4 ms·

My 8 year old son has a Nintendo switch. I recently showed him a video of the 80' "Mattel Electronic Football Handheld Game" which is essentially just a handfu

My 8 year old son has a Nintendo switch. I recently showed him a video of the 80' "Mattel Electronic Football Handheld Game" which is essentially just a handful of dim LED's and some control buttons. I used to fight my brother to get time playing on that old thing. My son may never truly appreciate how far we've come with respect to technology. The other thing I'd like to point out is that you either could afford some encyclopedias or went to the library. The fact that you can learn just about anything today is truly amazing. Folks like Ben Krasnow share amazing DIY things regularly that it would be hard to imagine in the 80's or 90's.

Bellend 5y ago
Oh man that thing is a blast from the past. It's crazy the memories that come flashing back just from seeing that image. It's extraordinary that my brain hasn't ditched the thing as garbage and deleted it. Must be 35+ years ago. Jesus.
clove 5y ago
Thanks for raising our future generation on videogames and smart phones. I'm sure you're raising a productive citizen, there. A Switch is $350, by the way, not including games - money that you could have put into your son's education, nutrition, skill-building, etc. The next generation is going to be a bunch of talentless game addicts.
- Apotheos 5y ago
  What even is this comment? What a weird projection on the commenter's part. Love the part about calling out the price of a Switch, without considering that the parent might also spend tons of money on education as well. To top if off the guy is an options trader! Lol!
  - clove 5y ago
    Instead of responding to the comment, you engage in ad hominem - a classic sign of no argument.
rectang 5y ago
Yeah, imagine not knowing some factoid, and it not being practical to find it out... That's completely different pre-internet vs. post-internet.
- greenail 5y ago
  I'm saying people are building sputterers, waterjets and even fabing transistors and ICs(Sam Zeloof) in their garages. It goes way beyond factoids. You can connect with experts in just about any field.
  - rectang 5y ago
    True! I just focused on factoids because that's what I feel most keenly. Even though the availability of educational resources has arguably made a bigger difference in my own life, the thing that tickles my fancy is still that I can get answers to silly questions like "what is that damn lyric?" that were completely mysterious before.
- handrous 5y ago
  On the other hand, 99% of my looking stuff up online is very low-value, and the trade off for that ease is that any time some question of trivia comes to mind I sort of itch until I find it out, even if it doesn't matter, whereas before most such questions would hardly have entered my conscious mind to begin with.
daltont 5y ago
Fascinating side bit about the Mattel Football game is Mark Lesser's role in it and that he went to develop NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis.

Bellend 5y ago

Oh man that thing is a blast from the past. It's crazy the memories that come flashing back just from seeing that image. It's extraordinary that my brain hasn't ditched the thing as garbage and deleted it. Must be 35+ years ago. Jesus.

clove 5y ago

Thanks for raising our future generation on videogames and smart phones. I'm sure you're raising a productive citizen, there. A Switch is $350, by the way, not including games - money that you could have put into your son's education, nutrition, skill-building, etc. The next generation is going to be a bunch of talentless game addicts.

Apotheos 5y ago
What even is this comment? What a weird projection on the commenter's part. Love the part about calling out the price of a Switch, without considering that the parent might also spend tons of money on education as well. To top if off the guy is an options trader! Lol!
- clove 5y ago
  Instead of responding to the comment, you engage in ad hominem - a classic sign of no argument.

rectang 5y ago

Yeah, imagine not knowing some factoid, and it not being practical to find it out... That's completely different pre-internet vs. post-internet.

greenail 5y ago
I'm saying people are building sputterers, waterjets and even fabing transistors and ICs(Sam Zeloof) in their garages. It goes way beyond factoids. You can connect with experts in just about any field.
- rectang 5y ago
  True! I just focused on factoids because that's what I feel most keenly. Even though the availability of educational resources has arguably made a bigger difference in my own life, the thing that tickles my fancy is still that I can get answers to silly questions like "what is that damn lyric?" that were completely mysterious before.
handrous 5y ago
On the other hand, 99% of my looking stuff up online is very low-value, and the trade off for that ease is that any time some question of trivia comes to mind I sort of itch until I find it out, even if it doesn't matter, whereas before most such questions would hardly have entered my conscious mind to begin with.

daltont 5y ago

Fascinating side bit about the Mattel Football game is Mark Lesser's role in it and that he went to develop NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis.