Children and computer literacy(rant)

[Angela]

I've been getting really annoyed lately at the amount of kids who don't seem to know how to use a computer for even the most basic things. People much younger than I am who grew up with modern computers their entire lives yet seem unable to do anything except for e-mail and maybe text messaging and checking their Myspace page that they created using a commercial editor. I know many areas still have very disparate access to computers and that's not what I'm bitching about. If your community or school didn't have any computers then it's not your fault. I'm talking about the kids who have had access to computers and even own their own computers but can't hardly do even basic research using a search engine or find things like the search function on this board. How the hell does this happen! I know the school system is really shitty, should I blame the school system? But I'm not that old, the school system was really shitty when I was in it also so I think that ones out. Maybe I should blame Microsoft, their always an easy target. Did those of us who remember using Commodore computers and DOS systems have some unfair advantage that I'm not fully aware of?
What are other folks thoughts on this subject?

 

[Angela]

It use to be when I wanted a website made and I had to painstaking code it by hand in Notepad, now you have software to do it, when you wanted to make a phone call you had to hunt down a payphone and pay for it or work on scamming the call, and when you wanted portable music you have to record songs off the radio or copy a tape....

Brings back memories! I remember pushing the "record" button more than a few times when recording songs from the radio. I've also done plenty of html coding in notepad and other programs. Remember when payphones weren't a thing of the past? Now you can't hardly find them, they've been torn out and companies haven't replaced them and good luck getting an incoming call on the few that still remain.

 

[hassysmacker]

oregon trail was the shit!

 

[stove]

I think it has simply become easier for kids to be lazy; it is not necessarily just our society, however.

 

[Bendixontherails]

if you want to blame someone/something my money is on search engines. Think about it. All the info in the whole damn world is on the internet somewhere. you don't have to think anymore, you just have to know how to find a link to where someone else knew how to think. inactivity in a muscle does what?

that's right. atrophy...

it's the same situation as how our publik skools no longer teach children how to think, just how to pass a fucking test to make sure the school can stay open.

 

[Angela]

if you want to blame someone/something my money is on search engines. Think about it. All the info in the whole damn world is on the internet somewhere. you don't have to think anymore, you just have to know how to find a link to where someone else knew how to think. inactivity in a muscle does what?

I kinda wish though that they could even manage to use a search engine, which seems to be beyond the skills of many kids. Yes all kinds of stuff is available somewhere on the internet but many don't seem to know how to find it. Most people never have really known how to think in that way, creating anything of their own. Before search engines they just went to the library or bookstore and found what others had to say about something. There is so much information on the internet though that many folks don't seem to be able to weed out what's good information and what's just crap.

 

[skunkskunk]

it seems that the more money the schools spend, the more annoyed the kids get. ive noticed that more than half of the kids in my school spend most of their time rolling their eyes and frustrated out of their minds at the fact that the teachers just dont get it. they dont get that kids nowadays arent as ignoant and out of the loop as the school officials think they are. this may be a bit off topic but lately at my highschool all they do is hire inspirational speakers, not like when a local fireman used to come in and talk. these are actual top grade speakers that obviously cost them a FORTUNE to have come in and talk for an hour to kids that just dont buy it. ok, comming back to the point, the school systems now are too occupied with making everyone get along and follow the dress code (i got to sit in a tiny room all day because i wore pj pants..PJ PANTS) it just shows that all teachers want to do is get the kids in...then out. just like the kids want to get through the 6 hours. noone cares weather anyone get taught, or learns anything, they just want to make it through
Teachers as well as students seem to have all given up making everyone lethargic and just not interested in putting effort int it. thats why im leaving in a couple weeks, i cant go back

ha..sry kind of off topic but i spose it fits, plus ive never posted before so im just kinda poping up outta the blue.
but ya see what im getting at?

 

[wartomods]

I just dont give a damn, by every generation that passes kids are said to be getting worse and worse, ahahaha

 

[dablackhand]

i actually think more people should give a damn. an educational reform is clearly not going to come from the state, so i think its important that weather u are a parent or not, if you have any sort of contact with children, try to stimulate them to think a little more instead of dismissing them as unworthy of yer time(which is another problem; people don't see children as people but rather as somehow lesser). it's true that nowadays they grow up in an entirely commodified world where most "needs" are met by pressing a button. and its bullshit. kids are targeted and being turned into mindless consumers at younger and younger ages everyday. while i do advocate not breeding, people will do it. punks/travelers/radicals will have kids. and i dont think propagating a "fuck children" attitude is the right way to look at it. I mean, just telling kids about traveling and teaching them cool skills is enough to make an impact in their lives. I do it all the fuckin time. Yes kids nowadays love their gadgets more than ever, but its because thats what they've been exposed to since birth. That however does not mean they don't have the potential to value other things and experiences. kids get stoked on learning about things they aren't taught at school or shown on tv or online. and that's just a starting point for them to take up the initiative to start learning cool shit by themselves, and for that matter start being more aware of reality as they grow up and not believe everything they see on the news. i don't mean imposing idelogies on them either, but at least give em more than what they are being handed so they can make up their own minds. I don't mean this to be a rant, it just struck me as illogical that we make efforts to prevent/fight environmental damage, capitalism, bastard corporations, sexism, racism, mass media, etc. everything that fucks up and corrupts the world. but we are reluctant to stop and realize and act on the fact that by taking this apathetic attitude towards children, they are ultimately being handed over and placed in the jaws of the system, and in a few years(less and less everytime, since generations gaps are shorter exponetially due to rising technological advances) there's a whole generation of everything we hate. so i dunno. i think its pretty important. just how much is up to each person i guess.

 

[connerR]

It seems to me, like most people said already (easier to be lazy now, etc), that technology is negating people's basic/life skills. In many way's, it seems as though we're synthesizing lives for ourselves. Primal and visceral urges are changing from survival to lethargic self adoration and vacuous desires.

That's how I see it at least. >_>

 

[Birdy]

Literacy is a big part of my life, whether texting or typing on the computer I've always typed my words out FULLY, I hate the little shortcut words.

I love the computer mainly for the fact that I can go on websites like this or use google to find some really neat shit or go on Flickr and look at pictures. My dad raised me on playing in the woods, making forts, fishing, giggin, airboatin, I'm a regular marsh baby and i love it. I figure that ya know what, if the worlds power goes out one day, I'd be able to survive just from what my dad's shown me and damn do I appreciate it. A lot of kids in my school think I'm weird because I would much rather be outside that inside and that I think it'd be awesome if technology gave out and we'd all have to live off the land again.