For this generation things like mobile computing platforms, semantic Web and social media with what comes after it is becoming commonplace. While for the longest time when kids and computers were mentioned in the same breath visions of pimply faced little cretins huddled in their parents' basement were all that we saw. Regardless of the fact that many of us with tinges of gray in our hair were the real power behind what our children now almost consider their birthright, that was the imagery projected upon the world and in some ways we have paid a price for that.
As much as I may decry much of the hot air that flows around terms like social media, social networks et al, something I read today makes me think that underneath all this self-importance and ego stroking that surrounds the tech blogosphere, something very important is happening. Much like how many of our true public servants rose out of the hippie and peace corps generation, we could very well be seeing the same generational birth of the real movers and shakers happening.
The post that got me thinking about this most appropriately is one by Robert Scoble where he tells of an interview he had with his son Patrick alongside him with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. It was this line in his post that sparked all this:
My son then got involved and I wrote that conversation up here. Made me so proud as a parent that my son could tell the FCC Commissioner not to censor the Internet.
Here is a young man who at around the same age as I was when I saw Neil Armstrong make that first step, being able to sit with a person who has the power to influence our online world and tell him not to follow a path of Internet censorship. Granted Mr. Adelstein may never listen to what young Patrick may have said; but that would be a mistake because that young man could very well be indicative of the children of Web 2.0 and what they believe in will one day be very important.
I am sure that must have been an incredibly proud moment for Robert; I know it would have been for me. While I am sure that Patrick may not see himself as a forerunner of the new peace corps (or should that be Social Media Corps), the fact is that he is probably one of many kids who look at our world differently. It makes one wonder how many or our current social media mavens look at their children as their legacy of change and involve them like Robert does Patrick.