Missing a golden opportunity
The “digital natives” are not so… digital
My column in this Friday’s edition of Spain’s leading financial daily Expansión is titled “Missing the train” (pdf in Spanish) and is prompted by an article in Britain’s weekly The Economist called “A Cambrian moment”, which looks as the huge number of startups that taking place due to the availability of software, hardware, open environments, APIs, platforms, etc.
I am increasingly concerned about what might be called the myth of the digital natives. Left to their own devices, young people born into the digital era will have as little idea about the new technologies as their parents. Perhaps less idea, due to their lack of experience and common sense. Looking at the way young Spanish people use technology, it is clear that they are familiar with just a few applications, and their approach to using technology seems to be simply a continuation of sending text messages.
In short, they are lazy, lack any vision, and possess little understanding or interest about the potential of technology. If you thought that the younger generation was going to lead us out of the current crisis when they grow up, forget it. If you thought that they were clever because they spend all their time glued to their smartphone or computer, forget it: they are simply repeating a few simple tasks on a few simple platforms. Their parents may think they are rocket scientists, but the reality is that all they know how to do is type quickly. Being born at a certain time does not automatically qualify you to use the tools at your disposal imaginatively or correctly.
The fault lies in young people not having been taught how to use technology properly at school, resulting in a dismissive attitude toward new platforms. This is because our teachers have not been properly trained. The result is a generation of young people who think that technology is simply a means to send messages to their friends or to indulge in cyberbullying. This failure to incorporate technology into the curriculum means that Spain is in danger of being left behind.
Here’s the full article, translated:
Missing the train
According to The Economist, the world is living through a Cambrian moment: that geological age when a range of physiochemical factors converged to give life to thousands of species of animals and plants, taking us from a time when the planet was inhabited by simple life forms. Today, an infinity of elements are combining to create a new revolution: software, hardware, platforms, and startups of all kinds are redefining our global economy.
In many countries, programming and technology have become educational priorities. This isn’t about turning students into programmers, it’s about introducing computer sciences as a way of learning the basic rules of living in a society where we are surrounded by programmable objects. Money is now flowing toward new companies thanks to every-shrinking entry barriers, toward ecosystems made up of elements that are increasingly diverse and reusable. Hardware and software are becoming more and more open, cheaper, and more accessible, and are generating a fascinating world of infinite possibilities. Being equipped to make the most of this world is essential.
But in Spain, we have governments that is focused on educational reform, but that pays no attention to technology, and in the process is creating a generation of supposed digital natives that in reality is anything but, because our young people have little idea about how technology works compared to their peers in other economies of a similar size and scale.
Where is the commitment to adapting our education system to meet the needs of an ecosystem that the professionals of tomorrow will be working in? Where is the leadership from government to make this happen?
While the rest of the world is climbing aboard the train headed for progress, Spain is missing a golden opportunity.
(In Spanish, here)
