I’m not someone who worries too much about my kids surpassing me in the whole technology arena. Not yet anyway. I mean, I know it’s coming, but I have at least a few years. I used to think I had decades, but not after today.

See, it’s still all about the Internet, and that’s what I do. I had a Hayes micromodem in the 80s dialing up the bulletin boards and leaving messages for other kids hiding behind pseudonyms – we called that email. And somehow, in the mid 90s I fell into this business just as it was going somewhere, and I’ve managed to hang on and hang in through a bubble burst and a recession and two terms of Bush.

Now I have my iPhone and I know plenty about WAP and wireless protocols. I’m getting involved in the development of a mobile marketing platform and, of course, I am still elbows deep in Internet applications.

But today, the old desktop computers I have kept around for the kids…well, not enough. My four year old demanded a kids website that his older brother frequents. He needed the arcade and he needed some advanced plugins and the most up to date browser version and Mommy was at the store so her laptop was fair game.

So, yeah, you can just hear it. My four year old pushing my hand away after I typed the URL.

“I can do it, Daddy.”
“But you never used the trackpad…”
“I can do it, Daddy.”
“There’s no mouse, you need to move your finger…”
“I can do it, Daddy.”
“But you can’t read. How are you going to find the games…”
“I can do it, Daddy.”
“Okay, fine. Let me know if you need help.”
“I can do it, Daddy.”

Then, of course, the four year old did it. He mastered the track pad in 6 seconds and would not relinquish the laptop for 2 hours. We had to lure him away with Dino nuggets and chocolate milk.

I wasn’t sure if I should be proud or pissed. Actually, maybe I should be scared, because you know he’s going to be coming for my machine next.