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Recently, I stopped over a friends house. And, I was surprised to see a group of 7 or so 9-11 year olds all watching their computers or devices. At first I th

by ap22213 12y ago

Recently, I stopped over a friends house. And, I was surprised to see a group of 7 or so 9-11 year olds all watching their computers or devices. At first I thought they were having a lan party, playing a game. So, I asked them what they were doing, and they said they were watching youtube videos. I observed them for a while and watched as they'd go back and forth between each other, sharing different links then sitting in silence, watching. Then, they'd get together and talk about it. I'm not sure what they were looking up, but they were all engrossed, sharing in some sort of learning experience. I'm not sure if this is good or bad (who can really say?). But, I see it in my son, who is 9. I get frustrated that he's not reading at the level I was, when I was his age. And, we certainly have lots of books around the house and encourage good reading habits. However, he likes his videos and audio. Didn't Marshall McLuhan predict this back in the 60s? The 'book' as we know it has only been around for a few hundred years. And, certainly it's been quite important to our progress and exchange of information. But, information has been communicated for thousands of years, in different means, with success. I'm fairly optimistic that new generations will rely on different types of communication to exchange ideas and to learn. Books will not be irrelevant, but books (and reading) are being replaced, in importance. What will happen when we re-evaluate all of our knowledge outside the context of the 'Gutenberg mind'?

watwut 12y ago
"... reading scores among young children have improved since the 1970s, according to one test that measures reading ability. The reading scores among 17-year-olds, however, remained relatively unchanged since the 1970s. ..." The article complains about reading ability among children being the same as before. They lament lack of progress, they do not lament decline in ability. Maybe your reading abilities were above what 9 years old could do back then.
lifeisstillgood 12y ago
Thank you. What I wanted to say. I would also add one of the more important means of communication that we really do not know how to use well - code.
johnchristopher 12y ago
> I'm not sure if this is good or bad (who can really say?). Actually, there are many people who can say whether it's good or bad. > Didn't Marshall McLuhan predict this back in the 60s? The 'book' as we know it has only been around for a few hundred years. And, certainly it's been quite important to our progress and exchange of information. But, information has been communicated for thousands of years, in different means, with success. I'm fairly optimistic that new generations will rely on different types of communication to exchange ideas and to learn. Books will not be irrelevant, but books (and reading) are being replaced, in importance. What will happen when we re-evaluate all of our knowledge outside the context of the 'Gutenberg mind'? I suggest you pick up a copy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet_Is_Doing_to_Our_Brains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet... to broaden your outlook.
- ap22213 12y ago
  What I mean is: who can predict the future? The 'book' had certainly impacted the structure of Human thinking, and McLuhan suggested that this resulted in things that weren't necessarily 'good' (maybe some good? some bad?). Likewise, new technologies will again change the structure of Human thinking. But, we can't presume to know how this will turn out.
  - mephi5t0 12y ago
    Exactly, nobody can. When we were drawing in horse crap - a car was a life saver. Now everyone complain it's killing us with cancer and drawing us in the future melted ice caps. Nobody can tell what impact it will have on human brains in 100 years... I deff know that watching cartoons all day is bad. And a lot of parents do just that - here is an iPad, just shut up and let me be. But if it used for study... Who knows?!
  - johnchristopher 12y ago
    Seriously, read the book or the essay it is based on. The 'we don't really know anything so who can say what ?' stance isn't that productive and gets old real fast.
jes5199 12y ago
yeah, but when I was that age you'd have a good chance of seeing my friends and I just sitting around the television watching videotapes. Is it really different?
r00fus 12y ago
Interesting anecdote, but in my circles the kids all just play together when they're forced to group, up to and including the pre-teens (actual teens are simply not there - they're doing homework or socializing outside our friend/family group meetings). I really wish Apple would mimic Amazon's playtime functionality - right now we use a digital timer (TimeTimer when she was younger) for our eldest, but if we're not watching she gets more time than she's allotted. That or some way of blocking access at the wifi-router level that was easily configurable. Hell even an big "play time" physical switch situated high on a wall that you could turn on/off to control access to youtube/netflix would be nice :)

by ap22213 12y ago

watwut 12y ago

"... reading scores among young children have improved since the 1970s, according to one test that measures reading ability. The reading scores among 17-year-olds, however, remained relatively unchanged since the 1970s. ..." The article complains about reading ability among children being the same as before. They lament lack of progress, they do not lament decline in ability. Maybe your reading abilities were above what 9 years old could do back then.

lifeisstillgood 12y ago

Thank you. What I wanted to say. I would also add one of the more important means of communication that we really do not know how to use well - code.

johnchristopher 12y ago

> I'm not sure if this is good or bad (who can really say?). Actually, there are many people who can say whether it's good or bad. > Didn't Marshall McLuhan predict this back in the 60s? The 'book' as we know it has only been around for a few hundred years. And, certainly it's been quite important to our progress and exchange of information. But, information has been communicated for thousands of years, in different means, with success. I'm fairly optimistic that new generations will rely on different types of communication to exchange ideas and to learn. Books will not be irrelevant, but books (and reading) are being replaced, in importance. What will happen when we re-evaluate all of our knowledge outside the context of the 'Gutenberg mind'? I suggest you pick up a copy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet_Is_Doing_to_Our_Brains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet... to broaden your outlook.

ap22213 12y ago
What I mean is: who can predict the future? The 'book' had certainly impacted the structure of Human thinking, and McLuhan suggested that this resulted in things that weren't necessarily 'good' (maybe some good? some bad?). Likewise, new technologies will again change the structure of Human thinking. But, we can't presume to know how this will turn out.
- mephi5t0 12y ago
  Exactly, nobody can. When we were drawing in horse crap - a car was a life saver. Now everyone complain it's killing us with cancer and drawing us in the future melted ice caps. Nobody can tell what impact it will have on human brains in 100 years... I deff know that watching cartoons all day is bad. And a lot of parents do just that - here is an iPad, just shut up and let me be. But if it used for study... Who knows?!
- johnchristopher 12y ago
  Seriously, read the book or the essay it is based on. The 'we don't really know anything so who can say what ?' stance isn't that productive and gets old real fast.

jes5199 12y ago

yeah, but when I was that age you'd have a good chance of seeing my friends and I just sitting around the television watching videotapes. Is it really different?

r00fus 12y ago

Interesting anecdote, but in my circles the kids all just play together when they're forced to group, up to and including the pre-teens (actual teens are simply not there - they're doing homework or socializing outside our friend/family group meetings). I really wish Apple would mimic Amazon's playtime functionality - right now we use a digital timer (TimeTimer when she was younger) for our eldest, but if we're not watching she gets more time than she's allotted. That or some way of blocking access at the wifi-router level that was easily configurable. Hell even an big "play time" physical switch situated high on a wall that you could turn on/off to control access to youtube/netflix would be nice :)