I spoke at the Wisconsin Governor’s Economic Development Conference yesterday. I was talking about Five Trends facing the state. (Deck is here .)
The last trend was “Technology” and I showed this video of a 2.5 year old playing with an iPad for the very first time. As you can see, she masters this device in under two minutes.
My point? The next generation of citizens isn’t going to show up for city council meetings if there’s an app instead.
As I was packing up after my talk, an 82 year old man came up to me and said, “I like everything you had to say, except that part at the end, when you said a little kid is smarter than me.”
I assured him that wasn’t what I’d said. I suggested that maybe this child was better at using an iPad after 60 seconds, but that’s not the same as being smarter than him.
But his question has been driving me nuts.
And I realize: maybe that little kid really is smarter than he is. Here’s why…at 82, if you’re still resisting technology or think you’re somehow superior to others and need to be told so, then maybe you’re not so smart after all.
