I'm old enough to have used an Apple II in my early teens, and then the BBC models A and B. My parents bought me a Vic 20, and later I bought myself an Acorn El

I'm old enough to have used an Apple II in my early teens, and then the BBC models A and B. My parents bought me a Vic 20, and later I bought myself an Acorn Electron from money I made helping out teaching people basic computer skills. I hacked the hell out of those things. I also typed-in a lot of code from magazines. I remember the feeling (really almost ecstatic sometimes, to my teenage self) of possibility and exploration. I wrote Mandelbrot set programs and blew my mind a bit. I typed-in a planetary orbit simulator and then played with the constants to see what would happen. I learned 6502 assembler and wrote a simple (what I now know to be) cooperative multi-tasking scheduler. Information moved at the speed of monthly magazine publishing schedules, so you mostly had to figure stuff out yourself. It was fun. This was all pre-PC. Now I'm older and I have teenagers and I did try to recreate this experience for them: Logo, RasPi, MicroBit, electronics kits, etc. But the truth is that simple stuff just wasn't that interesting to them. They played a lot of minecraft and built huge automatons with redstone and chickens, and they explored worlds like Mario Galaxy (impressively huge to me). I guess they got out of that something similar to what I did with my Vic 20. I can regret that their experience is built on a deep stack of tech that they know little about, but I don't think they really cared about that - if they thought abut it at all. New technology attracts enthusiasts - but then it fades into the background or fades away. When cars became things that normal people could own, there were car clubs for people who enjoyed messing with cars. Some of these clubs still exist. When sound recording became a consumer tech, there were clubs were people met to listen to and share recordings. Domestic CB radio was a thing for a while. Astronomy clubs still exist - from their origins in a time when it became possible to buy a telescope and actually do new stuff with it. My advice is to look for ways for them to actively explore the world in a positive, non-passive, fun way. Equip them with the means to explore - don't try to teach them web development. Don't ask them to stick with one thing. There's a lot more stuff now - so its ok to try things and abandon them and move one. They'll do that anyway.