Not a day goes by that I don’t marvel at what life, work, and pleasure are like with technology. For those of us who have witnessed the creation of e-mail and social media like Facebook and Twitter, it’s both exciting and exhausting. But what of those “digital natives,” the young people for whom technology is a natural part of life? How does technology change the way we think, learn, interact with others, and define ourselves? These are a few of the questions approached in “Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier,” the focus of the PBS series Frontline airing next week.
Continuing from a previous Frontline episode, “Growing Up Online,” filmmaker, producer, and mother Rachel Dretzin is amazed at the things her children can accomplish with the click of a mouse. At the same time, she wonders what the long-term impact of all this connectivity will be.
Joining Dretzin in her examination of constant connectivity is Douglas Rushkoff, an expert on and an early evangelist for digital culture. Interestingly, Rushkoff has significantly dialed back his enthusiasm in “Digital Nation.” “Now I want to know whether or not we are tinkering with something more essential than we realize,” he states.
Veering between steadfast proponents and guarded skeptics, “Digital Nation” would leave one feeling discombobulated except for the somewhat hopeful note it settles on. In the end, humans crave interaction. The nature of that interaction is changing. But is the conventional idea of being human immutable? As “Digital Nation” points out, that might be the ultimate question that remains unanswered in our lifetime.
“Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier” airs Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 8pm on PBS.
Last Words
I knew there were Battlestar Galactica fans in town. Little did I know how quick several of them would be to write in to comment on last week’s review of Caprica, the Battlestar prequel that premiered last week on SyFy. Besides encouraging me to watch Battlestar in its entirety on DVD, they were quick to correct this BG virgin about my description of time. While press materials clearly state that Caprica takes place in the future but before Battlestar Galactica, the fans who e-mailed me were adamant that this was not the case.
“As you haven’t seen Battlestar (and you must),” Skipp Manson wrote, “I will only say that neither it, nor Caprica, are set in the future.If you want a mega-spoiler, I shall provide it on request.”
With all due respect to Manson and the other readers who posed similar questions: Lalalalalalala! (Fingers in ears, head shaking vigorously.) No! I do not want a spoiler.
As for the response from the diehards to Caprica, it’s been all over the place.
“I saw the pilot (on DVD) a while ago. Liked, but didn’t love, it,” Jon Delfin wrote. “You critic folks have been most unhelpful, what with all of your mixed opinions. I’ve read as many raves as pans.”
Well, it’s not like there’s a club where all us TV critics get together and decide on what we like and dislike. (Actually, there is a club. I’m not a member.) But thanks, Mr. Delfin, for suggesting that anybody pays attention to TV critics in the first place.
As always, stay tuned.
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E-mail Belinda Acosta at tveye@austinchronicle.com.
This article appears in January 29 • 2010.