The Digital Divide

When I was in my senior year of high school, I took a general aptitude test for military service not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life at that point. The results were that I tested in the 99th percentile. The Army wanted me to go into computers and I basically laughed in the recruiters face. I wanted to fly and if they weren't going to offer that to me, I would not enlist. This was 1984. Fontana High School barely had a computer class located somewhere on campus in a temporary trailer and I didn't know what the internet was back then even though it was already 15 years old.

I did not even touch a computer of any kind until 1988 when I went to work for Wells Fargo. In 1995, in my third career by then, I bought my own personal computer.

Now, as I prepare to attend my 25th high school reunion, I'd like to reach out to my classmates and make sure they are aware of the event. So when I try to look for familiar names and faces of my past, I'm coming to this place called 'the digital divide'. Many graduates of 1983 somehow avoided the internet and computers either by economics, choice or career. A lot more from 1984 and beyond are on the internet. It feels odd to me to come across a person who says, "I'm not on the internet" in 2009. I expect this from someone my mothers age who is in her mid 70's, not mine.