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In fact, it is much harder to tinker with technology than it used to be. Not only is it more complex, but phones are also locked down so you are not really able

In fact, it is much harder to tinker with technology than it used to be. Not only is it more complex, but phones are also locked down so you are not really able to control your own device, or it does at least require quite some effort to do so, and can't be done using the device itself. Both Apple and Google in practice discourage people from tinkering with the device.

c22 8y ago
It might be harder to tinker with The Device, but tinkering kids these days are not bereft of options. When I was a teenager I remember badly wanting a "386 single board computer" which I saw advertised in the pages of Popular Science for hundreds of dollars. Imagine the things I could do with a whole computer small enough to hold in one hand! It could breathe new life into my projects and bring my tinkering to a whole new level! Sadly this marvel was beyond my budget at the time but today you can buy dozens of such boards for a fraction of the price. Boards with a dizzying array of integrated peripherals teenage me wouldn't have even known what to do with. Today there are uncountable open source projects you can download immediately to run on these boards, whole sophisticated stacks which can be imported now and torn apart to be stitched back together tomorrow. A tech-interested teen today can buy devices with their pocket change that have more power and flexibility than any of the platforms I had access to as a kid.
- ghaff 8y ago
  It may be worth observing that the window when teenagers and younger were messing around with config.sys files and routinely building DOS computers from parts was actually pretty narrow. I'm a bit older and didn't touch a computer keyboard (actually a teletype) until late in high school and didn't even do much with computers in college. (I'm an engineer by training but not CS.) I was working when I got into PCs, initially as a way to do some engineering calculations and project tracking on my job. I agree that although consumption is the norm, the options and information available for those who want to go under the hood is pretty amazing today.
colmvp 8y ago
Maybe. I remember having a hard time searching for information when I was young, as it was pre-internet and I was reliant on my parents on driving me places like the library to access information. Nowadays, if you want to learn the ins and outs of something, you can order books online or watch informative video tutorials made by people who have been in the tech field for a significant amount of time.
- kyriakos 8y ago
  I think the lack of availability of information made us more creative. I was trying to build a side scroller game when I was a kid in Turbo Pascal, there was no Internet and nowhere I could find out how to do it. Even though I never managed it in the end I spent countless hours trying and coming up with my own solutions to problems. I wouldn't have been the developer I am today if someone just gave me Unity and YouTube to copy parts from tutorials without allowing me to understand how things work at the lower level.
Godel_unicode 8y ago
It's only harder if you make it harder and don't put any thought into it. Desktop computers still exist, and you can still order the parts to make your own. You can even buy cool glass cases where the parts are exposed and all light up. Raspberry pi are essentially free, and can be used for all kinds of interesting stuff. Do that. See also Razer synapse, the El gato streamdeck, programmable keyboards, all of which still exist. Phones are not the only computers.
- Nullabillity 8y ago
  Sure, but it's no longer the device people have to be default. Kids usually aren't in a position to order expensive and/or niche stuff on a whim...
  - Godel_unicode 8y ago
    Fortunately, those kids frequently have parents who care about their development and bemoan the unhackable nature of their phones.

c22 8y ago

It might be harder to tinker with The Device, but tinkering kids these days are not bereft of options. When I was a teenager I remember badly wanting a "386 single board computer" which I saw advertised in the pages of Popular Science for hundreds of dollars. Imagine the things I could do with a whole computer small enough to hold in one hand! It could breathe new life into my projects and bring my tinkering to a whole new level! Sadly this marvel was beyond my budget at the time but today you can buy dozens of such boards for a fraction of the price. Boards with a dizzying array of integrated peripherals teenage me wouldn't have even known what to do with. Today there are uncountable open source projects you can download immediately to run on these boards, whole sophisticated stacks which can be imported now and torn apart to be stitched back together tomorrow. A tech-interested teen today can buy devices with their pocket change that have more power and flexibility than any of the platforms I had access to as a kid.

ghaff 8y ago
It may be worth observing that the window when teenagers and younger were messing around with config.sys files and routinely building DOS computers from parts was actually pretty narrow. I'm a bit older and didn't touch a computer keyboard (actually a teletype) until late in high school and didn't even do much with computers in college. (I'm an engineer by training but not CS.) I was working when I got into PCs, initially as a way to do some engineering calculations and project tracking on my job. I agree that although consumption is the norm, the options and information available for those who want to go under the hood is pretty amazing today.

colmvp 8y ago

Maybe. I remember having a hard time searching for information when I was young, as it was pre-internet and I was reliant on my parents on driving me places like the library to access information. Nowadays, if you want to learn the ins and outs of something, you can order books online or watch informative video tutorials made by people who have been in the tech field for a significant amount of time.

kyriakos 8y ago
I think the lack of availability of information made us more creative. I was trying to build a side scroller game when I was a kid in Turbo Pascal, there was no Internet and nowhere I could find out how to do it. Even though I never managed it in the end I spent countless hours trying and coming up with my own solutions to problems. I wouldn't have been the developer I am today if someone just gave me Unity and YouTube to copy parts from tutorials without allowing me to understand how things work at the lower level.

Godel_unicode 8y ago

It's only harder if you make it harder and don't put any thought into it. Desktop computers still exist, and you can still order the parts to make your own. You can even buy cool glass cases where the parts are exposed and all light up. Raspberry pi are essentially free, and can be used for all kinds of interesting stuff. Do that. See also Razer synapse, the El gato streamdeck, programmable keyboards, all of which still exist. Phones are not the only computers.

Nullabillity 8y ago
Sure, but it's no longer the device people have to be default. Kids usually aren't in a position to order expensive and/or niche stuff on a whim...
- Godel_unicode 8y ago
  Fortunately, those kids frequently have parents who care about their development and bemoan the unhackable nature of their phones.