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

[bcredeur97]

I'm quite capable with most hardware and general technology. I can troubleshoot most issues as well but I don't have a clue about programing so if someone gave me 10 000 WPA2 passwords and told me the right one is somewhere in there I would have gone insane or (if I could use the internet on my phone or another computer) I would started begging people on LTT for some help. Otherwise I completely agree with that blog.

 

I learned how to install a GPU when my old prebuilt system couldn't play a game I wanted. The GPU wasn't anything impressive either just some old card that was lying around the house but it was enough to play KotOR, JKJA, Battlefront 2, and a few other titles that I can't remember. That was a few years ago when I was making the switch from PS3 to a PC.

 

Wow I learned SO MUCH in so little time then. I was modding decently well back then; now I sort of lost the modding skills I used to have. I mean I was surprized to find out that I need to make folders/copy files to the witcher 2's dictionary to get a mod to work. Even though that's exacly how KotOR modding worked with the overwrite folder or something like that. Point being I got too dependent on the nexus mod manager and other mod managing tools. Some mods often include an exe file that installs them and although it makes life simpler and its easier to just double click a program it doesn't help with learning how to mod.

 

I personally learned almost everything I know about computers thanks to gaming. Since one does not simple game without trying modding and it just goes from there :D

if someone gave me a list of 10K WPA2 passwords i would capture some packets from thier network and start wordlist cracking with backtrack lol. this is probably the cheapest way to do it, but hey it works:)

[bcredeur97]

@ElfFriend have you ever gone into a game's config files and just started playing around? lol I do that a lot in some lesser-known games.

[WoodenMarker]

I plan on buying a (current generation) Raspberry Pi for my kids when they turn 5-6 years old, and simply giving it to them with basic instructions (either my own, or any manuals available), and let them figure it out. If they have trouble, they can ask me. If not, no big deal.

 

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat it for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll feed himself for a lifetime". 

 

Why a (current gen) Raspberry Pi? (Assuming I'd have kids in 3-4 years and add on 5-6 more, it'll be way outdated) I want to teach them to not only learn to use technology by themselves, but to also learn to appreciate the power of outdated technology, and to understand just what computers CAN do with the available resources. Sure, programs outgrow hardware all the time, but even old hardware is capable of doing so much more than people claim it can do. By using a high end computer from the get-go, you end up taking computing power for granted and not appreciating the true power of even the most basic of computers. 

"Here you go son." *Hands over Commodore 64*

[Kilerbomb]

Very nice article. I completely agree.

[NinjaStyle013]

Sucks that kids need to even be exposed to having to use computers at a young age. High schol and late primary school is fine but its ridiculous that it becomes the center of fun.

 

It isnt justthat its that its compeltely replaced anything else. When i was a kid like 7 I got an xbox & i played it to hell but i still got outside & played. Ive seen too many kids freak out over it. Having a tantrum over a pc is fucking silly especially if its cuz your farm isnt making money or because you wanna buy some stupid icon or something.

 

Parents moderate it usage. Please.

[EChondo]

"One of the biggest problem I see with the new generation of people is that they are scared to fail" <--- the biggest problem imo. People see multicolored wires and they run for their lives.

That's actually quite funny.

I remember when I was 5 my dad wanted to switch out the optical drives in the original Xbox's we had, so while he was at work I did it for him, he got home was completely surprised and I was just sitting there playing Xbox haha.

I agree, not many people want to take that risk of screwing something up. I guess that is the main thing that separates a lot of us.

[EricX2]

The story was pretty long so I just skimmed over it. Here is my feeling and it's something I've thought for a long time.

 

I don't think kids can't use computers, I think they don't care. Everyone wants their computer to be like their game console/phone/tablet where they just turn on, you install apps and use them. Configuring stuff? Learning how stuff works? Who has time for that?

 

It isn't everybody though. I think there is still the same % of hackers like us as there were in the past. It may be even higher. There are just a LOT of people now who use computers who just don't know about them. But guess what? That is like everything. How many people can repair their car today compared to when cars were a younger technology? I'm sure the % is lower, but that doesn't mean people don't understand cars.

 

Oh, and those people who don't know about computers are my favorite. I've gotten lots of nice systems from people who think their computer died and bought a new one when there was just something simple wrong...

[Drunk Muffin]

Hmm, I agree with this article. I myself find myself mostly on forums, or news sites, or writing code and listening to some nice electronic beats about 70% of the time. I feel this situation could be reversed a bit if people learned how to code and get some bearings of a computer at an early age. 

[Lukiose]

After reading the entire article i kinda feel sad actually, because when you look at the whole picture this article is without a doubt spot on.

How many of your friends out there are in anyway worthy of being called 'technologically savvy'? They may fiddle with smartphones and shit but... damn, that's sad

[WoodenMarker]

After reading the entire article i kinda feel sad actually, because when you look at the whole picture this article is without a doubt spot on.

How many of your friends out there are in anyway worthy of being called 'technologically savvy'? They may fiddle with smartphones and shit but... damn, that's sad

It's all part of the process. We all started somewhere and through time learned more and more about how little we actually knew before. 

Looking down on those who happen to not know as much veers towards an elitist mentality. 

 

It may be cheesy but I believe we should help up those whom we look down upon and try not to get too frustrated along the way.

[Lukiose]

It's all part of the process. We all started somewhere and through time learned more and more about how little we actually knew before. 

Looking down on those who happen to not know as much veers towards an elitist mentality. 

 

It may be cheesy but I believe we should help up those whom we look down upon and try not to get too frustrated along the way.

It's really hard though, i've already kinda given up on my friends :P screw em all lol.

The majority of them can't even stand listening to 1 minute of anything tech related unless it's something like 'Apple has iPhone 42XN coming out in a month!'

One of them asked me how to install more ram. And some who even dare to say that they're 'technologically inclined' are stuck on smartphones playing Fun Run, with a desktop running a Centrino at home.

Or there's another who finds me about 'cpu overloading, ram skyrockets, very hot after 2 hours of casual use' which i diagnosed as too much dust causing his GPU to throttle. - " I don't dare to open the case "

[WoodenMarker]

It's really hard though, i've already kinda given up on my friends :P screw em all lol.

The majority of them can't even stand listening to 1 minute of anything tech related unless it's something like 'Apple has iPhone 42XN coming out in a month!'

One of them asked me how to install more ram. And some who even dare to say that they're 'technologically inclined' are stuck on smartphones playing Fun Run, with a desktop running a Centrino at home.

Or there's another who finds me about 'cpu overloading, ram skyrockets, very hot after 2 hours of casual use' which i diagnosed as too much dust causing his GPU to throttle. - " I don't dare to open the case "

Bare with me fellow techie. 

 

On another note--"Ewwww...dust"

[iruixos]

I read the entire thing, and can totally relate to the writer. I taught myself HTML and the lot back when we had Windows 95-98 in our family, and I only had consistent access to the internet every so often. I would create webpages with random things to pretend I had constant access, but it taught me what went wrong during coding, why it happened, and how to fix it.

 

It truly disappoints me to see children as young as one or two years of age using tablets and similar devices because they'll likely grow up expecting everything to respond to a touch. I don't remember exactly, but I think Slick mentioned during a live-stream that a child tried to swipe a magazine to turn the page, and was confused when it didn't do anything.

 

EDIT: 128 posts..... ;) halfway to 256!

[Humbug]

I agree with the point about schools not teaching about computers properly. They should teach from the basics, the hardware, how they interact with each other, and about the OS first. Which are much more important fundamentals than learning how to use office applications.

 

Having said that you could easily raise the arguement that the general public shouldn't have to know all this stuff. In the same way that I don't need to know how EFI works exactly in order to use my car effectively. The car industry has matured to the point where I don't need to be a mechanical expert. Me personally I can change a tyre, check battery fluid, coolant and engine oil levels, check my air pressure. And not much more than that. So I'm a car noob. But I stick to my service schedule and get advice from experts when needed so this has never hindered me from using my car effectively. The same arguement may be valid as computers and especially UIs mature.

 

Regarding being a computer enthusiast; its funny that everybody around me thinks I'm a computer expert. When in reality I would never claim that about myself. I have learned enough to realise how much I still don't know. So I would simply say I'm competent and interested...

[Beskamir]

@ElfFriend have you ever gone into a game's config files and just started playing around? lol I do that a lot in some lesser-known games.

No I don't do that very often. There isn't much need for that in my opinion. (Tell me why if I am wrong, which I probably am)

 

I should probably have stated how I plan on aiding the development of Winter is Coming a mod of Ice and Fire in my past post. Please check it out: http://www.moddb.com/mods/winter-is-coming-a-mod-of-ice-and-fire

[Beskamir]

I agree with the point about schools not teaching about computers properly. They should teach from the basics, the hardware, how they interact with each other, and about the OS first. Which are much more important fundamentals than learning how to use office applications.

 

Having said that you could easily raise the arguement that the general public shouldn't have to know all this stuff. In the same way that I don't need to know how EFI works exactly in order to use my car effectively. The car industry has matured to the point where I don't need to be a mechanical expert. Me personally I can change a tyre, check battery fluid, coolant and engine oil levels, check my air pressure. And not much more than that. So I'm a car noob. But I stick to my service schedule and get advice from experts when needed so this has never hindered me from using my car effectively. The same arguement may be valid as computers and especially UIs mature.

 

Regarding being a computer enthusiast; its funny that everybody around me thinks I'm a computer expert. When in reality I would never claim that about myself. I have learned enough to realise how much I still don't know. So I would simply say I'm competent and interested...

Except that politicians know enough about how a car works that they don't make stupid laws about how it can be used. The same cannot be said about PCs:( people in power ask others to restrict the internet not fully knowing what it is and how it works. They also try to get computers locked down so that those that want to learn something can't. Cars don't have the equivalent restrictions.

[Ssoele]

It was a good read and definitely shows what's wrong with the current IT-classes given in schools.

[Deleon.David]

i have project due tomorrow and i haven't started. then i started reading this... oh my god, what have i become...

[TheProfosist]

Everyone has "omg HACKER!" in their mind here when they see a command prompt / terminal open. It's ridiculous. 

I opened a command prompt once in math class (I don't even remember what I was trying to do, since you can't do much in Windows command prompt anyway), and the teacher asked what I was doing. When I said, "Nothing" he asked me to close it because people "messing around" on the computers made him nervous.

 

I think that schools should use linux on as many machines as possible (and they'd save a lot of money on copies of Windows) and use it to teach the kids. Maybe they could use the extra money to upgrade the hardware for the places that need it (graphic design, electronic music, etc.) Of course, then the teachers would need to know how to get around in linux, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?

 

BTW, I made this thread a while talking/ranting about computers at school. You'd probably like it.

did u just say its not possible to do much in command prompt? Cause that definitly shows what you know...

[TheProfosist]

Exactly.  Years ago, if you didn't know how computers worked, you didn't use them.  Nowadays everyone and his dog thinks he can use technology, and when it doesn't work perfectly, it's the technology's fault, and it's time to yell at a nerdy "technology fixer" wizard to make the technology behave again.

 

Even if these people pay well, I don't fix their stuff because of their lack of respect for what I do. It's a part of my moral code. The people that experience this treatment should do the same imo. Personal choice but that's just my opinion.

if they pay well take their money. When they "break" it again fix it and charge the m again. If their too dumb to learn take advantage of that and eventually they will learn.

[TheProfosist]

Read the whole article, last year I thought I was tech savvy enough to study IT - turned out I am only good with looking stuff up on Google, not so much smart or innovative what concerns fixing things.

I myself am guilty to quite a few of these things, yet I am here on the forums, managing my own PC for 4 years now without much help - glad I am not so dependent on other people.

The guy who wrote that is right though, although everyone uses this technology nowadays it's stupid how little they actually know about it.

Thats kind of the point of technology im just saying.

For an example look at all the mechanical stuff we use daily or the stuff that makes the stuff we use daily, thats all been taken for granted as well and has been for a long time.

You can also look at how when thing get easier to use they get more and more minstream and less and less people know how any of it remotly works.

[legopc]

at my school people think there HARDCORE gamers becus they play facebook games all day long 

[Damonster5000]

I remember in high school computer class I would hook my laptop directly to an Ethernet connection and only to find out my teacher would say "Dont do that your going to give the school network a virus!" I dont know how I would manage to do that. The network would filter out alot of websites. And later that year they installed wifi in every classroom and even encouraging students to bring netbooks to school as a way for students to use the internet as a study tool.. And the next year  my same computer class teacher was encouraging students to bring their tablets laptops and netbooks to school.

[Whiskers]

I didn't like the article at all. I felt that it was mostly sensationalism.

 

 

 

Kids can't use computers! Oh, but neither can adults. Oh and I can't fix up cars so I guess it's all good...

 

 

And his attitude in general was terrible. Many people are ignorant of technology and how to properly use it - mocking them and having absolutely zero patience with them certainly won't help fix that. He is a lecturer / teacher, and his job should be to educate and inform others. If I were in his shoes I would do my best to be a role model for those students, because if I make them look up to me I can captivate them enough to get them interested in tech. Achieve that and you'll be getting them building their own computers in no time!

 

Positive reinforcement + positive attitude + positive outlook = positive outcome. That way you can be part of the solution to the problem, not the cause of it.

[NinjaStyle013]

That's one thing that pisses me right off is when people can't like at least have a little curiosity into seeing what people are doing. I'm lucky to have teachers that I have good relationships with who can actually use their pcs.

Although every time they project their screen up onto the whiteboard it does kinda annoy me when they have a full desktop and they have like 101 items on the bottom bar. So many background processes...