Second Friday's Lesson: Visuals are becoming a Verb

This post is a week late...we were on vacation...more time to hang out with my own digital natives and watch them use the technology at hand to capture their experiences.  What I observed was eye-opening and at the same time a confirmation of something I have witnessed in classrooms over the last fifteen years; visuals are becoming a verb.

When I think of visuals, I see images capturing a moment in time.  Something that helps me remember the images in my mind's eye - like a picture of our dog as a puppy - I know how far away we had to drive to get him and that my sister and I wore sandals because I remember the feel of dirt he kicked on our toes when the picture was being taken.  Sometimes the visual recreates a story that I never lived but have heard time and time again - a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day - I know the dress was deep blue even though the photo is black and white because my grandmother speaks of (and her mother spoke of) it so vividly.  These are triggers that drive my thoughts through the maze of memories my brain holds and I use them daily, actively, to remind myself of the ideas I hold from the past, savor in the present, and envision for the future. 

I have often wondered in recent years if digital natives see images differently.  These kids seem to be so tied to visual input and they are bombarded with it daily at a level unimaginable even twenty years ago (When my parents were postive that my brain was rotting out of my head over the summer from watching MTV at friends' houses).  My own children, children of colleagues, and our students will watch and rate commercials, scan YouTube videos for the "best one" of something as simple as a cartoon opening sequence, watch countless hours of shows and movies looking for the best visual effects, and vehemently reject ideas, experiences, and instruction because it doesn't immediately engage them visually.  Does this mean they are not paying as much attention as digital immigrants? Are digital natives as a group addicted to images to a point that may stop them from becoming productive citizens? Well, no, I don't think so. 

What I have observed is that digital natives use visuals not as memory triggers, but capture groups of visuals as part of the memory itself.  They are so used to visuals that images are an integral part of every story or event, not just those special enough to be saved.  This is, at least in part, because capturing visual images has become so easy and common place.  Even the youngest digital immigrants grew up in an era where many families had one maybe two cameras and possibly a videocamera, and all images were captured using film.  Film was moderately expensive and more expensive to process, plus until it was processed you had no idea about the quality of images you had recorded.  Often images were not seen until days or weeks after the recorded event.  Digital natives have easy and affordable access to technology that records images instantly, no processing required for playback. They take and retake visuals to recreate their feelings about the experience.  Part of their memorable experiences IS the capturing of visuals and viewing them while they are still at that special place or event.  Summer vacation has morphed from "I went to the Grand Canyon!" to "Look at the video I shot at the Grand Canyon and threw on my YouTube channel this afternoon!" 

This two part transformation of our world - easy & accessible visual recording technology and visual image input being at an all time high - has led to digital natives embracing the process of imaging as part of who they are as learners and citizens.  Even as young as my preschooler, they want to control the images they capture...capturing visuals has become both a form of learning and entertainment and sharing images for feedback is part of this process.  My digital natives and I look at and use visuals differently, but as I watch my kids I understand why they are so drawn to recording and replaying the visuals they do capture...a picture - whether drawn on a cave wall, faded in a guilded frame, or seen in an iPhone slideshow - still paints a thousand words.