YOUTH AND TECHNOLOGY

The technology that is shaping our future and our children's is not, as many assume, the computer. These machines have been with us for decades and now, with their advanced multimedia capability, they deserve considerable credit for enhancing learning among people of all ages. But I propose that there is an even greater technology on the rise, whose power is far more encompassing. I am speaking about the new and emerging forms of interactive communications, such as the Internet, that allow us to capitalize on our greatest learning resource – the minds of people all over the globe. We are just beginning to experience the impact of this connection of people to people, and can only guess how transforming its effects will be in the coming years. I also contend, however, that if we make the right choices now, we can substantially change for the better how we and our children learn, and more important, how the young people of today and generations to come are taught to learn. To succeed at that task requires a concerted and coordinated effort – a partnership if you will – among our families, schools, youth organizations, and communities. I say that because I am mindful that technology itself is never the reason things change. Rather, it is how people choose to apply technology – and whether they make wise decisions and address real needs – that makes the difference in the long run. To help find out what some of those choices might be as they relate to the Internet, three years ago – when the Morinomanstitute was in the formative stages – we set out to better understand the potentially transforming power of interactive communications in human terms. Our approach was in contrast to the mass media's much narrower focus