Antonella

Diary Entry- December 20th, 2099

My name is Paula, I am a working mom with both my children directly involved with the new education system in New Toronto. We moved to New Toronto at the start of the year and we’re coming to the end of our one year of being here. I’m not really sure where to begin…. It feels like this new world is moving a lot faster than I can keep up. I feel like I’m falling behind in this new lifestyle of AI. I look at my children, they’re growing up in a world so unfamiliar that it terrifies me.

Paula and her family

My children have always been curious, always the type to ask questions. The questions they ask now are not the same questions I asked at their age. They don’t ask about the leaves and why they change colour, or why the moon is full on specific days instead of all the time. Their questions now are in relation to the latest updates on their virtual classrooms, or their digital tutors. I’ve been told that technology is supposed to make things easier for us, sometimes I can’t shake this feeling that technology is pulling my children father away from the world that I knew. Not just the world I knew, but the kind of world I imagined my kids growing up in.

My kids have been attending their new school for a year now. At the beginning I was excited that the idea of a virtual school even excised and that it can adapt to the children’s needs, personalized learning and endless hours of sitting inside a classroom. I think being outside will help my children connect more with the learning instead of being inside all the time. Now that we’re coming to the end of our year I feel as though something has been lost. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but watching my kids on their devices all day worries me. I worry about there being no room for mistakes in this kind of world, no room to fail and pick yourself back up again.

Is this the future I want for my kids? There are days where they’re being taught by AI that knows everything about them, but at times it feels like they know them too much. Theres always this constant pressure to perform, there’s no break from the screen or holograms. It’s not just the academic aspect of it it’s the social pressures they feel. My kids always compare themselves to their peers and can be overwhelming. My son Lucas told me the other day on how one of his peers was doing a lot better in him. How can I explain to both my kids that not everything should be measured when all my kids have every known is the pursuit of perfection?

I also feel a sense of guilt. My job at the environmental research centre takes up a lot of my time. The work I do is crucial with the change in weather due to global warming. I should be spending time with my kids, I should be guiding them through these changes. My work requires all of me and is very demanding. I wonder what kind of future my kids will be heading into. There have been recent talks about new bio-tech farms popping up on the outskirts of New Toronto. They’re in development right now on new ways to grow food. What happens when that technology isn’t enough?

Environmental Research Centre where Paula works.

I try having this conversation with my husband Antonio. Like me he is focused on his work as well, he usually works long hours so it’s sometimes harder to have these conversations of fear and anxieties. I do what I can to help my children, we attend their parent teacher interviews over the virtual channels, I also do daily check ins on their digital journals and listen to them talk about their day in their virtual classroom. Sometimes I feel like we’re worlds apart, they’re just so different from how I was at their age. Back then, we had time to play, to make mistakes and to just be kids.

Sometimes I feel like it’s the fault of my generation, while other times I feel like it was always meant to go this way. The world is always changing, and it will forever be that way. I know I can’t shield them from what’s to come and the life we live in now, but my hope for them is to think for themselves and to see the world with their heart as well as their minds. My hope is that one day they’ll understand why I worry and why I push them to take breaks from their screens. I always remind them of the importance of the real world and to connect with it, and how they’ll understand that my worry is not about the rejection of technology.

I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I also don’t know if one day they’ll thank me for my worrying. The worry will always be there, they’re my children as long as I’m present I’ll continue to fight for whatever pieces of their childhood I can.

Sincerely

-Paula