Vanishing cash means ‘digital literacy’ is vital

Vanishing cash means ‘digital literacy’ is vital

Forget pounds, dollars or even bitcoin. There’s only one currency that my two-year-old niece currently understands — and it’s pain aux raisins.

Bribery is a key feature of “Auntie Claer care”. If she’s been good, she gets a treat at the coffee shop on our way home (her favourite part is unravelling the pastry and picking out all the raisins). And another important part of this occasional ritual? She likes to pay for it herself.

Even at her tender age, my niece has worked out that tapping contactless cards on payment terminals is a medium of exchange. Naturally, she wants to be the one to tap my card.

I am all for giving children early exposure to money and payments, but what worries me is the invisibility of digital transactions versus the physicality of notes and coins. Do children realise that actual money is being spent, or think this “magic card” simply makes everything possible?

Tapping away, it’s easy for adults to forget we are spending money. I’m ashamed to admit I couldn’t tell you exactly how much a single pain aux raisins costs. I know it’s around £2, but I always buy a coffee too — and I rarely ask for receipts for