SO it turns out we were on the right track after all. Back in the '60s, the credo was "never trust anyone over 30." The 1997 version is don't expect anyone over 30 to know what is going on. America’s children
turn to the InternetDigital technology isn't for propeller heads anymore. The computer, according to surveys, has moved into 40 percent of U.S. homes.
The big change is the Internet. No longer is it the territory of college scientists; now it is for 8-year olds doing homework.
The cliche that goes, "If you don't understand your computer, ask any teen-ager for help," is based on some hard facts. The kids under 30 are going digital.
At a national conference on digital information and children in San Francisco this week it was predicted that the next millennium will be shaped by today's cyber-savvy kids.
According to one report the Internet is fast becoming the single source of information, advertising and entertainment for kids.
The generation is turning off the TV to surf the Web. Which is why it makes sense that Microsoft's Bill Gates this week also announced he is investing $1 billion in cable operator Comcast Corp. to speed the convergence of the TV and personal computers.
Another report this week calculates that while 3.9 million kids today are online, the number will grow to 20.3 million in 2002.
They are discovering how easy it is to have pen pals in Durban, Tokyo and Melbourne. They expect to get baseball scores instantly from ESPN Sportszone. They trust that all homework assignments can be completed with just a few online clicks.
In a few years they will also expect to get their news, book their flights and buy their cars from some version of the Internet.
Already city and state governments realize that they must also keep up.
Two years ago, for instance, Portland, Ore., saw that it missed being named the best managed city in the country because it had no plans showing how to relate information technology to its citizens.
The city resolved to provide access and services online.
"I want to see the community fired up about this, I want citizens and the business community to expect contemporary service from the city of Portland, and I want us to deliver," said commissioner Mike Lindberg.
The plan is to give citizens the ability to do business with the city over a computer, from paying water bills to filling out forms for building permits and even to ordering up copies of recent city council meetings online.
In New York, a high school is tapping into a national system of online mentors to help with English projects. The volunteers critique students' work through e-mail exchanges. So far 65 kids are forming a virtual school that extends from Texas to Florida to Canada.
The only problems teachers report are with the over-30 crowd that doesn't get it. Of the 250 teachers at this New York high school, only three are familiar with the Web.
Others worry that politicians will prey on many people's fear of the Internet
BUT, as the New York Times article on the school mentioned, "This is an election year, so the mayor is becoming an education mayor."
Hawaii wired many of its schools for the Internet and taught at least 250 teachers how to use it, but has few computers in the classroom.
City and state government, however, has little information available and almost no services online.
It is a government that not only is an untrustworthy over 30, it is approaching digital senility.