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Email a FriendNot completely related, but I was teaching a course just last week to grandparents and their grandkids (10-14 years old). One of the icons they needed to click on looked like a floppy disk, and when I said that, I had kids asking what a floppy disk is! That was really one of those “feel old” moments for me, and I’m only in my 20s!
Fun With Flash Drives
Posted by DariaSockey in Reviews on Wednesday, August 03, 2011 4:34 PM
This week’s Staples back-to-school ad featured flash drives meant to appeal to the 6 to 10- year -old crowd. It prompted my 20-year-old son, Joseph, to have that “feeling really old” feeling that I get on the average of every couple hours.
He recalled that back in the old days (6 years ago in the 8th grade), only his very techie teacher had this amazing thing, the size of a stick of gum, that could take the place of the floppy disc.
A year later, one or two of the kids from well-do-to families had their own flash drives, while Joe had to be content to borrow the flash drive — which cost around $30 — that Dad would use for work. By his junior year, there were so many school projects done on computers, that Joseph and his sister in college now had their own.
Now the flash drive has become something like a pocket calculator or even a pencil case (do kids still use those anymore?) that is picked off a rack in August along with rulers, binders and backpacks. So now when I launch into my “back in the day” stories about cassette tapes, no VCRs, and being tied down to a long curly phone cord, Joe can join me with his flash drive story.
Are any of your children in the primary grades buying flash drives that double as toys? I find it hard to believe that these are a necessity for the little ones, but given that many schools have dropped handwriting as a subject, maybe it is so.
Comments
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Posted by Anne in North Carolina on Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011 9:19 PM (EDT):
A flashdrive is on the supply list for my daughter going into 6th grade in our local Catholic school. I wasn’t even completely sure what it was—but I wound up buying her the very one you have pictured at the top of this article! She’s already using it at her “designing video games” camp.
And don’t even get me started on feeling old! I still have a package of carbon paper in my desk. :D
Posted by Toni Ladd on Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 1:44 PM (EDT):
I am really at a disadvantage. Our older children are 28,30 and 32 so when they were in school didn’t need these fancy tools (I am not really sure what you are talking about 
). We also adopted two newborns who are now 4 and 5 (we were 51 and 52 when they were born) . My 5 year old is starting K in the fall at a Catholic school. Thanks Be to God that I have met some Moms at our Parish/School that are more than happy to clue this old lady Mom into the latest! 
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