In the world of technology

November 24, 2010 it is raining in Washington DC. I am in the new mall on 14th street NW in the Best Buy store.


Few weeks ago, I was told by one of my students that I could find a laptop for under $400.00. That was kind of hard for me to believe that a good laptop can be that cheap. Nevertheless, I decided to check it out. So, here I was in the electronics department overwhelmed by the variety of the offerings (shapes, brands, prices, etc...). Which one to choose? I had no idea. The explanation given besides each one of the devices did not make any sense. The worst was that I didn't see a seller around and the others were busy with other customers. What is the difference between a laptop, a netbook, a Mac, a PC, a Dell, a HP, etc … What about the ipad?


I started thinking that maybe it was not the right day to get this laptop I wanted. I suddenly noticed a young man who could not be more than 15 years old. If there is one thing I know it is that teenagers know a lot about electronics. I decided to take a chance with this one. I walked to him and asked for his advice. He answered “no problem, I can do that”.


I followed him around for 15 minutes while he was giving me detailed information about each computer exposed. I heard about video games, megabytes, hard drives, all these words that sound like a foreign language.

At the end of his presentation, I was as lost as at the beginning and it must have shown on my face. He then told me “Madam, if you're not going to play video games or download music or movies you should be fine with one of the cheapest ones for $400.00, it will be enough for you”.


That's the answer I was looking for. I need something to prepare my lessons, to check my emails and to surf on the internet, that's all.


By curiosity I asked him how he happened to know so much about computers and he smiled at me. I felt very ignorant at that particular moment. He just informed me very nicely that most people his age know as much as he does or even more.


But he was obviously very pleased to have impressed me. Computers are a part of young people's lives in this 21st century. Computers are to them what video players were at my time, or the telephone for our parents.


Each generation has its own scientific innovation but this generation might see more technology improvements that one can imagine.


I followed the advice of my young counselor and I bought a black Acer laptop for under $400.00. It has a webcam that I will need when using Skype to speak with my family. It is not as small as a netbook but of a size that can fit in a big woman's bag. Modernization is so wonderful.

Who am I?

Hi!

I am Kadidia Doumbia a French Teacher in northern Georgia.
I am very much involved in the arts especially dance and I do silk painting too. Besides that I emphasize in my classes the respect of other cultures and values and I am a part of the Civic Voices program.

I am a francophone and I believe that learning and knowing more than one language opens the doors to universal knowledge.