When I was having lunch with a colleague last week, she told me about an e-mail she had just received from her 9 year old niece. Rather than it being your normal friendly “hello”, her niece was announcing the start of her first business, a “family advice” service. But the real hook was the “customer loyalty” program… for every 5 questions you asked, you’d get 1 question for free.
Her niece hadn’t really thought through a pricing structure or solid growth plan, but in that moment she had her first idea for a start-up. The viral video, the web 2.0 start-up, the blog… these are the lemonade stands and the “playing house” of the next generation.
I was delighted and intrigued by the story. On a personal note, my husband and I are going to start a family in the next year, and so my ears have been perking up to the kid conversations around the office. How will the lives of my children be different than my childhood? Will it be more difficult to raise a child in today’s culture? Is it really as scary as the news media makes it out to be?
And for the past week I have been a vessel, colleting every “child meets technology” story I could grab my hands onto from around the Organic offices. I picked through, analyzed, and arranged. And, I would now like to spend the next week sharing with you, the readers, what does it take to raise a digital native?
Please join me and comment with your experiences as we explore:
1. The Definition, what makes a “digital native” different
2. Play Time, how technology is changing relationships
3. Work Time, how technology is changing learning
4. The Trade-Off, how technology is changing human beings
Marta Strickland
Comments
Connections
Great idea Marta. As someone raising a lil’ digital native myself, I had a feeling about your plans as soon as I heard you bought the Dodge Journey
Best of luck!
As you know, I’m not really bought into the always-on culture. I think my kid’s attitude to tech is going to be heavily influenced by what moves me – at 15 months she is fascinated by my iPhone, but equally she loves playing with my keys, my glasses, my watch. I’m sure it’s different with older kids. Look forward to the dialogue.
I don’t think that raising digital natives requires us to do anything. We grew up with TV and it didn’t require us to adjust to it. It was just there as a part of our life. I look at my 3 kids (ages 5, 6, and 7) and how they interact with technology and what they have that people of our generation don’t is a complete and utter lack of ‘fear’ of the digital world.
I’m glad that they have been (literally) banging on keyboards and pushing mice since before they could walk, but I would much rather that they spend more time outside or engaging with their environment in a haptic way. My heart breaks when I go back to my old neighborhood that I grew up in, where the streets used to be littered with playing children all hours of the day, that are now empty and I know it’s because of the internet, Playstation and Wii.
Let kids be kids. They’ll figure the rest out for themselves.
I assume that this discussion begins after the decision to “raise a digital native” has been made. Perhaps in this context it’s not appropriate to question whether or not it’s required, or even desirable to raise a digital native in the first place.
Even ten years ago, it felt as if it was possible to raise a child without the constant mediation of devices and electronic information. In theory we wanted to resist the urge to “digitize” all aspects of the home, our son’s education, and communication. At the same time we wanted to avoid a sheltered or anti-progressive environment. Frankly it might have been possible, but life got busy and the difference in the end was arguably negligible, we were probably even more digital than the average home.
But certain things were slightly different; the lack of a game console in our home was often met with disbelief, or what felt like an assumption that the decision was naive or drastic. After all, our son played console games at his friends’ houses. But what you learn from even the smallest difference like this is unique. In this case it became very clear what is and isn’t vital to your child’s development, what will and will not impede their integration to the culture. It also becomes clear what parts of the culture you really care to help them understand, and what is less important.
Admittedly this argument is obviously not just about digital mediums, but about content. To simplify the debate, suffice it to say I’ve come to believe that it’s as much about the medium as it is about the content; researching a topic in a library is an entirely different experience than using the family computer (or Xbox!) in the family den. Which is better? Maybe it’s about teaching children the value of experience vs. pure result. And while I am in the business of creating digital experiences, I’d never expect anyone to choose one of mine over the one out the window.
As Misha mentions, not much has changed, parents “before digital” practiced restraint in all areas of their children’s development. But kids today simply left to “be kids” may often choose the mind-numbing mediated experience over the game of kick-ball at dusk.
So I think I learned that it’s all about the child. Some children may benefit greatly from parents that are willing to practice some measure of restraint in the digital realm. I also learned what decisions were rash, unnecessary or hypocritical on my part.
Perhaps it’s just not possible today, perhaps your only options for “unplugging” are some kind of home schooling, or picking up and leaving the first world economy entirely. Nevertheless, I think a little resistance goes a long way.
I could barely read the post…
that baby is SO cute!
I have to say, I agree with Nick… it becomes ever important to help these young digital natives turn it all off from time to time.
Technology although enhancing to our lives/lifestyles, I feel it contribute to an already impatient society.
Thanks for the great discussion guys.
Obviously how “digital native” your children are is 100% to do with the parent and their relationship with technology. With mommy on her laptop in front of a television set a good number of hours of the day, and with daddy having more video game systems than I can count on one hand… I think we are going to be plunging our kids full force into the digital world at birth.
If you can choose an alternative path, that is great and I commend it. But when the parents are tech addicted, it isn’t fair to deprive. But I think that is where technology actually becomes a family activity. I’m going to be exploring that more this week, but there is something to be said about collaborative learning and play between parent and child using technology.
And much like I try and force myself and my husband when I can, there will still be analog experiences. We love the outdoors. We love cooking. These too will be items in my children’s toybox… but so will the digital.