What the HELL is a Magazine? No, really...

This won't really surprise anyone, but it is amazing to watch. There's a Youtube video making its rounds that show a 1 year old's bewilderment over a magazine that doesn't seem to function like an iPad. In the video the child comically acts as if the magazine is broken because it doesn't respond when she touches it. Written in the description is this great line: "For my 1 year old daughter a magazine is an iPad that does not work."

Again, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Even in my Art classes there isn't too many books for us to purchase. Most of our readings are Wikipedia posts and Youtube videos. But, it is amazing to see this. It points to the creation of a new literacy. To prepare for undergrad I had to "learn" how to read properly. I had to learn how to take notes, highlight passages, speed read when necessary, etc.

It's a really cool, bizarre and scary thought to consider what this will look like in twenty years. What skills will be necessary for this 1 year old's generation? They'll need to understand user interfaces and operating systems. Perhaps, it'll be important for them to know which are the best and most convenient applications to use for a given task, similar to the way a carpenter needs to know which are the best tools to use to build a dog house vs. some new kitchen cabinets.

On another note, keep a look out for more videos of the 1 year old as she touches a television screen, her fathers head and the iron while trying to understand why the world is just so 1982.