Nils is playing panfu on the Internet and there he can hook up with his friend Daniel. They can become a team and play together and chat with each other on what strategies to use. However, none of them know how to write or read very well yet so instead they call each other and talk while playing. Bet they soon will install the camera on Skype to be totally connected. Yesterday I got the phone from Nils and spoke to Daniel who had forgotten how the H look like (he needed it to log on again) and I tried to explain where on the keyboard the H would be found over the phone. Not an easy task!
I envy the digital generation who never stops by an obstacle but just find a new solution. In Nils world a computer is a central tool and he never worries about doing anything wrong or that he will accidentally delete something. From an early stage he has learned to use much and sometimes complex information (in different languages) in a flat, global system, open 24/7 where you find friends with similar interests – friends from all parts of the world. We watch over his shoulder, do not allow our children to chat yet and keep the family laptop in the kitchen to maintain some control. We talk about the dangers of the net and what they should watch out for but we also see them develop as they use the tools, the games, the films, the information etc.
The kitchen is probably the most use room in our house. On the walls we have two maps. One is an old school map of Sweden from a Dutch school and the other map is a world map with all the world flags. When Jochem leaves every Sunday we have come to talk about where he is going and what country he will be visiting this time. A map can be explored infinitively and it’s a fun way of teaching the kids how the world looks like. Because we know how the world looks like, don’t we? Maybe we as part of the old generation see the world divided into continents and countries while the digital generation look at it in a completely different way? Yes, it is good to know the map as we know it today and to understand how our current world was established and evolved but will boarders have the same effect in the future? Will people feel connected by a nationality or will new cultures evolve that are boundless or will new cultures appear that will change world order, as we now know it?
If one look at how fast things have changed in only the last 10 years with new technologies, new superpowers emerging, developing countries growing quicker than many European countries, improvement of health and at the same time climate changes that are threatening the world – who knows what more is to come! I don’t think anyone can foresee the future right now but despite many serious challenges I think we live in exciting times. The digital generation will live in a new order and influence where we are going. The geography of the world will most likely look the same in 50 years but I bet the maps will look completely different with many layers and much more information and Nils will be able to tell his kids that in the old days they used paper maps that they put on the wall!
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