Kids might be digital natives – but a study shows they aren’t computer literate

Re:Kids might be digital natives – but a study shows they ar... by Waterluvian on Monday February 08, 2021 @11:15PM (#26073770)

My dad has a favourite story about me at age 3 being able to load a floppy disk into the Apple II, turn it on, load Robot Odyssey, and get past the first level. All by failing hundreds of times, never getting frustrated, and watching my 10 year old brother doing it.

When my son was 2 I had high expectations and he still surprised me with how relentless he was at fuzzing the iPad. He doesn't understand what any words of symbols mean but he knows how to navigate it. At 3 he can mouse and keyboard his way into youtube and search for "trains" without being able to tell me whay that word means.

I'm so glad he's thriving with a mouse and keyboard. I worried a bit that he was doomed to be a touch screen computer user.

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Re:Kids might be digital natives – but a study shows they ar... by doctorshady on Monday February 08, 2021 @11:27PM (#26073866)

Nice! When I was really young (maybe four, five?) I wound up having to replace the disk drive/card pair on an Apple II. What should've taken most people maybe ten minutes was an ordeal, but the feeling of accomplishment doing that was still really awesome.

I'd expect the same is true of old cars, and whatever else; even if you're tinkering with things initially out of necessity, if you're determined enough to pull through, the experience may wind up being an investment in and of itself.

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