Session two – Digital Kids and Disruption

September 29th, 2007

So far so good… the first session by Nokia has gone swimmingly well… Many questions raised and much discussion precipitated…

The second round of sessions begins and folk start migrating towards the various parts of the hall. The three sessions on in this slot are Nokia’s presentation on Location-based services, TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) are going to be talking about their platform, and Dr. Norman Lewis, chief strategy officer for Wireless Grids, is going to be discussing Digital Kids and Disruption.

No prizes for guessing which of the three I’ll be attending – and it’s not just because of the beanbags!

The presentation is fascinating – Dr. Lewis, who spent a number of years as director of Orange’s Technology Research prior to joining WGC, is talking about the dynamic between kids today and technology – and his talk questions how we (i.e. adults) see the way kids interact with technology; at the same time, he brings attention to the fact that it is essential to understand this dynamic in order to create useful applications for the future.

Dr. Lewis basically says that kids today look at technology as a means for self expression. So his key point is that kids are drawn to technology not because of the coolness of tech or innovation, but more as a means of interaction.

Hence, what is more important is not content, the medium and motivation that drive that content.

It’s pretty interesting stuff… And seriously thought-provoking… For kids today, there is no distinction between the online and offline worlds, the two merge – and interaction therein becomes out reaching out where self expression becomes a form of communication. That’s a pretty wild idea for traditional communications folks (mobile phone operators, for instance), for whom communication is not about self expression, it’s about function – making a phone call etc.

But in today’s world of burgeoning tech and Web 2.0, we are the centres of our own universes – and we have all the devices at our disposal to perpetuate and inhabit these universes. As such, kids today create their own worlds – their social and online networks – using tools that they determine (the web, their mobiles etc etc).

One interesting question is “why?” What has changed to bring kids indoors, where they spend more time on the PCs, IMing and surfing the web, than out playing cricket or hanging in the playground.

Dr. Lewis believes it’s because we live in a world that is increasingly driven by fear (he rather effectively illustrates his point with a photograph of the front page of the Evening Standard – “SCIENTISTS WARN TO LOCK UP ALL CHICKENS!” the headline proclaims in large, bold type).

In this world of fear – fear of terrorism, of crime, of child pornography and paedophila – parents are more apt to keep their kids indoors – on their computers (notwithstanding the double paranoia of what they might find while surfing online).

And so, kids turn to digital media – not because the technology is cool, but because it enables them to interact, to express themselves, to do all those things virtually that earlier generations might have done in the flesh.

It’s a pretty heady thought…. So the world is beginning to change, and the communication of content is less important than the network of communication… Content becomes simply the means – while the network becomes key. So when kids come online and IM each other or create a new group on Facebook about their favourite band or new TV show, it’s not the TV show or music that’s important, but the discussion.

How is this important for operators? Well, instead of thinking about content, Dr. Lewis believes they should be focusing on the motivation behind the content.

Like I said, pretty heady stuff… and that requires a different approach….

Kids, Dr. Lewis says, are drawn to technology that they can personalise – MySpace becomes THEIR personal space, where they can have red or pink fonts against maroon or purple backgrounds, with sparkles thrown in for good measure… The cool kids are the ones who come to school with the latest applications on their mobiles (courtesy perhaps an older sibling) – now everyone in their class wants the same app… And it’s gets passed on virally. So social status becomes about access to technology and doing stuff that’s distinct.

Which, in turn, leads to the younger generation developing skills that are quite tecchie. In this world, popular culture becomes just another mechanism to establish identity. Again, it’s not about the technology or the content, the intent and consequence….

Slight digression here… Dr. Lewis also says he believes that kids are not inherently good with technology…. but that it is adult insecurity that leads to us imposing extraordinary skills on kids… We elevate kids to the level of tech gurus, because we’ve mythologiused technology and its adoption. However, a lot of what we see as tech is not for kids today (no more than a TV or a fridge constitute technology for us). Kids are just curious – and what’s important is that they adopt technology because it allows them to do things that they want to, interact with peers, create forums for discussion, things that are not possible – or at the very least are difficult – in today’s paranoid world where concerns for safety abound.

Dr. Lewis thinks this is bad for innovation and creativity in the future…

Food for thought?

Anyway, the point behind all this is that when these kids grow up, they will view technology through a lens that is vastly different from how we, adults, see technology. They wont be like us, accepting limitations in User Interfaces and tech etc, they’ll want to push the boundaries, because they’ll likely have greater expectations…

This has enormous implicaitons for those in the indstury thinking about what future applications will hold.

So rather than mythologise technology, we should be using this as an opportunity to show kids what’s going on under the bonnet, rather than just showing them the flashy exteriors…
Dr. Lewis is currently working on something called Future Diagnosis, taking all these insights and developing a project launched in next month or so. So keep an eye out – it’ll likely have some great reasearh and great insights…

Check out the Wireless Grids site for more info…

Entry Filed under: Talks