Choices On-Demand

I've got two young children. A seven year old, and a four year old. They each have their own iPad (please, no judgement). And what's the first thing that my kids do when they wake-up in the morning and before they get ready for bed, each night? They're on their iPads (again, please, no judgement). That's the reality in our house; we don't fight it...anymore.

Gone are the days of Saturday and/or Sunday morning cartoons in the traditional sense that we grew-up knowing. My kids don't need (or even want) the TV turned-on; they'd much prefer their devices. And YouTube or YouTube for Kids is their app of choice.

We, adults, parents, think that this is weird. I think that we think this because it's not something that we grew-up with. Seldom do I hear parents that are in my same generation complain about kids wasting time playing too many video games (I recall this being a common complaint when I was growing-up and earlier in my education career). Because we did that. The next generation of parents probably won't think that it's weird if their children consume YouTube for long stretches.

YouTube is great. I use it. I like it. It's a tool for learning, it's a tool for sharing, and it's a tool for entertaining. But I wonder...it gives us A LOT of choice. A lot. AND not only is there initial choice...if the user doesn't like something what they chose, they simply try something new, and they do that again, and again, and again. There are an infinite number of choices to obtain and maintain their attention. It's highly competitive.

So what happens when these kids that have who have grown-up with so many choices come into our schools?  Where do kids get this level of choice and freedom in schools? Do they? Can they? Should they? What challenges does this present to us, as educators? What opportunities does this present to us, as educators?