OP-ED
Connecting with the
Youth of Tomorrow
This month, we
collaborate with the folks
behind the Singapore
Parenting Congress,
happening on 2 - 3 August
2014, and bring to you
hilarious anecdotes
from three parents who
valiantly attempted
to update themselves
and connect with their
children via different
social media platforms.
By Scott Steinberg
Father, author, professional speaker, Angry Birds fan
Dear Zoe,
Hi - it’s me, @Dad. (Hint: I’m the
goofy-looking dude in those old
30MP photos you’ve got stored on
your surgically-implanted hard
drive.) Because conversation will
mainly consist of four-second
video clips and animated selfies
in the near future, I just wanted to
take a moment now, while I still had
your attention, to congratulate you
and the class of 2027 on entering
middle school. And – OMG, ROFL I
know – fill up your inbox with a little
bit of fatherly advice.
I know, I know... but hear me out. It
seems just like yesterday you were
in kindergarten, using your iPhone
to drive AI-controlled toy cars off
the road but today, you’ve grown to
become a beautiful, intelligent young
woman with her eyes set on Harvard’s
massively online open undergrad
programme, and preparing to greet the prime of
her life. Cheesy as it sounds, you’re about to dive
headfirst into a brave new world of online learning,
communications, and maybe even romance. And I’ve
realised - we can’t put off having “the talk” any longer.
Take it for what it’s worth from a man who remembers
when computer screens came in one colour (peagreen – everyone’s favorite!), and laptops were the
size of small suitcases. Here’s what I wish my Dad
had told me before giving me my first modem (Google
it - trust me), and turning me loose to greet the virtual
world alone:
• Keep your social networks less social, more
private. Remember when Jenny Katzenberger
told everyone about how she was going to go up
in space for her birthday, but forgot to invite you?
Yeah: That special trip you and I took on Virgin
Galactic to make up for it cost almost an entire
month’s worth of Bitcoins.
• Think twice before posting. Personally, I get a
kick out of all those videos of you and your friends
dressed in glittery feather boas singing karaoke
to Pink’s latest album. (Who knew she’d live to be
80?) Note to self, though: Will college recrui FW'0