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This article focuses exclusively on tech yuppies and their neurotic overanalyzing about "screen time". For everyone else, there has never been a better time fo

by spking 6y ago

This article focuses exclusively on tech yuppies and their neurotic overanalyzing about "screen time". For everyone else, there has never been a better time for children of any income level or location in the world to access high-quality education and content for free (Khan Academy Kids, PBS Kids, etc.) That's the real power of tech: the great equalizer of access to information. Now we have it and apparently some people want to go back to what, buying expensive sets of encyclopedias?

jalk 6y ago
I suspect they are worried about the ‘high fructose corn syrup’ content
- spking 6y ago
  Sure, but do they stop buying food for their children because high fructose corn syrup food products exist? Like anything else, there is some responsibility involved when it comes to what children consume, whether it's food or content. But just shutting it off completely seems pretty ham-fisted to me.
  - notsureaboutpg 6y ago
    Kids have to eat food they don't need to consume online content.
Barrin92 6y ago
>That's the real power of tech: the great equalizer of access to information. access to information isn't relevant. If you don't believe that ask a few people if they'd rather want the MIT degree without having any of the education or the education without the degree. Information on its own is useless without any capital or network to turn that information into something tangible, in that way it's like oil. And that's also why the more information dependent our society is the more centralized it is, as a small amount of players can leverage information to create outsized returns on capital.
- shard 6y ago
  > ask a few people if they'd rather want the MIT degree without having any of the education or the education without the degree I think at a glance, the degree without the education seems like you get the degree instantly without having to attend MIT, which sounds great. But a more nuanced comparison would be between being completing an MIT education with MIT having no record that you attended, versus paying for and doing all the work to earn an MIT degree, but then instantly forgetting everything related to MIT upon getting your degree. For knowledge workers, I expect a significant proportion would value the education more than the degree, especially since your degree matters less and less as you progress in your career.
- saurik 6y ago
  Let's ask a more legitimate question, without the fancy and highly specific "MIT" modifier, and without shifting to highly optional education (I have a college degree, I went to grad school, I continue to live next to and participate in an academic university ecosystem... I can easily sympathize with how useless the whole thing is): "how many people would prefer to have a high school education without a high school diploma over having a high school diploma without a high school education?" <- the answer to this one is probably "almost everyone".
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    That seems ambiguous and non-obvious to me. A very underdetermined question. Without the diploma, are you locked out of any job that requires it? Are you assuming that a GED is available? Do you realize some jobs that pay incrementally more than minimum wage in fact require you to prove you graduated high school even if it was, like 30 years ago and you've been in the workforce since? Conversely, does "without a high school education" mean never having gone to high school classes, or does it mean being completely ignorant of everything those classes would have taught?
- Shared404 6y ago
  I would definitely take (Have taken? Am in the process of taking?) the education without the degree.
watwut 6y ago
It typically takes a lot of parental involvement for kids to use screen to learn something or build something rather then watch entertaining videos or play fortnite from the moment they wake up till they go to sleep.
uniqueid 6y ago
Those are our only two choices? Bummer :)

by spking 6y ago

jalk 6y ago

I suspect they are worried about the ‘high fructose corn syrup’ content

spking 6y ago
Sure, but do they stop buying food for their children because high fructose corn syrup food products exist? Like anything else, there is some responsibility involved when it comes to what children consume, whether it's food or content. But just shutting it off completely seems pretty ham-fisted to me.
- notsureaboutpg 6y ago
  Kids have to eat food they don't need to consume online content.

Barrin92 6y ago

>That's the real power of tech: the great equalizer of access to information. access to information isn't relevant. If you don't believe that ask a few people if they'd rather want the MIT degree without having any of the education or the education without the degree. Information on its own is useless without any capital or network to turn that information into something tangible, in that way it's like oil. And that's also why the more information dependent our society is the more centralized it is, as a small amount of players can leverage information to create outsized returns on capital.

shard 6y ago
> ask a few people if they'd rather want the MIT degree without having any of the education or the education without the degree I think at a glance, the degree without the education seems like you get the degree instantly without having to attend MIT, which sounds great. But a more nuanced comparison would be between being completing an MIT education with MIT having no record that you attended, versus paying for and doing all the work to earn an MIT degree, but then instantly forgetting everything related to MIT upon getting your degree. For knowledge workers, I expect a significant proportion would value the education more than the degree, especially since your degree matters less and less as you progress in your career.
saurik 6y ago
Let's ask a more legitimate question, without the fancy and highly specific "MIT" modifier, and without shifting to highly optional education (I have a college degree, I went to grad school, I continue to live next to and participate in an academic university ecosystem... I can easily sympathize with how useless the whole thing is): "how many people would prefer to have a high school education without a high school diploma over having a high school diploma without a high school education?" <- the answer to this one is probably "almost everyone".
- perl4ever 6y ago
  That seems ambiguous and non-obvious to me. A very underdetermined question. Without the diploma, are you locked out of any job that requires it? Are you assuming that a GED is available? Do you realize some jobs that pay incrementally more than minimum wage in fact require you to prove you graduated high school even if it was, like 30 years ago and you've been in the workforce since? Conversely, does "without a high school education" mean never having gone to high school classes, or does it mean being completely ignorant of everything those classes would have taught?
Shared404 6y ago
I would definitely take (Have taken? Am in the process of taking?) the education without the degree.

watwut 6y ago

It typically takes a lot of parental involvement for kids to use screen to learn something or build something rather then watch entertaining videos or play fortnite from the moment they wake up till they go to sleep.

uniqueid 6y ago

Those are our only two choices? Bummer :)