When I was about 10 years old, I taught myself how to code. Well, sorta. (As much as a 10 year old attempted). My best friend and I used to play this online game that allowed you to make your own CSS and HTML webpage for pets (shoutout Neopets. You showed me how fun coding could be). My friend and I used to spend hours coding mini webpages for our pets. We found it so cool that we could use HTML and CSS to create something for ourselves. I didn’t fully understand how important coding was back then, but I do remember that after we would get home from middle school, we went straight to our computers and started memorizing color codes and HTML basic structure (ex. spacing and font coding). We thought we were just learning how to play the online game, however it was so much more than that.
Flash forward a couple years- I realized in digital studies with Whalen that what I was doing when I was younger was so much more than making a cute website for an online pet. My knowledge of coding could help me find my true passion in life: digital media creation and marketing.
Now that you have a short background on my history of learning how to code, I wanted to explain why I think it is SO important to learn how to code. First of all, coding is the language of the computer. Steve Jobs once said, “I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.” I completely agree with that. Instead of spending afternoons coloring or watching Spongebob, I was learning how to program, which is basically like learning how to speak a different language. There are so many options now that make it so easy to code ( cough cough code academy) Anyone can learn to code. In a few hours you can pick up the basic skills and in a few weeks you will be able to build useful applications and websites- and that’s the coolest part about coding.
We are living in a world dominated by software. Our IPhones, televisions, our radios are delivered over the internet. We use the web for so much of our daily lives. Our shopping, information, maps and directions, daily news, social media, ordering food, and so much more. We are living in a never ending technologically advancing world- next generation’s world will be even more online and digital. This is why learning how to code is so important. Software is the language of our web driven world, and we need to teach our kids how to speak and create among it. Coding culture is a real thing, and although not all of us will become programmers- coding is just as important as a history class or an english class. I believe we should all teach our future generations the language our beloved appliances think so we can move forward in the world.
I learned how to code because it made me feel closer and more connected with the internet. I think it is so important not only to know how to use our macs and iPhones and other software, but its just as vital to understand HOW they work. The internet is such a huge part of my life and I love to constantly strive to learn how the things I love are created and programed.
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