A kid on the bus. So young she can't speak intelligibly yet. She's sprawled over an iPhone with her mum. She has a still-baby set of fine down-like head curls so light and fine they float in a golden halo. She’s wearing a home-knit sweater over jeans embroidered with strawberries and flowers down the pant legs, and shiny new yellow rubber boots that are almost as high and wide as they are long.
At one point she looks up at me suddenly, obviously pleased with herself and says, “Dwhwa!” which her mother quickly translates as “Dora.” I realize the little girl is telling me the game she’s looking at with her mother on the little computer phone is Dora the Explorer.
The infant touches the screen, moves her finger and a scene on the little screen moves along at her command. She is interested but not awestruck and I realize this game is not something new to her. I don’t even have an iPhone. By eight she’ll probably have a bank card and by ten a reloadable VISA card instead of a cash allowance. She will never undergo the steep digital learning curve that my generation has faced. It will literally come out of her fingertips.
Like any toddler, she grows bored after a while and shifts around. Thank goodness at under-two she’s interested in Dora, the iPhone, but is not mesmerizingly engaged. When another little kid comes on board in a stroller, she turns her attention to the other little girl. There's still room to be intrigued and drawn into the world out there.
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