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

You'd be surprised at how many toddlers think they know what PPP is.

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:29 PM, Deer said:

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.

 

lol

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:54 PM, Timothy Forward said:

 

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:29 PM, Deer said:

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.

 

lol

 

 

And they should use harddrives with only 8 gig on it, so that they will understand the value of a megabyte.

Essay reminds me of this: Brain Rot, (or, Will Using Mathematica Rot My Students' Brains?)

 

Good questions to be asking imo, though I agree with Jerry Glynn's perspective in Brain Rot...

I bet the guy that wrote the article spends a lot of time on slashdot.

It seems likely.

  On 8/11/2013 at 5:31 PM, triachus said:

 

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:54 PM, Timothy Forward said:

 

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:29 PM, Deer said:

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.

 

lol

 

 

And they should use harddrives with only 8 gig on it, so that they will understand the value of a megabyte.

 

 

lol.

8 gig!!! Fuck me sideways. My first home computer had a total of 512K memory.

I know others on here had even less. I certainly remember using trash 80's and loading cassettes at school until we upgraded to apple II Es.

 

That fellow had some terrible writing for a teacher.

  On 8/11/2013 at 4:24 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

 

  On 8/10/2013 at 10:58 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

 

 

Hmm. I was a bit coarse. Sorry for that.

 

What were you implying, That Spanish Guy, when you remarked on only being halfway through the essay? I interpreted it as you stating it was too long.

 

What primarily bothers me is Chartnok's "2long2read2care" reply to the article, which is explicit in it's disinterest towards an article which is not far shorter. This article does not take more than ten minutes to read (disregarding the tangent video and hyperlinks) so it bothers me that someone would disregard it because of it's length; which is reasonable. If I were talking with someone I would be willing to listen to them explain for ten minutes if they felt it was important. I think it's important to hear someone's argument through to the end, lest I cut them off early and risk drawing false conclusions because I thought I knew everything they were going to say.

 

After reading the article I haven't gotten any impression of "if you don't agree with me your stupid" from the writer. What passages did you have in mind? Such a tone is pretty unclassy (again, apologies) but let's also keep in mind that this is a persuasive essay, so even in all but the most extreme instances of condescension surely we can take these things with a grain of salt and consider their valid points when they occur(?).

Well, I frequently shake my head about people who happen to own a lot of expensive high-end technology yet don't have a clue about how to use it. Makes me wonder why they spent money on it in the first place. Because a salesperson told them to, or because it makes them feel good about themselves owning something that is "high-end" and expensive, but not knowing what it's actually capable of doing...

 

I also dislike how a lot of people have a tendency of throwing something in the trash and buying a newer version of the same thing, even when it's still perfectly fixable.

 

However,

 

  On 8/10/2013 at 1:12 PM, Ego said:

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.

 

^ absolutely this. While I happen to know what the author is talking about most of the time, it's understandable most people don't. I could mock him for hours for not being able to tell a stick insect from a beetle, or to cook or fuck properly, or whatever. The whole article sounds like the wet dream of a socially awkward person who's writing down the cool things he wishes he would have said. Very annoying read for me!

  On 8/12/2013 at 12:41 AM, Terpentintollwut said:

 

  On 8/10/2013 at 1:12 PM, Ego said:

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.

 

^ absolutely this. While I happen to know what the author is talking about most of the time, it's understandable most people don't. I could mock him for hours for not being able to tell a stick insect from a beetle, or to cook or fuck properly, or whatever. The whole article sounds like the wet dream of a socially awkward person who's writing down the cool things he wishes he would have said. Very annoying read for me!

 

Really well-said, both of you. This is a large part of the essay/link I posted earlier (Brain Rot). I know this may be tl;dr for some random article, but bear with me (sorry for the formatting... I know how to use forums, but I apparently don't know how to get them to do what I want -- a relevant problem indeed, lol)

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2013 by luke viia

At the end of the day kids learn what you teach them, the national curriculum does not have the correct content to give kids a good start in the world.

 

Ideally the gap here should be filled by parents, but as we live in a busy modern world this doesn't always happen.

 

Why are there no classes on managing finances and understanding legal jargon?

 

Why are kids leaving school without basic computer skills?

 

Why are kids not taught their rights at school?

 

It does not serve the government to do so.

What he's really griping about is the lack of critical thinking skills, not how to/not to use a computer.

 

Just stop and think a bit, eh?

  On 8/12/2013 at 2:11 PM, MadameChaos said:

At the end of the day kids learn what you teach them, the national curriculum does not have the correct content to give kids a good start in the world.

 

Ideally the gap here should be filled by parents, but as we live in a busy modern world this doesn't always happen.

 

Why are there no classes on managing finances and understanding legal jargon?

 

Why are kids leaving school without basic computer skills?

 

Why are kids not taught their rights at school?

 

It does not serve the government to do so.

Yerp.

  On 8/12/2013 at 2:11 PM, MadameChaos said:

At the end of the day kids learn what you teach them, the national curriculum does not have the correct content to give kids a good start in the world.

 

Ideally the gap here should be filled by parents, but as we live in a busy modern world this doesn't always happen.

 

Why are there no classes on managing finances and understanding legal jargon?

 

Why are kids leaving school without basic computer skills?

 

Why are kids not taught their rights at school?

 

It does not serve the government to do so.

Excellent post. I think of my education as mostly useless things packaged to look like I should care. Only a few classes taught anything useful or thoughtful. School should absolutely include courses that would be helpful or thought-provoking to a high-functioning adult. It's hard not to feel like our governments want us to be easily duped consumers and sacrifice our education for it.

 

However, I do agree with the concept put forth in Luke's post (thanks for that, it was a good read) that sometimes you simply need to be challenged, and not necessarily in a way that will turn out to be practical for you. Just in a way that teaches you to be resourceful and have the stamina to be proficient in an area where you started from zero. I had to learn that in a work environment because I refused to in school, pretty much, and it's a great skill.

 

Then again, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing it on your own, in an area that you care about/earns you money, because those are tangibly rewarding.

  On 8/22/2013 at 8:42 AM, A/D said:

 

  On 8/12/2013 at 2:11 PM, MadameChaos said:

At the end of the day kids learn what you teach them, the national curriculum does not have the correct content to give kids a good start in the world.

 

Ideally the gap here should be filled by parents, but as we live in a busy modern world this doesn't always happen.

 

Why are there no classes on managing finances and understanding legal jargon?

 

Why are kids leaving school without basic computer skills?

 

Why are kids not taught their rights at school?

 

It does not serve the government to do so.

I do agree with the concept put forth in Luke's post (thanks for that, it was a good read) that sometimes you simply need to be challenged, and not necessarily in a way that will turn out to be practical for you. Just in a way that teaches you to be resourceful and have the stamina to be proficient in an area where you started from zero.

Yerp again.

*prints thread* *unable to build a printer*