Competence of the future: make fire and speak to machines

Fabian Westerheide does not let his son use an iPad, but reads him from “Programming for Babies”. What looks paradoxical is his idea what children need: smartphone bans and AI compulsory lessons

Fabian Westerheide is a founding partner of the AI-focused venture capital investor AI.FUND and has been investing privately in ASGARD Capital in AI companies since 2014. Westerheide advises public and private institutions strategically in the field of AI and invites you to the AI ​​conference Rise of AI in Berlin every year. For start -up scene, he regularly writes about AI. What can you, where are the boundaries – or like this time: What do we have to do: Our children can actually be able to do a world full of AI in the future? In this text he describes why he does not use his little son on the one hand, but on the other he reads a book called “Programming for Babies” with him.

As a father, the perspective changes to technology. Where the smartphone used to be my constant companion, it becomes a conscious decision today – especially when our son is there. In my eyes, this personal transformation reflects a social debate that is currently taking off: How do we prepare the next generation in a AI-shaped world without exposing it to the dangers of excessive smartphone use?

Digital mindfulness begins in everyday life

Since the birth of our son I have been practicing something that I call “digital mindfulness”: The smartphone stays away – on the playground, in the garden, while playing. What initially seemed like waiver has long been a profit. Children bring us back to the here and now. Instead of being in world politics, I make sure that the offspring do not eat beetles.

Technology yes – but with meaning and structure

At the same time, technology is present with us – but with care. Alexa plays music or answers simple questions. Our vacuum robot is the largest for our son: he turns it on, follows him through the room, communicates with him – although he does not yet speak.

Technology is not a screen for him, but a roommate. His remote-controlled Wall-e-like play robot is more exciting for him than any cartoon. We also observed that: If we watched a film, the remote control was more interesting than the film itself. The interaction with the device, not the content, captivates it. He wants to make intuitive, not consume.

Nature instead of screen – because children instinctively feel it

In general, we pull out a lot. In the garden, in the forest, in nature. There our son wants to move, discover, dig, balance. He never requested an iPad. However, we never offered it to him. And that works surprisingly well.

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What children really have to learn today

These experiences have fundamentally changed my view of education and education. My personal motto for our son is:

He has to be able to do fire – and speak to machines.

He will decide everything in between.

We practice one thing at the fireplace. The other with a book called “Programming for Babies”. What seems playful has a serious core: Understanding simple logical concepts such as and and OR is increasingly becoming a basic competence – as once read and writing. It is not about making programmers out of our children, but preparing them for a world in which machines are no exception, but normal.

Mobile phone bans as recovery of attention

And this normality does not begin in professional life. It begins in the school yard.

Internationally, the realization is increasingly established that children at school need shelter. France banned smartphones for 3 to 15 year olds in 2018. The result: students run again, play cards, chat – the social space returns.

In the Netherlands, the consent among teachers clearly increased after a year of mobile phone ban. Germany is also moving: Saxony introduced a mobile phone ban at primary schools in 2025, and other federal states will follow. An analysis of the University of Augsburg shows that social well -being increases, distractions in class decrease – even if the effects on learning performance remain moderate.

AI competence is the real educational gap

At the same time, another topic is becoming increasingly pressing: artificial intelligence. While we are discussing Tikok on the schoolyard, many curricula lack dealing with AI. 63 percent of German students say: “We learn too little about it.” 69 percent consider AI competence to be important for their professional future.

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From the school year 2025/26 KI, Baden-Württemberg plans to integrate mandatory into the new subject “Computer Science and Media Education”. It's a start – but we need more of it. We do not need digital pedagogy as a nice add-on, but as a cornerstone of modern education.

Parents as digital role models – or risk?

Because our children grow up in a world in which they will meet machines – at home, in the classroom, in a later job. The crucial question is not ob use them, but How. Whether they only operate them – or understand them.

We parents are asked here. Studies show: 78 percent of parents consider good role models in media use. At the same time, children use their smartphones in half of these households much longer than agreed. The discrepancy is obvious. Children learn through observation. If we scroll at the playground instead of listening, no screen time will not help.

But not all parents have awareness or resources to deal with this responsibility. And here the state is in demand. If individual responsibility fails, clear rules are needed – as with nutrition, health or traffic. Measures are needed, the shooters and programs that enable.

Three building blocks for sustainable technology education

So what to do?

1. Schutz.

Mobile phone bans in schools – at least up to the 10th grade – make sense. Not as an anti -technology measure, but as a temporary shelter for social development and concentration. Not staggered according to age, but according to class level.

2. Competence.

Ki, media and data competence must become mandatory part of the curriculum- practical, age-appropriate, regular. For this we need teachers with digital training and curricula that keep pace with reality.

3. Strengthen parents.

Initiatives such as “Together Online: Find. Finding. Understanding” show how families can develop digital skills together. Such programs must be systematically promoted and made available across the board.

Conclusion: no less technology – but more responsibility

The future belongs to those who can both make fire and speak to machines. Our task is to prepare them for both – without fear of technology, but with a clear compass. The next generation does not need less technology, but more responsibility in dealing with it. And that starts with us – in the living room, in the garden, on the playground.

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