Mark Day in the Australian recently ran an article on the question of the future of the media considering the attitudes of kids. Particularly in the context of his recent experience with his own grandson and more specifically in relation to an article written by a 15 tear old boy in the UK in the UK financial times.
In this case my natural bias against young people comes to the fore again and my extreme skepticism of their opinions is mirrored by Mark Day. I think its easy to get swept up by a single well written article and lose sight of larger trends. Harry Potter, the Twilight books, give an indication that text isn't dead. In fact, having discovered reading late my 13 year old daughter has gone further and discovered sites on the net like quizilla to help her write her own work. Right now she's writing a 10,000 word novella based on characters from some of her favorite characters from a collection of books, cartoons and films. These stories are shared with hundreds of other girls who are writing their own and the kids spend hours poring through some amazingly dense words.
I think we need to be careful in thinking that our kids have given up on text and that by extension traditional reporting, quality journalism and considered commentary has no place in an internet future. The best thing about kids is that they grow out of it, sure some parts of childhood is like a virus you never shake but in the main we all get over it.
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