The generation now in its teens and 20s is the first to grow up -- and be educated -- in a world of computers. Some remember the first time they laid hands on a keyboard, but for many, technology is part of the air they breathe. In these essays, three young members of the computer generation describe, with affection and suspicion, how computers have affected their lives. Charles Jones, Gabrielle Turner and Brice Vanel are on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about Bay Area youth produced by Pacific News Service.

YOU CAN KEEP YOUR TECHNO-FUTURE

By Charles Jones

Computers: the wave of the future? For some. But me, I'm barely computer literate and see little or no future in any technical field. Unlike most of my young, African American brothers and sisters I had some pre-high school computer experience, but it means nothing. I type with one finger at approximately 100 words per hour.

On an average day I deal with computers for three solid hours at my job. But I know little or nothing about them, care less for them, and continually fail to find the good in them. Sure, they are useful, but when you get married are you looking for a useful woman or a good one? A lot of dangerous, unnecessary objects have practical uses.

I hate how civilization depends on these man-made devices to carry us into the next millennium. What will more technology carry us into -- tech wars? Robots fighting robots over who gets to breathe the earth's last ten minutes of clean air? You can have your future, and the computers you created to create it.

LIKE AN OLD TOY

By Gabrielle Turner

Remember how your family had the first video game, called Pong? Remember how you progressed on to Atari, then Nintendo and Sega? With each game you got a new kind of rush. No one could pull you away. Then a month or so passed and the game got old. You ended up leaving the little control pad in the corner by the TV, and that was that.

Then along came the computer, and with it the internet. This time, it felt like you had the world at your fingertips. You never wanted to get off it. Soon, you had descended into a bottomless pit. I speak of this because I was victim of that pit.

It started out as fun -- a whole lot of new things for me to see (And, I won't lie, a lot of "adult" things for me to see). But I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. I had a bit too much free time on my hands and I spent it on the internet. I saw a lot of gross things and lot of interesting things (not that gross stuff can't be interesting, mind you).

I have a good head on my shoulders and have seen a lot that life likes to share, so the internet offered nothing new--just a new way of getting at things. It took the legwork out of going to the library, but to me, the net is nothing more than a really big encyclopedia crossed with a video game. While I still "skate" the net (I prefer the term "skate" because I sure don't surf), I am not as enthusiastic as before. I appreciate the information it has given me, but the novelty has worn off.

I LOVE COMPUTERS (BUT I LIKE PEOPLE BETTER)

By Brice Vanel

Before we got them at my school two years ago, I believed computers were just for rich people and very clever people. My only contact with them was through games like Nintendo. I felt no need to use a computer, because I grew up in a family where books were the most important means of gaining knowledge. Moreover in France, where I live, books occupied a big place in life and computers were just considered an instrument to simplify some jobs.

But now, as technology advances, computers are becoming a source of knowledge like books. Now that I have seen all the things a computer can do, I would like to buy one. For example, I would like to publish a fanzine about music. The internet could help me find information about different groups, and the computer itself could help me do layout and introduce some pictures and photos.

I find the internet very exciting. You can find information about everything -- music, art, politics, history, cooking, animals. You can communicate with a person across the world from you, and it's better than the phone because you can exchange photos, sound and text. I'm completely staggered by the fact that you can give a word to the computer and in a few minutes it will give you all the articles which refer to that one word.

When I enter the University, I will have the opportunity to use computers, the internet and CD-ROMs to help me with my studies. I would like to have my own computer, but it is very expensive even to use one in France. For example, I went to a Cybercafe in France and paid $12 to use the internet for one hour.

Even if computers and cyberspace take on more importance in the world and in my life, I'm going to continue reading books and magazines, and communicating with people, because human contact is what's most important.