Futurist: Technology can help rural America attract young people

A futurist said Nov. 5 that young people view the communications devices they use as a part of their community, not mere tools, and this perspective will change how they live, work and play in ways that could benefit rural America.

Meantime, rural Nebraskans already are generating new ideas to revitalize their communities, ranging from using smartphone apps to give old town museums new life to providing special credit or donated land to help young farmers and ranchers get a start.

Tom Koulopoulos, founder of the Delphi Group, was keynote speaker for the University of Nebraskas second annual Rural Futures Conference, which ended Nov. 5 at the Cornhusker Hotel.

Koulopoulos said that humans always have sought out community, but technology is changing how they define it.

Community is what we seek and embrace, he said. Urbanization occurred because people found it necessary to gather in large numbers to conduct commerce and communicate. Thats not true anymore.

Kids are growing up constantly connected to each other and their devices. These devices become part of their community, Koulopoulos said. The notion of what community is will change in ways that are impossible for us to fathom right now.

Those changes could benefit rural America, he added. He predicted a mass exodus of future generations away from cities.

These kids want meaning. They want quality. They want a better life, he said. Kids realize they dont have to live in cities to get it.

NU President James B. Milliken said the Rural Futures Institute, which sponsors the conference, fits perfectly with the land-grant universitys mission, first set out more than 150 years ago, to connect universities to their states citizens.

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Futurist: Technology can help rural America attract young people