What Gen Alpha can teach us about technology | Emma & Charlotte Robertson | TEDxKingstonUponThames

Summary

The video script addresses the rapid technological advancements that are reshaping human life and poses the question of how society can thrive amidst these changes. The speakers, Charlotte and Emma, founders of Digital Awareness UK, share their journey from being social media advisors to focusing on digital literacy. They highlight the importance of digital education, especially for children who are the most engaged with technology. The sisters discuss the double-edged sword of technology, noting both the negative impacts such as cyberbullying and the positive potential, including the use of generative AI tools in creative and educational ways. They emphasize the need for curiosity, adaptability, and resilience in the face of technological change and suggest that adults have a role to play by sharing their life experience and emotional intelligence with the younger generation. The summary calls for embracing our innate abilities to navigate the digital landscape effectively.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Rapid Technological Advancement: The human race is experiencing unprecedented technological change with AI, pervasive intelligence, and advanced robotics transforming our lives.
• 🚀 Future of Jobs: 85% of careers for today's secondary school children haven't been created yet, indicating the need to adapt to the speed of technological change.
• 🌱 Digital Awareness: The founders of Digital Awareness UK left corporate roles to promote digital literacy and positive technology use, focusing on children's safety and well-being.
• 📱 Impact on Children: Children are the most affected by technology, with tablets, smartphones, and social media impacting their development and behavior.
• 🔍 Double-Edged Sword: Technology provides both opportunities and challenges, such as online scams, toxic influences, and social media comparison culture.
• 🧠 Generative AI and Creativity: In 2023, generative AI tools became mainstream, with young people being the biggest users and drivers of their adoption, leading to both positive and negative outcomes.
• 📉 Digital Literacy Trends: Digital literacy peaks at ages 14 to 15 and then declines, highlighting the importance of early education on technology use.
• 🤔 Fostering Curiosity: Children's natural curiosity fuels creativity and problem-solving, a trait that adults can learn from to better understand and adapt to technology.
• 🦾 Adaptability: Children's ability to adapt to new digital environments and privacy challenges is a skill that adults should emulate for future career success.
• 💪 Building Resilience: Teenagers manage digital challenges and failures at scale, showing resilience that adults can learn from to navigate technology-related setbacks.
• 👵 Leveraging Adult Skills: Adults bring valuable lived experience, wisdom, emotional intelligence, and context to the table, which can be shared with younger generations for mutual benefit.

Q & A

What is the main challenge the human race is facing due to rapid technological change?

The main challenge is to thrive in response to the rapid pace of technological change, which is advancing quicker in the next five years than it has in the last 100 years.

What percentage of careers for secondary school-aged children have not yet been created, according to the Dell Technologies report?

85% of the careers for secondary school-aged children have not yet been created.

What was the turning point for Charlotte and Emma that led them to found Digital Awareness UK?

The turning point was when they gave a careers talk to a group of 11 and 12-year-olds and realized the negative impact their work in social media might have on young people.

What are some of the physiological responses observed in children due to excessive screen time?

Some physiological responses include tech neck, jelly legs, and digital eye strain.

How did generative AI tools impact young people's creativity in 2023?

Generative AI tools became mainstream, and young people's imagination and creativity ran wild, with them being the biggest users and drivers behind its adoption.

What was the percentage of schools that reported harmful incidents of deep fake technology being used within them?

78% of schools reported harmful incidents of deep fake technology being used.

What positive use of generative AI was mentioned in the script?

Students were simulating scientific experiments, solving math problems in seconds, and one student used AI to compose music for their entire end of school production.

What are the three key skills that children have demonstrated in managing technology that adults can learn from?

The three key skills are curiosity, adaptability, and resilience.

What is the importance of being curious about technology?

Curiosity fuels creativity and helps adults understand technology more deeply, which can change every aspect of their lives.

How can adults adapt to technological changes?

Adults can adapt by embracing a mindset open to change and new ideas, focusing on skills that support future career goals, and not getting caught up in nostalgia for past technologies.

What is the role of resilience in thriving in the digital landscape?

Resilience is key to managing failure and digital challenges, allowing individuals to learn from mistakes and do better in the future.

What unique qualities do adults possess that can be beneficial when shared with young people?

Adults possess lived experience, wisdom, emotional intelligence, and the ability to understand context, which are powerful skills to share with young people.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 The Digital Shift: Thriving in a Technologically Rapid World

The first paragraph introduces the audience to the unprecedented pace of technological change, particularly in fields like AI, pervasive intelligence, extended reality, and advanced robotics. It emphasizes the need to adapt to these changes and poses the question of how we can thrive amidst this rapid evolution. The speakers, Charlotte and Emma, share their background in digital awareness and their journey from being social media advisors to founding Digital Awareness UK, which focuses on promoting positive technology use for safety and well-being. They discuss their pivotal moment of realization regarding the impact of social media on children's lives, which led them to dedicate their work to digital literacy in schools. The paragraph concludes with a reflection on the profound social experiment that is children's interaction with rapidly advancing technologies and the emotional complexity of this phenomenon.

05:00

📈 Navigating the Digital Playground: Lessons from the Next Generation

The second paragraph delves into the experiences and observations of the speakers over the past decade. They discuss the dual nature of technology as both a source of connection and entertainment, as well as a platform for scams, toxic influences, and social comparison. The year 2023 is highlighted as a turning point with the mainstream adoption of generative AI tools, leading to both positive and negative outcomes. The speakers recount instances of misuse, such as the creation of deepfake content and voice cloning for malicious purposes, as well as beneficial applications like composing music and solving complex problems. They stress the importance of curiosity, a key trait that drives creativity and innovation in young people, and encourage adults to foster this quality to better understand and adapt to technological advancements.

10:01

🌟 Adapting to Change: Embracing a Digital Mindset

The third paragraph focuses on the adaptability of children in the face of new digital environments and the importance of adopting a mindset open to change. The speakers reflect on how children have adapted to privacy challenges by using code names and disappearing messages on social media. They encourage adults to embrace a similar mindset shift, moving away from nostalgia for simpler times and instead focusing on acquiring skills that will support future career goals in the age of AI. The paragraph also touches on the resilience of children in managing failure and digital challenges, contrasting this with the fear of failure often found in adults. The speakers advocate for accepting failure as a part of the learning process and using it as a stepping stone for improvement.

15:02

🚀 Harnessing Our Superpowers: The Future of Digital Interaction

The final paragraph serves as a conclusion to the talk, reminding the audience that the current state of technology is the least engaging, immersive, and humanlike it will ever be. The speakers encourage everyone to leverage their inherent superpowers—curiosity, adaptability, and resilience—to thrive in the digital landscape. They also highlight the unique contributions that adults can make, such as life experience, wisdom, and emotional intelligence, and propose a skills swap between generations. The paragraph ends with a call to action to embrace the opportunities of the digital age and a warm thank you to the audience.

Keywords

💡Technological Change

Technological change refers to the rapid advancements in technology that are transforming various aspects of life and work. In the video, it is mentioned as a whirlwind of change that is impacting how we live, with specific areas like AI and robotics being highlighted. The theme of the video revolves around how society, especially children, can thrive amidst such rapid technological change.

💡Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use digital technology, communications tools, and the internet effectively. The speakers, Charlotte and Emma, founded an organization to promote digital literacy, emphasizing its importance for safety and well-being in a technology-driven world. The video underscores the necessity for individuals to become digitally literate to navigate the modern digital landscape.

💡Social Media

Social media are internet-based platforms that allow individuals to create and share content or participate in social networking. In the context of the video, social media is portrayed as a double-edged sword, offering opportunities for connection and entertainment but also posing risks such as cyberbullying and negative impacts on self-esteem. The speakers' initial work involved advising global brands on social media engagement.

💡Generative AI

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can create new content, such as images, music, or text. The video discusses how generative AI tools became mainstream and were particularly popular among young people, who used them for both creative and harmful purposes, such as deep fakes and voice cloning, highlighting the potential and risks of this technology.

💡Deep Fake Technology

Deep fake technology is a form of AI that can create convincing fake media, such as videos or audio, by superimposing existing images and voices onto someone else. The video mentions the misuse of deep fakes in schools, where students created fake explicit content and fake announcements, demonstrating the need for education on ethical technology use.

💡Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. The video addresses cyberbullying as one of the challenges that young people are navigating in the digital age, and it is presented as a serious concern that digital literacy programs aim to combat.

💡Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust to new conditions or circumstances. The video emphasizes the adaptability of children in the face of technological changes, such as quickly adopting new apps and devices. It also calls for adults to adopt a mindset that is open to change and new ideas to keep up with the pace of technology.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or to withstand hardships. The speakers discuss how children are managing digital challenges and failures at scale, showing resilience in the face of online abuse and other digital adversities. The video encourages adults to embrace failure as a part of the learning process when dealing with technology.

💡Esports

Esports refers to competitive video gaming, which is increasingly becoming a significant part of digital culture. In the video, Esports Pros are mentioned as part of the team that travels around the world to promote positive digital stories, indicating the growing influence and acceptance of esports in mainstream society.

💡Ethical Hackers

Ethical hackers are individuals who use their hacking skills to help organizations secure their systems by finding and fixing security vulnerabilities. They are mentioned in the video as part of the team that works to educate and promote positive uses of technology, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity in the digital age.

💡Digital Playground

The term 'Digital Playground' is used metaphorically in the video to describe the modern digital environment where children and young people interact with technology. It implies a space of exploration and learning but also acknowledges the potential risks and challenges that come with it. The video encourages viewers to embrace their innate abilities to be curious, adaptable, and resilient within this playground.

Highlights

The human race is experiencing unprecedented technological change, with AI, pervasive intelligence, extended reality, and advanced robotics transforming our lives.

Industry experts predict that technology will advance more in the next five years than in the last 100.

85% of careers for today's secondary school-aged children haven't been created yet, highlighting the need to keep up with the speed of tech.

Charlotte and Emma, founders of Digital Awareness UK, share their journey from social media advisors to digital literacy advocates.

A pivotal moment for the sisters was a career talk with 11 and 12-year-olds, which led to a realization about the impact of social media on young minds.

Digital literacy spikes at ages 14 to 15 before declining in adulthood, emphasizing the importance of early education.

In 2023, generative AI tools became mainstream, driven largely by young people's creativity and imagination.

Deep fake technology and voice cloning apps have been misused to create harmful content and deceptive scenarios in schools.

Positive applications of AI include simulating scientific experiments, solving math problems, and composing music for school productions.

Children are the experts in the digital playground, and their experiences can inform our understanding of current and future digital trends.

Three key skills children possess that adults can learn from are curiosity, adaptability, and resilience.

Adults can bring lived experience, wisdom, emotional intelligence, and the ability to provide context to the digital landscape.

To thrive in the digital age, it's crucial to cultivate curiosity, adapt to new technologies, and build resilience.

The technology we use today will be the least engaging, immersive, interactive, and humanlike it will ever be.

The importance of reaching for our innate superpowers—curiosity, adaptability, and resilience—to thrive in the digital landscape.

The need for a skills swap between adults and children to leverage the strengths of both generations in the digital age.

The digital landscape is moving at a rapid pace, and to keep up, we must embrace change and learn from the experiences of the younger generation.

Transcripts

the human race is experiencing a

whirlwind of technological change like

we've never seen

before advances in areas like AI

pervasive intelligence extended reality

Advanced Robotics are changing the way

we do Life In fact when preparing for

this talk we challenged ourselves with

what can we tell you that chat gbt

can't to put this in perspective

industry experts predict that technology

is going to advance quicker in the next

five years than it has in the last 100 a

report published by Dell Technologies

shows that for secondary school aged

children 85% of the careers they could

go into haven't been created yet and

we're having to move at the speed of

tech to keep up

this begs one of the most important

questions of our

time how can we thrive in response to

the rapid pace of technological

change hi I'm Charlotte and I'm Emma and

yes we're

sisters just over a decade ago we

founded digital awareness UK to help

people to use technology in a way that's

positive for their safety and their

well-being prior to that we were social

media advisers to Global Brands by day

and Charlotte was also a social media

influencer by

night and we were helping companies to

engage with their audiences using this

relatively new and exciting medium

called social

media one day a school asked us if we'd

like to give a careers talk to a group

of 11 and 12 year- olds about what it's

like working in social media with all

these cool Brands and for us there was

literally life before and life after

this

talk we listened and learned to this

group as they told us about everything

they were trying to navigate from cyber

bullying to grooming to feeling left out

to spending hours scrolling through

social

media and we felt a real sense of Shame

and responsibility as we thought about

how the things that we were doing might

have been influencing their purchasing

decisions shaping their

self-esteem informing those digital

habits and not necessarily in the most

positive way so we left the corporate

world behind us to drive digital

awareness digital literacy in schools

and we haven't looked back

we've traveled around the world with

teams of Esports Pros influencers

ethical hackers people who have positive

text stories to tell and we've spoken to

conducted research amongst and delivered

educational programs to

Millions now today we work from with

everybody from CEOs to politicians to

Grandmas but at the heart of our

business we've always wanted to support

those people who are most alive to

technology and these guys don't go

online they live

online

children so what happens when you give

tablets smartphones social media online

video games rapidly advancing

Technologies to children with little or

no idea of what the consequences could

be well we're going to tell you and it's

the wildest social experiment of our

time an experiment that has been cruel

and wonderful heartbreaking and

heartwarming

empowering all consuming and

unfulfilling and every other emotion you

could imagine experiencing at once you

would have all witnessed this experiment

yourselves looking at fames silent in

restaurants as they stare at devices or

at children laughing together at the

latest Tik Tock

craze we believe that children are the

key not only to understanding the trends

that are unfolding today but what's to

come digital literacy spikes at ages 14

to 15 before gradually dropping off

throughout adulthood and falling again

in older age the things that we're

seeing now happening in this Digital

Playground we'll be trying to wrap our

heads around months down the

line in many ways children are the

experts so what have we

learned well we'll start by talking a

little bit about some of the things

we've learned over the last

decade so we've seen young people become

more entertained and connected and

interacting with each other in ways that

we only could have

imagined while

simultaneously managing online scams and

toxic influences and social media

comparison culture the double edged

sword of Technology revealed

itself we've seen young people become so

enticed by and immersed in their screens

that we could literally see in children

as young as four the physiological

response that their bodies were having

as they managed tech neck jelly legs

digital eye

strain like a lot of us us they were

developing a real intolerance for

boredom and this rumbled on over the

years until we were hit with

2023 and for us that year was a game

changer now what happened in that year

generative AI tools became mainstream

and young people's imagination and

creativity ran

wild of commer found that young people

are the biggest users of generative Ai

and in fact they were the drivers behind

its mainstream adoption so we were

inundated with calls from schools as

they told us that their students were

creating artificial sexually explicit

content of each other using deep fake

technology and that's not all deep fake

was being used for in fact one school

called us to say that a student had

created a an an artificial video of

their head teacher saying that school

was cancelled for the following

week this video went viral and

apparently even some of the teachers

believed

it these weren't one-offs in fact we

conducted some research which found that

78% of schools have had harmful

incidences of deep fake technology being

used within them

we saw young people using voice cloning

apps to replicate each other's voices in

real time and play tricks on each other

something that sadly we're now seeing

telephone scammers do at

scale at the same time schools were

calling us to tell us that so much good

was coming from this

technology they were saying that their

students were simulating scientific

experiments ments and solving math

problems in seconds one teacher told us

that their student had used AI to

compose music for their entire end of

school production she said it was

brilliant it didn't seem to matter if we

were working in schools in refugee camps

on the other side of the world or right

here in London the issues the

opportunities that we were witnessing

were ubiquitous

Universal and

unparalleled now of course children are

going to make mistakes but the teenage

brain aside there are some things that

we've observed watching children in this

Digital Playground that we can learn

from as adults what are the skills they

have that we

need

curiosity children are wonderfully

curious

creatures and this curiosity flourishes

is when it comes to how they use their

technology we see in young children when

they ask a question and we answer it

even with conviction but is still met

with

why curiosity fuels creativity which is

why they're doing all of these

interesting things we we've talked about

with generative AI but how can we as

adults be more

Curious well curiosity is sparked by the

desire to want to understand things more

deeply and if you don't already have the

desire to want to understand this Tech

that you walk around with every single

day let me tell you from firsthand

experience the information the digital

literacy skills we can gain will change

every aspect of your life from how you

eat sleep exercise how productive you

are at work how much time you give your

loved ones

yourselves everything thing how many of

us can honestly say that we've got a

healthy happy relationship with our

technology start small if you need to

listen to the occasional techie podcast

or tedex talk but don't forget to ask

yourself the who the whats the where the

how the second is their ability to

adapt children adapt to new environments

in ways we can only imagine and we've

watched them jump excited ly from one

trending app or device to the next

they're expert

adapters in

2013 the digital footprint was the

phrase of the moment Educators including

us were talking to Children about how

what they share now will affect them

years down the

line but it wasn't long before children

were using code names instead of their

real names on social media profiles

using disappearing messages to protect

their privacy they were adapting to the

emerging privacy challenges in ways we

just

weren't so how can we

adapt it's about a mindset shift

embracing a mindset that is open to

change and new ideas shifting from

worrying about how technology change our

current ways of working to thinking

about what skills we can gain that will

support our future career goals in the

age of

AI let's not get too caught up with rose

tinted good old days or

Technologies when we didn't need a

internet connection to park our

cars it's happening and we need to get

better at adapting and finally

resilience children are managing failure

and digital challenges at

scale our research shows that the

majority of teenagers see or experience

online abuse every single

day the majority are seeing racist

misogynistic or homophobic content

online every single

day and your average teenager receives

over 200 notification on social media a

day unless you're part of a school

parenting WhatsApp group that is a lot

to get your heads

around but for the most part they're

picking themselves up learning from

their mistakes and trying to do better

tomorrow Al whilst you know trying to

embrace the opportunities in front of

them

adults most of us are terrified of

failure terrified we don't bounce back

easily but when it comes to our

technology please accept that failure is

inevitable chances are you will get

scammed you will get caught out

prioritizing your device over your loved

ones you will get caught up in some

contentious debate on social

media say something you wish you

hadn't but when this

happens let's take the

learnings and see how we can do better

moving forwards children have shown us

that in order to

thrive curiosity how we adapt and

building our resilience is

key so we've heard a lot about all the

skills that young people have when it

comes to managing all of this but what

about us what can adults bring to the

table well we have lived

experience we have

wisdom we know how it feels to be

bullied to be left out we understand

context we have emotional intelligence

not artificial

intelligence there's not a piece of

technology out there that would stop me

from calling my sister if I faced a

serious challenge in my life I might go

to technology to verif if the advice she

gave me was

helpful but it wouldn't replace

her these skills are incredibly powerful

not just for ourselves but when shared

with young people so let the skills swap

begin we wanted to leave you with a

thought as we close our

talk the technology that we're using

today in this

moment is the least

engaging the least

immersive the least

interactive educational the least

humanlike it ever will

be so if we want to thrive as this

digital landscape whizzes around us we

have to reach for the superpowers that

we've had within us all

along our ability to be curious to adapt

to be

resilient so welcome to the Digital

Playground thank

[Applause]

you