tech kids

Many children are beyond the control of adults – that’s the dim view that some adults take. But what if children really are smarter than their parents? What if the world of technology increasingly belongs to them and not us, primarily because they know how to navigate it?

This was the topic of a talk given last November at the ICA, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in London. The talk drew on a study done by Tom Savigar, from Sense London, in co-operation with the ICA. It highlighted some very interesting facts that practically suggest today’s children may well have been born with ‘computer genes’ in their blood. Tom Savigar told us that:

· Two thirds of British children reckon they know more about technology than their parents
· Indian children visiting an internet café for the first time could surf the net within less than eight minutes, despite the fact they had never seen a computer before
· The age range at which young children get to grips with a computer is now between 2-4 years
· Between 1994-96, 20% of all UK parliamentary debates focused on scientific and technological topics
· Two thirds of English 14-16 year olds, with the girls out ahead, have access to a mobile phone
· Mobile phones have become a toy – children send on average around 20 SMS messages each day
· SMS messages have created their own language of acronyms and abbreviations
· Technology can broaden your circle of friends
· Scientists recently discovered that those who play computer games achieve the same level of concentration and co-ordination as a high athlete · There are 300 million web-sites and the number is doubling every year

Cyber geography
If you’re taking a look at the world today, you may well need to refer to the ‘hyper atlas’ to be able to picture the new world. Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchen’s ‘Atlas for Cyber space’ www.cybergeography.org/atlas gives an interesting ‘taster’ of the cyber world map. It’s another way of looking into the future. Knowing that the Internet was first created in September 1969, I think we can safely say that it has taken us a very long time to get use to this new technology. Every so often we wish for things to change and we talk a lot about our hopes for change. But do we really like change? People in general don’t change much, but technology does. Technology and science will dominate the 21st century.

Across the world today we are being influenced by a potent ‘force’ that is shaping kids’ choices: it is the children who are asking for new teaching methods and educational funds are being assigned to this new ‘force’ – the ‘high speed network’. In the US, kids are often taught via distance learning, big whiteboards web-casting directly from the internet – Cyber Co. has teamed up with schools and institutions world-wide.

“What is” and “What was” are being redefined through looking at what it is that children want and how they feel. Technology is good in many ways – it is the way forward for our time and technology will indeed further education. The next big question is how do you employ technology in order to improve children’s education and learning abilities.

Kids, the little social creatures that they are, are active and have time to play computer games. Therefore they are already familiar with technology at a very young age. Also, they are not afraid of making mistakes or of losing – for them technology is just another toy. The big challenge is to develop products that can provide quality learning in the form of games and play.

Tech-cool culture
Some say that early interaction with technology brings clear social advantages: citing improved child-to child communication, better social skills, more youth and kids’ clubs where children can widen their circle of friends. Technology both informs and provides a content for broader cultural connections.

The young generation of today has taken things into their own hands. With their unique ways of communicating, they have developed a new language. If you ask yourself why mobile phones are so popular, you only need to ask one question: “Do you remember the world before the mobile phone?” Do you? I bet you don’t.

Amongst today’s young people having fun is the key. The first thing they ask when their mobile rings or when they send a text message is: Where are you (WRU)?” You send a SMS message: ”I’m @… want 2 meet? Txt me….” SMS messages for teenagers are cheap, cool and trendy.

The next step is greater interface capacity and more memory. You can already download music and information from the net via your mobile. Nokia phones have radio and are planning television in the near future. The new tech-kids belong to a generation living in constant computer evolution, in contrast computer evolution, in contrast to the older generation who experienced the computer revolution.

Anne Lise Kjaer
February 17, 2002