4 ms·

Public libraries are a treasure and the reason that a poor kid like me was able to learn, become more experienced with computers, and spend my time safely in a

Public libraries are a treasure and the reason that a poor kid like me was able to learn, become more experienced with computers, and spend my time safely in a dangerous neighborhood while my mother worked. Public parks are great. Some are shitty, but we all need space to roam and play. Most parks are not in shitty, run down neighborhoods and don’t fit your stereotype.

uzakov 6y ago
Do you think your experience as a kid would have been different if you were a kid not back then but rather in 2020? If you have access to internet you can learn so much nowadays, obviously its a matter of having access to the internet, something not everyone has.
- grumple 6y ago
  I was gifted an old laptop (even for back then) and used free dialup for some of high school at home (the old kind with ads). 15% of the US still has no internet access, but the situation has definitely improved. But I usually got to school early to use the computer lab and went to the library after school to read and use computers there. Today’s kids have different problems, such as the huge amounts of disinformation and manipulation in media. The information we find today is harder to trust; and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate and more about political allegiances or getting attention. Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. Now I can find nearly anything I need online, but that’s because I already have a huge amount of knowledge and know how to determine if a source is trustworthy. But man, if Khan Academy existed in my childhood...
  - uzakov 6y ago
    I did not know 15% of the population in the US still has no internet access, I assume mainly in rural areas? In regards to "and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate" I partly agree partly disagree. I am part of various internet forums and some of them are very Web 1.0 still: good conversations, you get to know some people well (I even met some IRL). Part of me thinks its about persons willingness to find information themselves. >Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. I agree, so many tech tutorials and articles are plain wrong.
d77eyeuudufudu3 6y ago
I agree that libraries /can/ serve as a way to assist kids in low-income families but that doesn't make them the best option. More funding for after school programs and bus routes could accomplish the same thing while not forcing children to hang around a mix of crazies and addicts. Expanding the red line program to provide smartphones for low-income children in addition to the homeless would also increase access to the sorts of resources you're talking about.

uzakov 6y ago

Do you think your experience as a kid would have been different if you were a kid not back then but rather in 2020? If you have access to internet you can learn so much nowadays, obviously its a matter of having access to the internet, something not everyone has.

grumple 6y ago
I was gifted an old laptop (even for back then) and used free dialup for some of high school at home (the old kind with ads). 15% of the US still has no internet access, but the situation has definitely improved. But I usually got to school early to use the computer lab and went to the library after school to read and use computers there. Today’s kids have different problems, such as the huge amounts of disinformation and manipulation in media. The information we find today is harder to trust; and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate and more about political allegiances or getting attention. Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. Now I can find nearly anything I need online, but that’s because I already have a huge amount of knowledge and know how to determine if a source is trustworthy. But man, if Khan Academy existed in my childhood...
- uzakov 6y ago
  I did not know 15% of the population in the US still has no internet access, I assume mainly in rural areas? In regards to "and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate" I partly agree partly disagree. I am part of various internet forums and some of them are very Web 1.0 still: good conversations, you get to know some people well (I even met some IRL). Part of me thinks its about persons willingness to find information themselves. >Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. I agree, so many tech tutorials and articles are plain wrong.

d77eyeuudufudu3 6y ago

I agree that libraries /can/ serve as a way to assist kids in low-income families but that doesn't make them the best option. More funding for after school programs and bus routes could accomplish the same thing while not forcing children to hang around a mix of crazies and addicts. Expanding the red line program to provide smartphones for low-income children in addition to the homeless would also increase access to the sorts of resources you're talking about.