As I sit here typing this on my Mac, there are amazing things happening on a global scale in the room next to my office. What’s going on speaks, both figuratively and literally, on how much the concept of childhood has changed since I was ten.
Next to my office is my son Anthony’s bedroom. He recently turned ten. A quick glance by the casual observer would see a few similarities to my own room at his age – if you knew me in 1980. There are two bunk beds (Anthony switches beds, depending on his mood. He’ll sleep on the top bunk if he’s feeling daring, the bottom if he couldn’t summon up the energy to reach the top after a super busy day), a desk, a chair, a dresser for his clothes and some nice carpeting hidden beneath the usual mess.
But the similarities end there. Because on that dresser sits a flat screen TV hooked up to Verizon’s fiber optic Fios network, a wireless modem/router that broadcasts Wi-Fi throughout the house, and a year-old Dell laptop that we got new for under $300 last year.
Okay, so let’s return to more immediate events. It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday, and he’s already up and at ‘em. At an age when I spent most of my spare time reading old books or staring at the ceiling, or watching one of 13 hazy channels on our living room television, Anthony has gone global. Right now he’s multitasking, networking, conference-calling, commanding, designing. He’s been working on a virtual computer or village or something of a similar nature in the amazing, online world of Minecraft. If you don’t have kids or have been living in a cave in Uzbekistan for the past two years, you’d know that Minecraft is an online ecosystem where kids can interact and construct their own virtual realities. Some kids build temples, others engage in fierce combat with zombies and “creepers.” Kids also replicate and interact in environments from history and literature, from ancient Greek landscapes complete with marble temples to the fictional vastness of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
So far, that sounds amazing, but believe me, it’s nothing. What’s amazing is what goes on while he’s “playing” Minecraft. During his busy construction and navigation sequences, he’s teleconferencing, or in more contemporary terms, Skyping, with fellow players from around the world. I can hear him now and what’s happening in earshot is astounding. He’s collaborating with two of his peers at the moment. Jon usually meets up with him at this time, primarily due to his geographic location. Jon is in Wales, on the coastal city of Swansea, helping Anthony in his transatlantic efforts to build and manage worlds while combatting cyber-tyrants. Also on the conference call is another fellow expert and teammate, Aiden, located south of Indianapolis in distant Indiana. Seamlessly, almost effortlessly, they are vigorously discussing strategy, debating an issue concerning the humanity of girls, and – which is most important to me – working on a skillset that will probably be one of the only ways to make real money by the time they enter the workforce.
This is what he’s doing on a day when there wouldn’t be many other options, considering the fact that New Jersey is currently in the grip of an historic cold snap. Currently it’s 5 degrees outside. Yes, you read that right…it’s 5.
Flash back to 1980, when I was exactly the same age. I remember those years well. What would have been my options on such a day? Again, it’s frightening to contemplate. But what’s more important is that my ability to productively interact with my peers in a creative way simply did not exist under such conditions during the early Reagan era. There were some books in our Parsippany apartment, but I had read them all. There was TV, as I stated before, and there was my younger brother, who didn’t interest me much, since he was 5. There was a nearby Quick Check and Burger King I could walk to, but on a frigid day venturing out wasn’t much of an option. I had friends in the neighborhood, but on an icy day, playing outside wasn’t much of a choice unless you wanted your ears to freeze off. And forget riding your bike; the wind would just cut through you if you didn’t slip and fall on some black ice.
Returning to the high-tech present, after an hour on Minecraft with his friends, Anthony’s decided to switch gears. I can hear he’s obviously activated the on-demand menu either on Fios or Amazon.com, because he’s watching an episode of Mythbusters, an amazingly educational series from Discovery. The basis of every episode is the same, but the variety in the program is astounding. Two former stuntmen take on traditional and movie myths and using science, math and experimentation (sometimes with fiery, explosive effects) as they seek to prove or disprove them. From what I can hear, I believe this episode concerns the possibility of escaping from a shark attack, or something along those lines.
Wait! His Facetime account (an Apple teleconferencing program) has notified him that a girl is calling! Didn’t he just spend the past hour debating whether or not a ten year old girl is human, or partially human, or something like that? Didn’t Aiden in Indiana and Jon, over the cold, stormy Atlantic in Wales, advise him to avoid the ladies? Wisely, he doesn’t take the call.
Options abound in this online universe. Later today, Anthony will be working on his homework, which I believe is a short group project. At 10 I spent many Saturdays doing the same. I remember my mother shuttling me to friends’ homes to work on a paper or diorama or something similar. Anthony doesn’t have to worry over such logistics, as he’ll be using Google Docs and working online with his partners in real time. Everyone will see the project, and can add and edit it as they see fit while they furiously type and talk to each other. Unreal.
Now before you accuse me of using the Internet as some kind of babysitter for my kid, I do believe in the value of getting offline and experiencing the real world. Later this afternoon my wife and I will take Anthony to a huge mall in eastern Pennsylvania to wander around, eat, shop and perhaps shoot some hoops at Dave and Buster’s (a sort of modern-day arcade). Alarmingly, I just checked the mall’s website…free Wi-Fi is readily available there. Apparently, even in distant Pennsylvania, there is nowhere to hide from girls.
Global collaboration. Hunting monsters. Studying sharks. Group homework. Avoiding Girls (just barely). Just another cyber-centered (albeit bone-chilling) Saturday for Anthony and company.
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