A funny thing happened to me this afternoon. I was in a grocery store buying my lunch when I stopped at a free sample table. The woman (we'll use the name Jane for our purposes) did an excellent job explaining to me the two items on the table, so I figured I would give them a try. To my surprise one of the foods was better than I thought. As I did not have enough cash to buy the item, I figured I could scan the QR code on box and then add the site to my bookmarks and buy it another time. I asked her "Can I see the box so I can scan the QR code?" Judging solely by her reaction, one would have thought I asked her in Latin. I'd seen the look before, it's the look a student gives the first time you ask them to analyze the Declaration of Independence. I politely told her "it's shortcut that you can use on a smartphone, but it's fine." She just smiled, shook her head a bit and handed over the box. After all that I got the box only to find it did not have a QR code, so I simply snapped a picture of it.Looking back on the situation I guess I was speaking another language, I was speaking in "digital". Jane is part of a group that Mark Prensky colloquially termed “digital immigrants”, born before the introduction of digital technology. As I was born after Prensky's "immigration" cutoff of 1980, I inherently speak a different "language". To Jane I and my "native" compatriots life a lifestyle as unique and culturally diverse to "immigrants" as the United States was the tens of thousands of Italian, German, and Irish immigrants entering through the gates at Ellis Island. Who would have thought that a trip to the store would be so enlightening?
