6 ms·

One issue is that today's students rely on electronic devices that are much more prone to sprouting legs when left unattended. The Athena combo and the weight o

One issue is that today's students rely on electronic devices that are much more prone to sprouting legs when left unattended. The Athena combo and the weight of a workstation made that less of an issue in our day.

dymk 4y ago
I can’t imagine leaving my laptop or phone unattended in a lecture hall. Seems a bummer to close the campus to the public because students can’t keep an eye on their property.
- ocschwar 4y ago
  Agreed.
- ejb999 4y ago
  Don't make it harder for people to steal, just blame the victim for not watching his or her stuff more closely? Sounds a lot like victim blaming to me.
  - dymk 4y ago
    Yeah. If you leave your phone or laptop in some place unattended where you know someone might steal it, and it gets stolen, you certainly aren’t to blame for the theft itself, but closing down a campus for irresponsible behavior is not the right “fix”.
kevinventullo 4y ago
I mean that’s true at a Starbucks as well. You probably shouldn’t leave electronics unattended anywhere outside a home.
- imajoredinecon 4y ago
  ...unless you're in Korea, where people use electronics and backpacks to reserve their seats _on different floors_ while they go to order their coffee (probably other examples too. This just floored me as an American)
  - bookofjoe 4y ago
    or Denmark: https://matadornetwork.com/read/denmark-baby-alone/ https://matadornetwork.com/read/denmark-baby-alone/
    - rvense 4y ago
      It's true that babies don't get stolen here, but laptops and phones left in public certainly do. The resale value is better and the punishment much less severe if you get caught. (The link in the article you posted mentions 97 cases of abductions; it's important to note that 100% of abduction cases involve the child's family, e.g. in custody battles and similar. A kid getting snatched off the street is a once-in-a-decade thing or rarer, and it's never an infant.)
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    Yep, here in Japan people will leave their valuables on a table to reserve it or to go to the bathroom. It's just a different culture; here, people are taught not to steal. In western cultures (particularly America), that just isn't the case apparently.
    - dymk 4y ago
      People aren’t stealing for a lack of being told not to do so in America…
      - midoridensha 4y ago
        Do you mean because they're poor? There's plenty of poor people in Japan, but they don't resort to stealing people's phones or wallets. Again, it's cultural. And it's not just America; over in Europe where there's a far better social safety net than America, petty theft is commonplace, especially pickpocketing (which, to America's credit, is almost unheard of there, which again shows this stuff is cultural).
        cromulen 4y ago
- 0x38B 4y ago
  I leave my laptop in the cafe all the time. Depending on the location and the people around, I’ll ask someone nearby to keep an eye on my stuff. Edit: this is in America. In Eastern Europe, where petty theft was widespread, I’d only do it in upscale locations (e.g in the de-facto ‘embassy’ district) or when I was friends with the staff and could trust them to keep an eye on my stuff.

dymk 4y ago

I can’t imagine leaving my laptop or phone unattended in a lecture hall. Seems a bummer to close the campus to the public because students can’t keep an eye on their property.

ocschwar 4y ago
Agreed.
ejb999 4y ago
Don't make it harder for people to steal, just blame the victim for not watching his or her stuff more closely? Sounds a lot like victim blaming to me.
- dymk 4y ago
  Yeah. If you leave your phone or laptop in some place unattended where you know someone might steal it, and it gets stolen, you certainly aren’t to blame for the theft itself, but closing down a campus for irresponsible behavior is not the right “fix”.

kevinventullo 4y ago

I mean that’s true at a Starbucks as well. You probably shouldn’t leave electronics unattended anywhere outside a home.

imajoredinecon 4y ago
...unless you're in Korea, where people use electronics and backpacks to reserve their seats _on different floors_ while they go to order their coffee (probably other examples too. This just floored me as an American)
- bookofjoe 4y ago
  or Denmark: https://matadornetwork.com/read/denmark-baby-alone/ https://matadornetwork.com/read/denmark-baby-alone/
  - rvense 4y ago
    It's true that babies don't get stolen here, but laptops and phones left in public certainly do. The resale value is better and the punishment much less severe if you get caught. (The link in the article you posted mentions 97 cases of abductions; it's important to note that 100% of abduction cases involve the child's family, e.g. in custody battles and similar. A kid getting snatched off the street is a once-in-a-decade thing or rarer, and it's never an infant.)
- midoridensha 4y ago
  Yep, here in Japan people will leave their valuables on a table to reserve it or to go to the bathroom. It's just a different culture; here, people are taught not to steal. In western cultures (particularly America), that just isn't the case apparently.
  - dymk 4y ago
    People aren’t stealing for a lack of being told not to do so in America…
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      Do you mean because they're poor? There's plenty of poor people in Japan, but they don't resort to stealing people's phones or wallets. Again, it's cultural. And it's not just America; over in Europe where there's a far better social safety net than America, petty theft is commonplace, especially pickpocketing (which, to America's credit, is almost unheard of there, which again shows this stuff is cultural).
      - cromulen 4y ago
0x38B 4y ago
I leave my laptop in the cafe all the time. Depending on the location and the people around, I’ll ask someone nearby to keep an eye on my stuff. Edit: this is in America. In Eastern Europe, where petty theft was widespread, I’d only do it in upscale locations (e.g in the de-facto ‘embassy’ district) or when I was friends with the staff and could trust them to keep an eye on my stuff.