You've Got Mail

It occurs to me lately how technologically impatient I have become. I consider myself a quasi-digital native; born in 1985 on the cusp of the real tech boom, I am old enough to remember the "car phone", but young enough to now expect instant gratification from my devices at all times. "Whhhyyy won't this work..?!?", when in reality it is taking literally all of 45 seconds to load. Not fast enough! 
I was watching "You've Got Mail" (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, circa 1995) on cable the other day, and felt pleasantly nostalgic to hear the old familiar dial up tones, along with the little yellow AOL man who so optimistically informs you of awaiting incoming correspondence. (My first internet romance blossomed at age 13 in an AOL chat room. Internet security was not a concern. It probably should have been!!) At any rate, nowadays I have at least 3 old email addresses with 4000+ messages in the inbox; "spammed out". From weight loss offers to credit score fixes and an onslaught of singles in my area looking for "hott girls", "you've got mail" is far different today than the yesteryear of the 1990s. 
I read an article once in the waiting room of my dentist's office about something known as the theory of a technological singularity. In a nutshell, its supporters suggest that a day will come (most agree around the year 2040) when technology will morph into a super-intelligence far surpassing the human mind. In fact, HERE  is the article. I'm not sure that I completely understand or am convinced of this idea, but the one thing I really took away from the article was an undeniable truth I hadn't fully realized until then; technology is changing... rapidly. Exponentially rapidly. This is why, in the course of my short lifetime, a phone goes from an awkward bag mounted to your car's dashboard to a small machine so unimaginably powerful just fifteen years prior that now slips in your pocket. It took thousands of years from the invention of the wheel to the invention of the light bulb; and now instagram has video?! 
Not only do I feel that this technology minor will enhance my resume and open my job market, but I think it's absolutely essential to anyone and everyone to stay on top of technology and how it changes and what that means for you. Tom Brokaw appeared on The Daily Show with John Stuart on Comedy Central this past week to talk about just that; the need to stay ahead of technology. This is the Tom Brokaw who used to read the evening news off gigantic poster cards! 
That being said, I understand the angle our "Teaching Digital Natives" textbook is coming from when Prensky tells teachers that they do not have to be masters at the technology they use in the classroom. I understand the main importance of the inquiry pedagogy, and letting students be the users of the technology. However, I would argue that it is as important for teachers to be "ahead of the technology" just as much their students for their own benefit; both in the classroom and personally. It is the role of the teacher to be a lifelong learner, therefore learning and using technology should be just as important to the learning teacher as the learning student. I, for one, am really enjoying this class and all the cool things we are learning to do and am showing them off to my friends and family. I really do believe that technology just might be my "passion", something I have been searching for a lot through my college career.