This continues the series of guest columns about how technology is
reshaping people's hobbies and passions – fishing, basket weaving,
community service – whatever.
This time it is David Axson - author, speaker, consultant on business strategy, finance and technology. I met David over a decade ago when he was at AnswerThink and it's always a pleasure to hear him talk in that rich accent of his. Here he writes about the joys of teenagers.
“I have many passions: golf, reading, and being English figure prominently but ultimately being a husband and father tops the list. There is nothing I am more proud of than my marriage (approaching 25 years) and my children (Eleanor, 16 and James, 14).
In the bottom left hand drawer of my desk is file folder stuffed with letters and notes (and yes Kodachrome photos as at bottom) dating from almost 30 years ago. They start off rather formally with recitations of events at school and home before progressing to more emotional and personal commentaries on life and emotions. They document one side of the progression of a love affair that is now in its 30th year. My wife has a similar file somewhere. What will my children share? Archived text messages, embarrassing Facebook posts and YouTube videos? It seems that today’s relationships are long on quantity of communication and short on quality. The exchange of letters with my sweetheart was a weekly event, should one be late the angst set in as my insecurity took hold; now a simple text has replaced both the “Dear John” letter and the telltale “lipstick on the collar” as markers of a relationship’s prospects.
Phone calls had to be planned. The script was planned in advance to ensure my ten pence was spent wisely; and the call itself required queuing patiently to use the single pay phone in the college apartment block. Today the concept of waiting to communicate is as foreign as the telegram -- its texting or IM’ing all the time. The subject matter is almost always banal but how I would have loved to stay connected and, yes, share the trivial, in real time, back in ‘82.
I have learned that getting a response from my offspring requires a text not a phone call and that the only way to find out what is really going on in their lives is to hack their Facebook account. The GPS in their phones allows me to check on the location of the handset; this may or may not equate to the location of the kid. The GPS in the car allows my daughter to navigate successfully – what is a map anyway? Bluetooth means she is hands-free when calling to demand I order pizza for dinner. On the golf course a third GPS system allows my son to gleefully inform me that he blew it 20 yards by me and only has 87 yards to the pin located just 4 yards over the front bunker.
At home, sharing iTunes libraries is the dominant connection with my offspring. I introduce them to the delights of AC/DC, Def Leppard, and The Kinks, they reciprocate with Disturbed, Godsmack and Good Charlotte. Pandora and iTunes Genius makes for interesting new discoveries, a long way from relying on the impact an LP cover made in the split second my eyes alighted upon it while flicking through the racks at the local record shop. And I am pretty sure I did not express approval with my thumb back then.
On the road, midnight texts and early morning video Skype keep me connected – most of it for free. A far cry from the $2.50 a minute I paid back in 1988–free is better. In March my daughter flew to meet me in Frankfurt for a week of take your daughter to work (photo on left is from that trip) She texted friends while on the Rhine, emailed her French assignment from Prague and posted pictures of Checkpoint Charlie, before we reached the Reichstag. While traveling she found that she had left one of her assigned novels at home. No problem, a few clicks and the required text was on my Kindle and her GPA was safe for another day. Neither child is sure what Kodak does, has no comprehension of dial up, and prefers shopping online to hanging out at the mall.
I was lucky in that I shared some technological connection with my Dad. In the late-1970’s we sat together in his study staring at the screen of a Commodore Pet waiting for the BASIC program to load from the attached cassette tape player before engaging in a titanic game of Hangman while huddled over the keyboard. I think my son and I get a better workout, well our thumbs do, from an intense session of Halo or Call of Duty on the Xbox. Being an accomplished multi-tasker, he manages to discuss his Latin homework while laying waste to another wave of Nazi zombies.
As I look to the future, webcams for the car look are must, particularly one focused on the back seat! Retinal scanners should govern access to the drinks cabinet and my credit cards. Looking further out, I fully expect my wife to master the text message sometime in the next decade but for now I love that she still calls me up and actually talks to me. I hope my children get to experience the thrill of real communication and the pleasure of waiting rather than the instant, but often meaningless, gratification that technology enables.
Of course the benefits outweigh the costs and to date we have barely scratched the surface in the terms of technology’s ability to improve the quality of life - from medicine to education to environmental stewardship there is so much more to come. I hope to see some of it.”
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