Verena Pausder, Founder of Fox & Sheep

Digital Consumption vs. Creation and Child Development

• Verena Pauster argues that digital consumption, if left unregulated, suppresses creativity and hinders the development of "creators" in the next generation.
• Pauster advocates for a "time budget" on digital consumption, where device access is strictly limited unless paired with a "creation task."
  • Valid creation activities include stop-motion video production, podcasting, coding, or robotics programming.
  • Unlike consumption time limits, creation time is flexible and not capped by duration, prioritizing the final output over time spent.
• Pauster cites a specific study conducted during the pandemic involving families with low educational backgrounds:
  • Children in these demographics played Fortnite for an average of six to seven hours per day.
  • This figure is starkly contrasted with historical data from Pauster's childhood, where average TV consumption was two to three hours.
• Pauster emphasizes that the goal of digital strategy for children is to create "evergreen" content (like classic books) rather than fast-moving digital consumer goods that vanish in 3–4 years.
  • Her company, Fox and Sheep, achieved over 30 million downloads across 135 countries and 18 languages to prove the viability of scaling children's apps globally.

Digital Education Infrastructure and Inequality

• The pandemic exposed critical failures in Germany's school digital infrastructure, revealing that 2.8 million students received no lessons during lockdowns due to a lack of internet access, devices, or parental support.
• Germany's education system is characterized by high inequality, with an OECD study confirming that a child's future is heavily predetermined by parental wealth and household background.
  • The current system sorts students into tracks (e.g., Gymnasium vs. secondary schools) early on, often based on the ability to afford tutoring.
  • This "drawer" (Schublade) system lacks early talent scouting and traps students in limited career paths.
• Pauster identifies individualized learning as the primary value of digital education, as the system cannot double its teacher workforce to meet demand.
  • Digital tools allow for personalized pacing, language adaptation (e.g., German vs. English speakers), and tailored support for specific talents or shortcomings.
• To address infrastructure and teacher gaps, Pauster's non-profit focuses on three specific interventions:
  • Teacher Training: Accelerating digital literacy to ensure teachers use devices to save time rather than acting as system administrators.
  • After-School Programs: Providing coding, robotics, and animation classes in schools that otherwise lack content for after-hours care.
  • Subsidized Access: Paying fees for children to join coding classes in digital labs across Germany to ensure no student is excluded due to cost.

Legislative Impact: "Stay on Board"

• The "Stay on Board" initiative was launched in March 2020 following the resignation of Delia Lachance, a CEO and board member of the listed company West Wing, who left the board due to pregnancy and the lack of legal protections for parental leave in that role.
• The campaign successfully lobbied for legislative change in Germany, resulting in a new law passed in June 2023 allowing board members of stock-listed companies to take parental and extended leaves without losing their position or liability status.
  • The legislation applies to both women and men, enabling board members to take a 2–3 month time out.
  • The law represents a change to regulations that had remained static for over 100 years.
• The initiative succeeded by leveraging external pressure and support from high-profile figures, including Dieter Zetsche, former CEO of Daimler.

Strategic Vision for Germany

• In her book The New Country, Pauster proposes a framework where digitalization serves as the foundational element for national modernization across four pillars:
  • Decarbonization
  • Education
  • Equal rights
  • Diversity
• Pauster critiques her generation (born around 1980) for remaining "too quiet" on societal challenges compared to the "Fridays for Future" movement, noting that the previous generation focused on growing personal wealth and often deferred societal payback until retirement.
• The book serves as a "solution" guide rather than a shaming narrative, outlining actionable steps for mid-career professionals to drive political and social change from outside of parliament.

Family and Career Dynamics

• Pauster advocates for a "family promise" model for dual-career couples, where partners explicitly agree to prioritize equal access to family time and career flexibility.
  • Both parents register on school and childcare lists under both names to prevent the automatic assumption that the mother is the primary caregiver.
  • The arrangement allows for "phased" support, where one partner provides more backing during the other's intense career phases (e.g., company founding).
• The strategy explicitly acknowledges that simultaneous 80-hour work weeks are incompatible with raising a family; partners must adjust workloads to accommodate the other's needs.