A Call for a Bold and Proactive Approach to Technology

It's forbidden, yet often done: using a second phone under the table.

In my view, technology, the internet, and AI should neither be rejected outright nor touted as the only solution.

We don’t have a TV in our Waldorf home. No black 16:9 screen in front of the sofa, no satellite dish on the roof, no cable TV. Instead, our projector lives under the sofa, casting an even bigger image onto the white wall across the room. I truly grew up in the Waldorf tradition—not hardcore, but in spirit: I’m a third-generation Waldorf student, and great importance is placed on singing, art, and spirituality. And somehow, that’s who I am and how I feel. I’m close to nature, approach everyday life with a sense of discovery, try to support the community, and am the only one in my class taking eurythmy, which is an elective-required course for us. At the same time, though, I’m tech-savvy, enjoy programming, and spend many hours a day in front of the screen.

Trial, error, and insight

I had my first hands-on experience with digital technology using an old laptop a neighbor gave me, on which I taught myself how to program. I was twelve at the time. Although my father is an IT consultant and gave me my first programming book, I figured out the specific steps for developing my own websites and programs on my own. A lot of it was trial and error at first: constant error messages that I tried to resolve on my own or with help from the vast resources of the internet. I still remember a recipe platform with built-in timers and fridge inventory lists that I wanted to build. Although it was never finished, my own insights into small components and subtasks helped me enormously in understanding the basic structure and function of all programs.

At our school, apart from a course on using word processing programs and an attempt at touch typing, there was little focus on digital devices or tools. But to what extent can and should such things even exist at Waldorf schools? Cell phones have long since found their way into our school building. No actual ban on cell phones, such as the one in place at our school, can stand up to this reality. While violations are met with warnings, breaks without a smartphone are hardly conceivable anymore—if necessary, students just use them in the restroom. And even collecting the devices during tests and exams doesn’t necessarily help (the trend is toward having a second phone). It’s not just like this at my school, and the teachers surely know that. And especially today, with highly advanced artificial intelligence (by which I mainly mean so-called large language models, such as ChatGPT), which no longer feel like stochastic machines, such a simple answer machine in one’s pocket is not only very helpful for homework.

A tool, not a pastime

This is precisely where the crucial dividing line lies: between passive consumption and active use. After all, the internet offers so much more than just the major platforms of so-called social media and the gaming industry, which are constantly criticized. Vast amounts of human knowledge are condensed, analyzed, and freely accessible. In high school, where so much (also due to the state curriculum) relies solely on knowledge and debate, these facts must also be accessible and verifiable. While cell phones, consumerism, and colorful games with dopamine-inducing features never appealed to me (I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was 14), many are quickly ensnared by the algorithms (I can observe this particularly closely with my little brother). After all, it is precisely this attention that is, as is well known, the goal of the major platforms on the internet.

When I told my classmates about the article I was writing, one of the first reactions was that I should finally call for smartboards instead of green chalkboards and tablets instead of workbooks. Just like what’s already the case in almost all public schools. And against the flood of printed worksheets—over the past five years, more than 3.5 kilograms of paper have accumulated in my English and French folders—a handy tablet would certainly be an elegant solution. Besides, nothing would fly through the classroom, the materials wouldn’t get lost so easily, and for the use case I just mentioned, about 0.05 trees wouldn’t have been cut down (that’s what the AI calculated for me). On the other hand, such a purchase isn’t just a question of money. After all, it creates the potential for collective distraction, and technical understanding and willingness among the teaching staff are necessary. We have to realize that the latter can never be up to date; today’s changes are too fast, too vast, and the time available is too limited. And maybe that’s a good thing. Because nothing strikes us young people as more alienating—it’s also called «cringe»—than when adults desperately try to imitate our digital world.

Freedom, mistakes, and progress

It’s not just external experts who can help by offering suggestions and insights. Simply creating space for experimentation can lead to a deep understanding of what is helpful or hindering, boring or fun, when working with digital tools. For me, this became evident, for example, during a project week nearly three years ago when I developed ChatWithSteiner together with classmates—an AI simulation of Rudolf Steiner «fed» with many of his works (see Erziehungskunst, October 2023). Many users have provided feedback stating that this is what first enabled them to gain direct access to complex anthroposophical content and receive answers to their questions without first having to wade through pages of difficult-to-read literature.

In a detailed questionnaire on bullying at our school that I designed—which I was able to administer digitally and evaluate automatically (interestingly, there was less cyberbullying than physical and verbal violence)—I found that the technical capabilities allowed me to achieve a level of complexity that would not otherwise have been possible. At the same time, a paradox emerged here: Since the «media-free» 5th and 6th-grade classes at our school were not allowed to participate and were also not supposed to fill out the questionnaire with their parents at home, the ban on the digital tool obscured the social reality of these students. Nevertheless, through this active development process, I was able to gain a deep understanding of the specific contexts and challenges myself.

In my view, technology, the internet, and AI should neither be rejected outright nor touted as the sole solution. And yes, I, too, often find myself spending too much time on my smartphone, scrolling through videos, or chatting unnecessarily with AI. That is precisely why we need both: the skills to navigate technology and AI, which will almost certainly continue to be part of our lives (there’s virtually no way around it). And the awareness of what defines us as human beings. As Waldorf schools, we already have the necessary focus on the individual and a balance provided by art, music, and eurythmy.

The courage to experiment

We need to experiment (and banish that old slide projector from art history class), have the courage to fail (like when the HDMI cable connected to our new projector in the 12th-grade classroom turns out to be defective), and find solutions together (by simply having someone climb onto a chair to plug in the laptop directly). 

Link to templates for conducting and automatically evaluating questionnaires at the Waldorf School in Potsdam:

github.com/Waldorfschule-Potsdam-Dev/Mobbing