Public Interest Technology and Youth

[Afua Bruce]: The media, too, has a piece to play here. What types of stories do we tell about the agency children have to make a difference today? Or even how they should consider engaging with technology. Do we emphasize the destructive aspects of social media, or do we provide inspiration for problem solving? Children have an ability to combine tech and the public interest today. Public interest technologists have a space in every sector because the products we use every day, products that dictate how we interact with the world are in the public interest. The combination of skills that public interest technologies bring, including empathy and long term perspective taking, evaluation of tradeoffs with an ethical and legal framework and consideration of societal implications are available to children today. We must help children see and believe that they are critical to having technologies that recognize everyone, regardless of skin tone, and disseminate true and accurate information. I think this is possible, and I’m really excited to see ways that we continue to encourage children to really engage with technology positively and not negatively.