I Just Returned from the Future

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

March 06, 2011

I just returned from the future.

In one of the strangest experiences I have had in a while, I lived the future as I read about it. I did not realize it for a while, but then it struck me suddenly over dinner: “I am what I am reading!”

Let me explain.

As I write this I am nearing the end of my annual Think Week. During Think Week my primary focus is prayer and reading. On this trip I took several books with me, including Humility (Andrew Murray), The Culture Code (Clotaire Rapaille), Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (John Piper), Derailed (Tim Irwin), Death by Meeting (Patrick Lencioni), and Generous Justice (Tim Keller).

I also took Anywhere: How Global Connectivity Is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business (Emily Nagle Green). This is the book I was reading when I realized that I was living the future. I will summarize its key points and their implications for our schools in a subsequent post, but for now let me state the theme plainly: within the next ten years the global ubiquitous digital network will connect most of the world’s people, places, information, and things, which will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, teach, and learn.

The author, Emily Green, knows her subject well. She is the President and CEO of the Yankee Group — one of the world’s premier research firms on the impact of the global connectivity revolution, with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.

One of the most fascinating portions of the book is her description of five consumer segments: Analogs, Technophiles, Digital Shut-ins, Outlet Jockeys, and Actualized Anywheres (AAs). As I was reading over dinner, it dawned on me how fully I was exhibiting the characteristics of the Actualized Anywheres. The short description of AAs is that they “bring the concept of a ubiquitously connected consumer to life.” That is when it struck me — I was literally living the future she was describing.

Here is how I know. I wrote down how I was handling both recreational and work-related tasks during Think Week. Here is a short list.

• All of my books, newspapers, and magazines are on my iPad. I read, highlight, annotate, and share reading content electronically.
• I downloaded a book immediately onto my iPad based on a recommendation from the book I was reading at the time.
• I held a video call with my daughter and granddaughter using FaceTime on my iPhone.
• I sent an email through Facebook to friends and family and accepted a connection request from a professional colleague on LinkedIn.
• I used the Yelp application on my iPhone to find restaurants and read reviews before choosing a place for dinner. I also wrote a review of my own for the benefit of others.
• I used my Garmin GPS to navigate to the restaurant.
• While driving and while dining, I used an iPhone application called SoundHound to identify and order songs for download. I had enjoyed the music but could not remember the titles; SoundHound solved that problem.
• I used an application called NoteSelf on my iPad to take notes with a stylus, including notes for this article. No paper or pen required.
• I used the Evernote application to send clippings from the books I was reading to my administrative assistant for transcription, so the information could be entered into my Endnote program for future reference and citation.
• I used Logos Bible Software to study and write a devotional for my faculty.
• I used Adobe Acrobat to produce the devotional as a PDF, uploaded it to Box.net for cloud storage and sharing, then distributed it to all school staff via Outlook.
• I used LoseIt on my iPhone to track my calories and my running.
• One of the books I was reading referenced a 2004 New York Times article on how Apple outflanked Sony in music players — a case study in disruptive innovation. I retrieved and read the article online.
• I am using my laptop to type this article, which I will then post to the blog.

Now, before you react with something like “Are you serious?” — let me highlight the key point. I am using mobile devices connected to a global digital network to get things done and to enrich my life wherever I go. I have a seminary’s worth of books in my Logos Bible program. I have an entire library on my iPad. I have a large collection of music in my pocket. I can read restaurant reviews before deciding where to eat. And I was able to see and speak with my granddaughter from a hotel room hours away.

Some readers — perhaps many — have no interest in using technology in the ways I describe above. That is entirely acceptable. They are most likely Analogs. Most people are. All of us fall somewhere within the consumer segments Emily Green describes.

What does this have to do with our schools? A great deal. What I have just described is how most of our younger parents and our current students will conduct their personal and professional lives.

As school leaders, we must understand that our younger parents — those born in the mid to late seventies — and certainly our current students and future parents do care about these things. They will live and work much as I have described. Mobile computing and connectivity will be a given, woven into the fabric of their daily lives. Their expectation, increasingly, will be that our classrooms and school-to-home communication reflect the realities of global connectivity.

This is a sea change — as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow.

Are we preparing our school infrastructures for it? Are we preparing and training our faculty? Are we preparing our students for the new work world ahead? Are we providing a biblical framework for understanding and using technology for God’s glory? Are we modeling the use of technology for our teachers and administrators?

This is one of my favorite quotations from the book:

New things are an easy target for those who lack imagination … Years ago, no one understood why e-mail was worthwhile. Now, no one thinks twice about it — but they are busy talking about why Twitter is stupid. — Bob Metcalfe

Let us put our sanctified imaginations to work. Let us travel to the future — and return to our schools ready.