Lately I’ve been thinking about literacy.
Not reading and writing literacy. The other kinds.
Over the course of my life, I’ve watched several new literacies appear.
First there was computer literacy.
Then digital literacy.
Then media literacy.
And now AI literacy.
At the time, each one felt important, but also a little unfamiliar. Something people talked about as a skill for the future.
Today, most of us use computers without thinking much about it. The internet is woven into everyday life. Conversations about misinformation and sources have made media literacy part of the public discussion.
Now we’re having similar conversations about AI.
How should we use it?
What should we trust?
What skills do people need?
How do we stay involved in our own thinking?
What fascinates me is not just AI itself, but the pattern.
How do we actually learn a new literacy?
Do schools teach it?
Do workplaces push it?
Do parents pass it on?
Or do we all just stumble through it together until it becomes normal?
I’m not sure.
But I’ve lived through computer literacy, digital literacy, media literacy, and now AI literacy.
And it makes me wonder what the next one will be.
