Bananas, QR Codes and a Komodo Dragon

As a father, I am consistently amazed as I watch the world spring to life through the eyes of my four year-old son. His enthusiasm and amazement are contagious. The questions, observations and statements he puts out there make me think about life in a way that keeps me on my toes and never lets me get too comfortable with my perception of everyday things.

Perhaps most intriguing for me, though, are my son’s interactions with technology.

A few weeks ago, as we were eating breakfast together on a Saturday morning, he asked for a banana. More than happy he had asked for a piece of fresh fruit instead of Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms, I quickly grabbed him a banana from the kitchen, put it down next to his cereal bowl and resumed my position across from him at the dining room table.

“Dad, do you have your phone,” he asked.

“Uh, it’s docked upstairs,” I replied. “Why, buddy? What do you need?”

“Can you go get it so I can scan this?”

When I looked up from the newspaper, I saw sitting in front of me a 4 year-old boy holding up a banana with a QR code sticker on it. A QR code. On a banana.

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, the craziest part was that I never told him what a QR code is. He had no idea about my history with 2D barcodes or the fact that Mrs. Chiquita was actually just shilling a silly banana-themed mobile phone ringtone. Regardless, he was curious and interested. So I went upstairs, grabbed my phone and showed him how the codes work.

[ Insert diatribe about marketing with QR codes here ]

Later that day, in a curious and coincidental turn of events, we took a family trip to the zoo. Low-and-behold, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium has introduced QR codes at select animal stations throughout the property. As we made our way along the zoo path on that unusually warm January afternoon, the QR codes drew us into a deeper connection with the elephants, orangutans, sea otters and my kid’s absolute favorite, the komodo dragon.

Together, father and son. And iPhone makes three.

My amazement doesn’t end with QR codes. Watching him interact with the family iPad or laptop computer is a thing of wonder for me. Perhaps this is because my generation grew up without these things, perhaps it’s due to the unknown promise of an unfathomable future for my son. It’s intuitive for him. He gets it. The opportunity presented to him through these technologies is unlimited. The world is virtually at his fingertips.

From my perspective, in these moments he is experiencing the future. To him, however, these technologies are a way of life. They have always been there. Little does he know, it’s just the beginning.