I went there looking for another moment of quiet. It was my second trip to Starbucks, and I needed this one. I needed to get away from the project, from the pressures of the week – just a bit earlier than normal. It was to be a few moments even away from the social streams and sports. I needed to open up a bit.
I sat with my iPad, the environment was louder than at other times I’d visited this Starbucks. There were more people than usual, and an much higher amount of high school kids. You could see that many of them were just beginning to enjoy moments away from their pressures, structures. And you could also see the challenges, the pressures of a different kind to be different and fit in at the same time. You could see the trends, they were open to parts of the world they’d not seen yet.
Then he came in. Accompanyed by his mother and grandmother. ‘C’ made a b-line from whatever his mother was directing him to towards my table. He looked at what I was doing and asked “what is that?”
You see, some minutes before then (don’t ask me how many), I got the point that God needed my attention elsewhere. So I opened Adobe Ideas on my iPad and looked for subjects. Finding none, I started drawing what was on the table in front of me – my empty Starbucks cup, Nokia N97, and iPad.
‘C’ caught me off guard a bit – I don’t think that I heard him the first time clearly. But he was interested, and so I sat back and told him that I was drawing what was on my table. He had a Nintendo DS in his hand and was clearly very into the game, but this distracted him just enough. So I turned the iPad towards him and asked if he wanted to draw. He looked at me perplexed and so I opened a new canvas and showed him the colors, and how to select a new color. He was engrossed in a new environment.
His grandmother came over first. She cast me a strange eye – I am a bit of a stranger in Danivlle, VA. She watched her grandson like a hawk over her young. And I understood, and so kept myself open and away from the table some. I proceeded to explain to her what he was experiencing and how it just makes sense for him to be on a computer that responds to his touch, rather than a keyboard and mouse. She understood, but was perplexed. Computers (keyboard and mouse toting ones) were still a bit ahead of where she could grasp she admitted.
‘C’s mother came over and apologized a few times thinking that he was distractng me. He wasn’t. I was actually enjoying watching him learn and try his hand (finger) at drawing on my iPad what he had on his DS’s screen. She mentioned that she would like for the iPad to get to the place where she could purchase one for him. He’d seen one, but this was his first time playing with it. I used the word “magic” as that was closest to what he experiences on his DS with the game he was playing. He looked up with those bright eyes that a kid could only have when you say something that hits and they understand that you understand them.
I was there to be open for that moment.
We talked for a few more minutes before they had to leave. The mother was appreciative of giving ‘C’ a chance to play with the iPad. She wanted one too, but was working on making sure she could get to that place of giving her son one first. She knows that it is more his future (and her’s – medical field) and she wants him to be open for it. At least in this moment, he was opened to what life could be like.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Openness.
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Of Kids and the Knowledge to Come
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010Some of the insightful comments and approaches to mobile and web technology comes from the hearts and mouths of kids that I run across. Whether its their impressions of a device that I have, or just their general curiosity, there’s something about them (and some retirees) which grants a view into this paradigm shift in ways that only deep research seems to expose.
For example, this past weekend, I sat down with twin 10yr olds to talk about technology, their interests, and to offer them some wisdom on how to move forward. Now, your first thought might be, “they’re 10 – they will probably change their minds a few dozen times before they are 13. Why speak to them about this subject?” But, that’s just it. If their imaginations and passions are sparked now, and then matured and cultivated by parents, teachers, and other community members, these small passions become the actions by adults which change the world.
As we sat to chat, one of the twins asked me about the microprocessor in my iPad, and started to detail much of what he read by researching on Google (and elsewhere) about its internal components. He could tell me all that he read, but didn’t understand how it worked. I was delightfully surprised and took the time to answer his question – and give him and his brother some unsupervised time on my iPad.
You see, these kids were already acute to the abilities of using search engines to find the high-level information towards those things they are interested in. They were well acquainted with both the Internet their parents know, and the one their parents don’t want them to see. And like some kids I’ve come across, they are very respectful of those persons that will take the time with them to talk to them about their interests, and how they could use them right now to move forward, and what it could look like in the future.
These kids aren’t starting from penmanship classes with $2 calculators. They have mobile phones with unlimited SMS plans, and have already figured out how to connect IM, Facebook, and their parent’s email to them. They are curious to a fault. And are simply asking to be directed.
Their father and I talked about me coming to sit with them ever 2-3 months to see how they are progressing with tech and life, and to continue to give them pointers. I’m not just serving the kids, I’m also enabling the parents to understand the kind of knowledge that these kids are willing to find on their own. The parents need a means to cultivate this into mature understanding, and later wisdom in application.
I believe that as we see the age for kids with mobile and web access come down (some areas this is as young as 7/8, in the US its 11/12), we will see the need to cultivate this kind of conversation with them so that they don’t just get enamored with the shiny, but that they also learn the implications of the world that will soon be theirs to shape and mold.
So the next time you ask someone to speak to you like a 4th grader, just remember, the bar for what these kids know is a lot higher than what it was for you in some areas. Be prepared to address some heady topics, while cultivating the wisdom and understanding of things relevant to both them and you, but which are also needed for a child that age to mature.
Tags: children, community, conversation, education, mobility, parents, technology, teens
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