that she'd pay me the $1.30 purchase price, downloaded it, then listened to the full song -- all before bath time was over.  Wow - when I was her age, I was learning how to use our new Apple II+.  I still find it rather sci-fi that I can do all that while supervising bath time.

As I listen to the song, repeatedly, I can see why B likes it so much - the song is all about her.  B is 6 years old, so she was born in the 21st century.  She finds everything about wi-fi, tablets, and laptop computers to be status-quo, just a part of the world that she lives in.  Which it is - but 20th century girl that I am, I still remember the amazement of seeing my first flat screen monitor.  The song also talks about being strong, independent, and a rebel with class.  Personally, I have no problem with my daughter setting her sights on those goals - especially if being a rebel means that she adheres to a stronger moral code than what television tells us is normal for America.

This weekend, we shared the song with my mother.  I'd been so wrapped up in the lyrics and B's enjoyment of the song, that I'd failed to ask the obvious question -- but Mom asked it for me.  "Where's you find this song?"  Apparently, one of the other kids on B's school bus played the song on "her technology".  Really?  The BYOD pilot program in Howard County is only in 3 high schools - very definitely not reaching my daughter's elementary school yet, so the girl on the bus wasn't supposed to have "her technology" with her.  I'd thought that the bus driver had played the song on the radio.  Silly me - this is the 21st century after all.

My tech class text book has talked about how B's generation is different than mine - she's part of the mobile generation, native texters, while I'm just part of the digital age, a texting immigrant.  My parents use technology, but not with the same ease that my brothers and I do - and as B grows up, she's leaving me and her uncles in the dust.  B uses computers with the same ease that she uses crayons, and reading on the screen is as natural as reading from a page.  We're both very comfortable with the technology available to us, but where I feel amazement at everything we can do now - a science fictional magic of sorts - my 21st century girl only sees the world as it ought to be.