Kids Can't Use Computers... And This Is Why It Should Worry You

http://www.coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/

Watmm, your thoughts?

Lots of kids can't use maths, that's probably more worrying.

2much2read2care

Turning things off and then on again actually works a lot of the time.

I don't really care if other people can't use computers, it's their loss.

At least it gives someone like the person who wrote that article (or whatever it is) something to do and feel superior about.

I read a good chunk of it just to realize I wasn't even halfway through it

This is brilliant stuff. The title makes this seem like it's going to be a really boring worthless statement but, that was a really good read to me. I related to so much of it, I almost got up and started clapping.

To be honest, I haven't really seen this at all. I think he has a skewed vision on what he thinks people should know and is underestimating how much effort and interest it requires. I think he's also overestimating the value of knowing a lot about computers. That computer illiterate might know a lot of important things about the human body or he might be able to fix up a house.

Most people don't consider technology to be an important part of their lives, even if they use it every day. There are ready made solutions for most of the common problems and they are largely sufficient. I'd say my generation and older might have been more interested in computer technology because it was a new field that was evolving fast and it captured our imagination. But I think computer technology will always remain an appealing domain and the software will only get better so users that have no advanced knowledge can use the technology as well.

yes, most people are somewhat impotent. Well until neural implants become the norm. Well if they use them for technical knowledge instead of 'how to sing and dance like jackson' hacks.

  On 8/10/2013 at 11:12 AM, Ego said:

To be honest, I haven't really seen this at all. I think he has a skewed vision on what he thinks people should know and is underestimating how much effort and interest it requires. I think he's also overestimating the value of knowing a lot about computers. That computer illiterate might know a lot of important things about the human body or he might be able to fix up a house.

 

Most people don't consider technology to be an important part of their lives, even if they use it every day. There are ready made solutions for most of the common problems and they are largely sufficient. I'd say my generation and older might have been more interested in computer technology because it was a new field that was evolving fast and it captured our imagination. But I think computer technology will always remain an appealing domain and the software will only get better so users that have no advanced knowledge can use the technology as well.

 

Agreed. I might add that a couple of years ago, people complained about how complicated computers were. That they needed computers to do some work for them (whatever it may be), but they spent more time setting it up and configuring than actually working. I could almost say they demanded an OS to be simple and working out of the box. Some just don't have the interest and/or time to dwell into these things. And companies made OS that was working out of the box.

Even I, about fifteen years younger, completely blown away by computers, wanted to do everything by myself. I disliked Windows for its lack of customization. So I went to Unix/Linux and spent several years playing around with different distros, writing my Bash scripts, spending whole nights trying to set up my salvaged 486 PC for a local mail/game/file server or making X-Windows work on my main computer by writing configuration scripts because there was no direct support for the graphic drivers, etc... It was fun to me.

But today I use my computer as a tool, and it's important to me, because I make a living with it. So I demand that it is working well and stable, because I simply can't afford anymore to spent the night trying to make things work when there is more important work to be done.

It's like cars. Some people need it just to work, others are building their own. I see nothing wrong with that. But the real downside of this all (and what is also pointed out in the article) is that companies started making things more and more impossible to upgrade and customize. Economy.......

  On 8/10/2013 at 10:39 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

This is brilliant stuff. The title makes this seem like it's going to be a really boring worthless statement but, that was a really good read to me. I related to so much of it, I almost got up and started clapping.

yes.

he uses a really fitting term in the end - "digital illiteracy", we live in digital times and computer skills are as essential as reading and writing in the world of the written word.

I wanted to write my opinion in Assembly, but couldn't be arsed.

O, and btw, I live in a house. I even own one. But I don't know how to build one. Stupid.....

Great article, thanks very much for sharing!

This man sounds like a misogynist to me

I feel like this guy just groans to himself every-time someone asks him a question and thinks everyone is a retard. He fixes the problem non vocally and doesn't teach the person what to do when the problem pops up in the future.

Although i do agree with him to an extent, I never claimed to know how to use a computer. I know enough to realize how much shit i don't know how to do. I always find it funny when an old person expect me to just fix their computer when all i really use a computer for is the internet and Microsoft Word...

  On 8/10/2013 at 10:26 AM, zkreso said:

I don't really care if other people can't use computers, it's their loss.

If this essay is too long for you to read, you're either too busy doing important shit - doubtful, cause you're on WATMM - or you should go ahead and evaluate your ability to concentrate. Take more than 15 seconds when you do this.

    Quote

She re-evaluated her categorisation of me. Rather than being some faceless, keyboard tapping, socially inept, sexually inexperienced, network monkey, she now saw me as a colleague. To people like her, technicians are a necessary annoyance. She’d be quite happy to ignore them all, joke about them behind their backs, snigger at them to their faces, but she knows that when she can’t display her PowerPoint on the IWB she’ll need a technician, and so she maintains a facade of politeness around them, while inwardly dismissing them as too geeky to interact with.

 

I somewhat know this feel.

i just found this podcast which looks interesting: http://hyperland.com/ccynPage-D1

from the same guy there exists a book: Computer Lib / Dream Machines.

If you're going to read only book about computers, read this.

Captain Obvious would like the OP article i bet...

It seems a natural byproduct of technological progress. Specialization allows for great complexity. He said himself he has a car he doesn't know how to fix. If everyone spent their lives trying to learn how to supply all of their needs themselves we likely wouldn't have computers in the first place.

  On 8/10/2013 at 9:25 PM, Jur said:

 

    Quote

She re-evaluated her categorisation of me. Rather than being some faceless, keyboard tapping, socially inept, sexually inexperienced, network monkey, she now saw me as a colleague. To people like her, technicians are a necessary annoyance. She’d be quite happy to ignore them all, joke about them behind their backs, snigger at them to their faces, but she knows that when she can’t display her PowerPoint on the IWB she’ll need a technician, and so she maintains a facade of politeness around them, while inwardly dismissing them as too geeky to interact with.

 

 

I somewhat know this feel.

 

But now I feel like I don't need to read the article now that I see what baggage is behind it.

  On 8/10/2013 at 8:58 PM, Wall Bird said:

If this essay is too long for you to read, you're either too busy doing important shit - doubtful, cause you're on WATMM - or you should go ahead and evaluate your ability to concentrate. Take more than 15 seconds when you do this.

This is just a stupid thing to say.

  On 8/10/2013 at 8:58 PM, Wall Bird said:

If this essay is too long for you to read, you're either too busy doing important shit - doubtful, cause you're on WATMM - or you should go ahead and evaluate your ability to concentrate. Take more than 15 seconds when you do this.

This black-or-white, "if you don't agree with me you're stupid" way of thinking is what made me stop reading the essay

I don't know what the essay is about but i think there should be a kid-internet for people under 17 to learn how to behave in the internet (sort of how school is good for kids to learn social skills,etc).

This kid-internet should also be slower, this will help them appreciate the Internet much more.