The Baby Boomers and Nintendo Wii

28Apr08

I just finished a quick chat on AIM with my dad. We instant message each other occasionally throughout the day. At the end of each day, he prints out the convo and passes it over to my mom. We appropriately title these, “pamchats.”

Anyway, it was nearing the end of our pamchat today when my dad nonchalantly mentioned he was heading home to play Wii Tennis and watch Dancing with the Stars. Now, I’d already known about my parents’ DWTS infatuation, but the mention of the Nintendo Wii completely threw me for a loop. I’m a “digital native,” and I’ve never even seen a Wii in person. Meanwhile, my mom is at home creating avatars for when my two sisters and I go home to visit. Admittedly, I’m jealous:

dad (5:34:14 PM): headin home for some Wii Tennis and DWTS

pam loves hats (5:34:28 PM): you have a wii?

dad (5:35:12 PM): sure, we’re Wii saavy

pam loves hats (5:35:26 PM): you honestly have a wii?

pam loves hats (5:35:32 PM): i’m wicked jealous

dad (5:36:07 PM): who doesn’t?

pam loves hats (5:36:48 PM): when did you get a wii?

dad (5:37:22 PM): yesterday morning – I was first in line at Target – it’s Mom’s b-day present

dad (5:38:30 PM): now that you girls are all educated, we figure it’s safe to bring a state-of-the-art video game into the house

Apparently, my dad doesn’t consider Sega Genesis and the original Game Boy to be “state-of-the-art” back in the 90s, but I still loved them. Tetris, anyone?

- Pamela

Filed under: digital, video games   |  4 Comments
Tags: Chat, Game Boy, instant message, Nintendo Wii, Sega, video games