BFTP: Paul's customizable world
Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 05:43AM 
As a good grandfather, I try to be a source of information and wisdom to my grandsons. (See The Grandpa Assignment.) This weekend I showed Paul the world's largest (and possibly oldest) popcorn ball, above. I taught him about the joys of swimming in abandoned gravel pits, below. We explored some Indian mounds, stage coach roads and really old comic books down in my hometown in Iowa. All good.
But I believe I learn more about the world from Paul than he does from me.
This trip I showed Paul the Maps app on the iPad and how as we drove, he could track our progress via the little blue dot. Paul quickly discovered how to change the scale of the map just to suit him. He figured out how to switch to GoogleEarth for photographic point of view. Next trip I'll show him AroundMe so he can track down the nearest DQ.
Grandpa as a boy was lucky to have a road map - one map, one scale, one function. Nothing customizable about it. That didn't prevent me from developing map reading skills and a love of maps themselves. But it was pretty much "my way or the highway" when it came to maps.
Paul has grown up with lots of customizable information and entertainment sources. A couple years ago he got mad because the TV remote in the hotel we were staying wouldn't allow the program to be rewound, fast-forwarded or paused. Paul expects DVR-like TV customizability including time-shifting. Soon it will be the expectation of portability of video content via iPad/iPod type devices. Music became portable with transistor radios back when I was a little boy on the prairie, but ubiquitous access to the world's music is relatively new. And we've all gotten a little accustomed to information on demand via our web-enabled phones and other portable devices.
Whether it is cell phone rings, game difficulty, news feeds, or font size in e-book readers, many children of Paul's generation will experience a world that conforms to their preferences.
Everywhere, that is, except in school. We're still pretty much one-size-fits-all and you'd better conform to us.
Any bets on whether drop out rates from traditional schools continue to climb? Or on whether "customizable" eduction will be the next big thing in education?
Reader Comments (1)
While watching a TV program with my 3 and 5 year old grandkids, they'll typically call out "pause it Grandma" when they run to the bathroom. Sorry, it's regular TV, I call, so they just take their chances on missing something important (not!) . As Andrew entered Kindergarten this year, I'm wondering how many times he said the same to his teacher, or asked for a rewind if he missed something!