Daily EM

One of the most exciting presentations at MobileCamp in London on Saturday was given by Norman Lewis, the former director of Technology Research at Orange and the current Chief Strategy Officer for Wireless Grids. The title of Lewis’ presentation was “Digital Children and the Future of Disruptive Innovation”.

Lewis delivered a powerful and somewhat optimistic view on how the current generation of kids may redefine the game played by the big business (as early as the next 3-5 years), with mobile network operators being one of the primary victims. Lewis knows what he is talking about: while at Orange and France Telecom, he led excellent research effort that produced a report on “Digital Children” that has set France Telecom’s innovation framework for many years ahead. 

The big message that Lewis chooses to start with is that this generation of kids are not going to put up with the culture of inflexible walled gardens anymore; they are a thing of the past. Lewis points us to the ease with which the budding generators of hackers are unlocking the iPhone — they hate to be told what to do and what networks to belong to. This attitude is to stay and get stronger, says Lewis.

A very important motif of the process of the internalization of digital technology into childhood is the strong tension between two different agendas: that of adults and that of young people. Parents regard new technology as an education tool while children regard it as a medium of entertainment and connectivity. Another paradox is that parents’ approach to the new media is underwritten by the imperative of risk minimization (Lewis mentions that many kids today are at risk of being abused or kidnapped or harmed by their environment) while children use it in part to gain a measure of freedom from adult supervision.

What’s particularly surprising is that kids today spend more time in the presence of adults, which may have to do with the rise of what Lewis dubs “the bedroom culture”, as kids spend more and more time surfing the Internet from their bedrooms rather than spending time outside. The parents are somewhat complicit here, as they still hope (in vain?) that the kids are spending all this time online to learn new stuff.

Nevertheless, the kids want to evade the adult gaze as much as possible. The changing character of childhood — particularly the shift from outdoors to indoors- - means that children want digital applications that are under their full control and help them pass time, get easy entertainment, connect with peers and somewhat evade adult supervision.

This explains why MySpace is so popular. It’s obvious to most that MySpace defies any rule about web design — most of the, profiles look messy and cluttered. Yet the real and more important point is that kids see it as truly their space to experiment with, a place where they can do anything they want to.

It’s essential to understand that growing up is all about experimenting and learning from your peers. This generation of peers is being denied that, so it’s not surprising that they seek recourse from the digital media. it’s not the lust for new gadgets but the desire to break from their real-time constrained spaces that is fueling this new media rebellion.

Self-expression is not only a state of being, says Lewis, but it’s also the primary medium in which these kids communicate with the world. The reason why mobile/social networking is so crucial is because it allows for the peer culture to emerge. Even instant messaging offers a mechanism on which to build a peer group.

Lewis remembers that in his youth, it was through music that the young people were expressing their identity. Whether you listened to the Rolling Stones or the Beatles determined what kind of person you were in the eyes of your peers. Today, this self-expression has shifted online, while the search for acknowledgement has become the key online activity for young people. 

Thus, it’s important ot understand that the most important thing about blogging by young people is not what they say, but when they say it and why; most often it is to get acknowledgement.

Whenever Lewis speaks at industry events, he’s still surprised as to how much misunderstanding there is about the typical Internet user. The leading demographics represented online are teenage girls, who keep their diaries in public view instead of keeping them private. For them, online and offline is one world. Young people don’t understand barriers. What they do online and offline belongs to one universe.

Lewis draws a comparison between the broadcasting days of yesterday, where there was one loud voice telling hundreds of others what to do. Today, there is narrow-casting. All quieter voices are talking, and each of us is at the center of our own mini-broadcasting platforms.

The entire landscape has changed. Now, we determine what content, what means of communication, what devices, and how and when those connections occur. The content itself becomes secondary; the network that communicates it is primary. Pop culture is just an anchor that allows many peer-to-peer connections to emerge. With the rapidly growing role that networks play, big companies should focus on

Enabling young people and customers how to alter/mash up/virally exchange their content. Don’t think too much about the content, says Lewis. Instead, think about the intent behind the content.

Young people are drawn to technologies that are readily personalized and which can be used individually. In fact, maintaining one’s social status depends on the ability to personalize any new technology, as one’s social status depends on it so heavily. The unintended consequence of all this is that skills are acquired incidentally while popular culture becomes a palette with which to paint the self.

Lewis’ final point is that as this generation grows up surrounded by the Internet and social networks, they are not going to view it as technology anymore. It would simply become the means through which young people exist and operate in the world.