Modern tech leading to dumber thoughts?
- Thread starter TeeDee
- Start date
Maybe - Maybe not.
When I privately asked someone who contributed to the post what they intended by the nature of their post ( quoting someone else ) I received the following response:-
"People were sharing quotes and that one came to mind. I admit it may not be completely relevant to the topic!"
Which pretty much proved my point for me.
So to provide another quote:- " Don't believe everything you think "
The idea that putting more effort into finding something out adds value or helps you remember it isn't universal. My 9yo finds something out through Google or Alexander and he remembers everything. It's simply amazing how much he can take in and remember.
BTW a parent of one of my sons friends from nursery years was a senior lecturer and co-PI on a long term project into the effects of technology on preschool kids focusing on reading , academic ability, memory etc. Basically so long as they read at least 15 minutes a day he said technology use was presenting no issues with reading improvement. He went into detail but I can't remember them all only that he was not concerned by tablet use. That's not what media present to parents. BTW the university he was at had a very good reputation for their research in child development.
No idea if the same is true for adults. But as someone who was once like my son and even now remembers a really eclectic range of information I see no difference in information from different media. It's whether you can trust the source that's the issue.
BTW a parent of one of my sons friends from nursery years was a senior lecturer and co-PI on a long term project into the effects of technology on preschool kids focusing on reading , academic ability, memory etc. Basically so long as they read at least 15 minutes a day he said technology use was presenting no issues with reading improvement. He went into detail but I can't remember them all only that he was not concerned by tablet use. That's not what media present to parents. BTW the university he was at had a very good reputation for their research in child development.
No idea if the same is true for adults. But as someone who was once like my son and even now remembers a really eclectic range of information I see no difference in information from different media. It's whether you can trust the source that's the issue.
I don't think I'm saying that by using tools to locate the right information we are somehow letting ourselves down.
But it strikes me as a little odd that if one has something like Spell check or Grammarly installed and one keeps on making the same error WITHOUT correcting or learning from it to then correct ones own natural spelling it has become somewhat of a necessary crutch.
Ever since I was a kid I've been hearing the same old "The youth of today have it easy" and "The older generation had to be so much cleverer" stuff and even now I'm knocking on 50 it still sounds like the older folk just love to tell stories about how tough/clever they were.
I'm been pretty unconvinced about the veracity of these statements when the old knackers said it when I was a nipper and less so now that I've heard it again and again with little to no real decent evidence coming from my generation.
Personally the younger generation I see are pretty intelligent and
highly motivated to get into a career and not just accept a job in the local factory/pit like many of the older generation just fell into cos it was an easy start.
Furthermore I would argue that they are coming out of education with less tribal prejudices against minorities than the older generations still have waay past the point where they should have grown out of it.
I'm optimistic about the "Youth Of Today" and think theyre alright.
Other peoples mileage may vary and possibly their kids are total rivets who hang about with muppets? Maybe sometimes the kids don't have much encouragement from their elders? Dunno really but it does seem to be a story thats been ongoing since before baby Jebus was a gleam in the local water carriers eye and were it true humanity would have disappeared up it's own rear as soon as the wheel was invented and we had it easy rolling stuff about on carts.
Maybe
I'm been pretty unconvinced about the veracity of these statements when the old knackers said it when I was a nipper and less so now that I've heard it again and again with little to no real decent evidence coming from my generation.
Personally the younger generation I see are pretty intelligent and
highly motivated to get into a career and not just accept a job in the local factory/pit like many of the older generation just fell into cos it was an easy start.
Furthermore I would argue that they are coming out of education with less tribal prejudices against minorities than the older generations still have waay past the point where they should have grown out of it.
I'm optimistic about the "Youth Of Today" and think theyre alright.
Other peoples mileage may vary and possibly their kids are total rivets who hang about with muppets? Maybe sometimes the kids don't have much encouragement from their elders? Dunno really but it does seem to be a story thats been ongoing since before baby Jebus was a gleam in the local water carriers eye and were it true humanity would have disappeared up it's own rear as soon as the wheel was invented and we had it easy rolling stuff about on carts.
Maybe
Sorry but that was in reply to someone who did say that taking more effort to find the information through the pre Internet tools of encyclopedias and libraries gave it more value and it stayed with you. Information has its own value irrespective of how it was found.
There's rather too many old books and encyclopedias that by today's knowledge/standards contain information that's out of date and simply proven wrong. If you rely on them you've not got much value no matter how long it took you to get that incorrect information.
You really have to note that whilst you're right about many kids it's by no way universal. I know enough who have left school with nothing and had no prospects other than unskilled jobs or benefits. Whether that's a generational lack of respect for education and its advantages or they see no future. Or there's no environment to learn in. Poverty can prevent kids getting education. I'm sure every state school teacher will know of kids who could do well at school but home life prevents it. It's a sad thing in this modern age. It's partly why politicians went on about laptops and WiFi for kids during the covid lockdown. There's top much about have and have not in education. But it's more than that. How can you develop a learning habit when your parents have no education and see no use in it so you have no support or even opposition to it? I know enough very intelligent people with no education to appreciate this.
There can be a problem in using the internet to find solutions, in that you'll be presented with multiple solutions with varying quality which can be hard to judge. In some cases referring to a single source like a reference book could be better.
Example would be the Machinery's Handbook. Been around 100 years, and new editions every few years to keep it up to date.
Example would be the Machinery's Handbook. Been around 100 years, and new editions every few years to keep it up to date.
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However looking at a library copy in small town library, if they have it, and you could be looking at the edition 3 or 4 back without knowing it's likely to be out of date.
Counter argument is that online academic journals probably make a very good source of information unavailable in your local library.
There's positives and negatives with physical books and technology based sources. It's why you have to make a judgement on the quality of the source. That's true for any source of information.
Counter argument is that online academic journals probably make a very good source of information unavailable in your local library.
There's positives and negatives with physical books and technology based sources. It's why you have to make a judgement on the quality of the source. That's true for any source of information.
There were a lot of such kids who kept going to school through certainly most of the lockdowns with the kids of key workers. They only did the same as kids at home but using school facilities in the schools I know about. However they'd not get even that at home which is more of a long term problem than lockdown IMHO.
Dunno if you spotted it but I never suggested the actual job was easy.
I said it was an "Easy start" which meant often getting the job despite being mostly unqualified and following on in your fathers footsteps cos thats what job everyone did in the town/village.
Many of the jobs will have been hard graft in poor conditions and the people doing them often hated the thought that their offspring might end up in the same trap so worked their backsides off to pay to send them to college/uni.
My now dead brother inlaws father worked down a pit so he could send his kids to college and have a chance at a better life.
That worked out ok cos my brother inlaw was a headmaster on a decent wage.
I'm also not entirely on board with the dismissal of people just cos they require a spellchecker of help with their grammar?
I'm a carpenter and have worked with quite a few people who I would say are immensely practical and intelligent but they're also dyslexic and have been dismissed by teachers as "Thick" and put into the divvy class.
Nowadays they'd be far more likely to get help but 40 years ago? Not so much.
My wife is currently doing her masters degree and I would say she's one of the most adaptable and intelligent people I know (yes, I know I'm lucky) but she's sure as hell not the best at spelling cos she has mild dyslexia.
Back to this thread though, I'm genuinely optimistic about "The Youth Of Today" and not really into bringing them down.
They've yet to start a war, ruin a planet or commit genocide. Thats on the older people so far.
I find spell checkers handy mostly because the useless touchscreen keyboard won't actually pick up everything I type correctly, so it's checking itself really 
My lad has been watching too much youtube Minecraft videos while pestering for the game for him to play. He got one for Christmas and the speed he has taken off within that artificial world, building all sorts of things he planned out for himself before he had it, is both amazing and a bit bizarre.
I do remember my Dad going a bit nuts at me watching saturday morning tv when I should be "out" doing "something" so I'm not too fussed as long as a bit of balance comes in.
I think it's quite funny how limiting and rubbish a lot of todays tech actually is, like gps taking people down the wrong road, or Alexa giving someone the wrong song over and over, or getting rid of the physical form of music (LP/CD whatever) and relying on online music you have to pay again for, running via unreliable bluetooth to a lithium non-replaceable battery in an overly expensive not very good speaker, but all current must haves. Apparently.
Is a phone calculator an app to keep tabs on how many devices the yoof of today has?
My lad has been watching too much youtube Minecraft videos while pestering for the game for him to play. He got one for Christmas and the speed he has taken off within that artificial world, building all sorts of things he planned out for himself before he had it, is both amazing and a bit bizarre.
I do remember my Dad going a bit nuts at me watching saturday morning tv when I should be "out" doing "something" so I'm not too fussed as long as a bit of balance comes in.
I think it's quite funny how limiting and rubbish a lot of todays tech actually is, like gps taking people down the wrong road, or Alexa giving someone the wrong song over and over, or getting rid of the physical form of music (LP/CD whatever) and relying on online music you have to pay again for, running via unreliable bluetooth to a lithium non-replaceable battery in an overly expensive not very good speaker, but all current must haves. Apparently.
Is a phone calculator an app to keep tabs on how many devices the yoof of today has?
I’m 52 & math dyslexic,(yes it’s a real thing)how ironic that the ones who taught us just cast us aside as thick/unlearned..so who were the unlearned ones?
We became experts in hiding/diverting our issues to great affect in one way or the other.
I don’t know the statistics, but I know a great deal fell into crime of some sort..
So with today’s advancing teaching methods & technology to help, we can lead a peaceful, normal life without to much prejudice or micky taking..
but it still goes on.
I was fortunate enough to lean towards nature, because she doesn’t judge or care.
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