4 ms·

Yeah I’m Australian-born too, going back to Australia at the end of high school after doing most my schooling in Europe was mind blowing, like going back in ti

by sen 3y ago

Yeah I’m Australian-born too, going back to Australia at the end of high school after doing most my schooling in Europe was mind blowing, like going back in time. Obviously some schools/unis were more advanced but almost everyone I met had never even used a computer in Australia, and at most had some email access for work/uni and that was it. The country itself was advanced tech-wise in companies/government but as far as education went it was really behind, and was basically left as “if you need computers for your job then they’ll train you”.

RoyalHenOil 3y ago
I'm originally from the US (I moved to Australia in my mid-20s), and it's interesting how different it was for me and for my Australian partner. I first used a computer when I was a toddler in the 1980s, and I have been using them ever since. I went to a very low-income public school in a poverty-stricken, high-crime neighborhood, and we were using computers (albeit very outdated Apple II's that had been donated) starting in 1st grade. We were writing stories and printing them out by second grade, and learning how to "surf the web" and cite websites by 3rd. By high school, we were learning Photoshop and video editing. Meanwhile, my partner attended a very expensive private school, yet his first experience with a computer came drastically later (like some time around 2000 or so?), and it was because his family bought one, not because the school had them. On the other hand, he was already playing video games on a SNES from an early age, whereas I didn't get my first console (a cheap secondhand GameCube) until 2005 or 2006 when I was a university student. I can really see the difference in our parents, too. His mother is essentially computer illiterate to this day, whereas even my grandpa (born in 1930 and grew up sharecropping) was making websites without any help from his children or grandchildren while I was still a little kid.

by sen 3y ago

RoyalHenOil 3y ago

I'm originally from the US (I moved to Australia in my mid-20s), and it's interesting how different it was for me and for my Australian partner. I first used a computer when I was a toddler in the 1980s, and I have been using them ever since. I went to a very low-income public school in a poverty-stricken, high-crime neighborhood, and we were using computers (albeit very outdated Apple II's that had been donated) starting in 1st grade. We were writing stories and printing them out by second grade, and learning how to "surf the web" and cite websites by 3rd. By high school, we were learning Photoshop and video editing. Meanwhile, my partner attended a very expensive private school, yet his first experience with a computer came drastically later (like some time around 2000 or so?), and it was because his family bought one, not because the school had them. On the other hand, he was already playing video games on a SNES from an early age, whereas I didn't get my first console (a cheap secondhand GameCube) until 2005 or 2006 when I was a university student. I can really see the difference in our parents, too. His mother is essentially computer illiterate to this day, whereas even my grandpa (born in 1930 and grew up sharecropping) was making websites without any help from his children or grandchildren while I was still a little kid.