4 ms·

It isn't an easy conversation, and it's not one that happens over one discussion. It's something you have to actively teach them to understand while growing up.

It isn't an easy conversation, and it's not one that happens over one discussion. It's something you have to actively teach them to understand while growing up. When I was three I had already developed the basic sense that people can lie and that advertisements are made by people. I had already taught myself how to read and was reading at a junior high level before even entering preschool. I have clear and distinct memories of all sorts of advertisements I viewed around that age, and my deconstruction of them. It is most certainly a skill that can be taught by then. I'm not special. Most people take for granted what a child can accomplish and waste those precious developmental years treating them like idiots instead of people. As for kids who can't even speak yet, I don't know why any parent would just plop them in front of a tablet device and YouTube. It's a literal propaganda platform and if your kid can't even form their own sentences then maybe you shouldn't be providing a direct link to bad actors who want to turn them into lifelong consumers.

mc32 7y ago
To me your passage itself is an indicator that that’s not the level most three year olds are at. If it were then preschool would expect more from them and society would expect more and psychology would tell us these things. But they are all at odds with your anecdote, which while sincere, I don’t think we can generalize to the population. No, Google/YouTube with all their resources and experts should do better.
- soulofmischief 7y ago
  > To me your passage itself is an indicator that that’s not the level most three year olds are at. I think we can focus more heavily on pre-scholastic education without raising our expectations. No one ever expected me to do anything; my family tree is extremely anti-intellectual. Despite the lack of expectations, I found the motivation to educate myself. The main driving motivation was fear of not being in control of myself or of being controlled by others, which I found knowledge could combat. We don't typically instill this motivation in children, because largely as parents we just either don't know any better or don't have the motivation ourselves. But I don't think that the average performance of a preschooler is indicative of the potential average performance. Too many factors come into play. So without raising expectations, we can increase our attention to our children's developmental years, and instill within them the proper motivations by example. Again, it isn't easy. And you're right, it doesn't completely generalize. Every person is unique. But I'm shooting for the average here. On average, we take for granted the learning capacity of children, and take for granted how much the early phases of their childhood impacts the rest of their life. To bring it back around, YouTube itself, in addition to tons of other online resources, has been a fundamental tool in my education. I would not nearly be where I am today without it. I can only imagine what I could have accomplished if YouTube as it is today existed in my youth. I don't think we should be denying that to children. I agree that Google needs to do better. It's that, or outside regulation will eventually creep in and turn the internet into the new TV.
  - yoz-y 7y ago
    Where I grew up most kids were actively trying to not learn anything or at least seem to not be learning. Getting good grades was basically a social life killer, so I see your case as an exception. Hopefully times have changed, but I don't have kids yet so I have no idea how it is now.
    - soulofmischief 7y ago
      Obviously we need more scientific research, but it's my belief that these traits are imparted at a very young age and most parents just bungle it up. Like I said, we can't use the current average performance as an indicator of potential average performance.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  Kids used to start working on family farms rather early in life. Not a full day of working but doing things here and there.
  - soulofmischief 7y ago
    Yes, I was one of them. I've helped manage livestock and produce since before I was enrolled in school.

mc32 7y ago

To me your passage itself is an indicator that that’s not the level most three year olds are at. If it were then preschool would expect more from them and society would expect more and psychology would tell us these things. But they are all at odds with your anecdote, which while sincere, I don’t think we can generalize to the population. No, Google/YouTube with all their resources and experts should do better.

soulofmischief 7y ago
> To me your passage itself is an indicator that that’s not the level most three year olds are at. I think we can focus more heavily on pre-scholastic education without raising our expectations. No one ever expected me to do anything; my family tree is extremely anti-intellectual. Despite the lack of expectations, I found the motivation to educate myself. The main driving motivation was fear of not being in control of myself or of being controlled by others, which I found knowledge could combat. We don't typically instill this motivation in children, because largely as parents we just either don't know any better or don't have the motivation ourselves. But I don't think that the average performance of a preschooler is indicative of the potential average performance. Too many factors come into play. So without raising expectations, we can increase our attention to our children's developmental years, and instill within them the proper motivations by example. Again, it isn't easy. And you're right, it doesn't completely generalize. Every person is unique. But I'm shooting for the average here. On average, we take for granted the learning capacity of children, and take for granted how much the early phases of their childhood impacts the rest of their life. To bring it back around, YouTube itself, in addition to tons of other online resources, has been a fundamental tool in my education. I would not nearly be where I am today without it. I can only imagine what I could have accomplished if YouTube as it is today existed in my youth. I don't think we should be denying that to children. I agree that Google needs to do better. It's that, or outside regulation will eventually creep in and turn the internet into the new TV.
- yoz-y 7y ago
  Where I grew up most kids were actively trying to not learn anything or at least seem to not be learning. Getting good grades was basically a social life killer, so I see your case as an exception. Hopefully times have changed, but I don't have kids yet so I have no idea how it is now.
  - soulofmischief 7y ago
    Obviously we need more scientific research, but it's my belief that these traits are imparted at a very young age and most parents just bungle it up. Like I said, we can't use the current average performance as an indicator of potential average performance.
Mirioron 7y ago
Kids used to start working on family farms rather early in life. Not a full day of working but doing things here and there.
- soulofmischief 7y ago
  Yes, I was one of them. I've helped manage livestock and produce since before I was enrolled in school.