I have just stumbled upon a nice article on how kids don’t really understand how computers work.
As the author writes in his conclusion, “I want the people who will help shape our society in the future to understand the technology that will help shape out society in the future. If this is going to happen, then we need to reverse the trend that is seeing digital illiteracy exponentially increase. We need to act together, as parents, as teachers, as policy makers. Lets build a generation of hackers. Who’s with me?”
His point is that, while kids are becoming fantastic users of computers (i.e. they can do Facebook using the left hand while playing Angry Birds with the right), only few of them actually understand computers. And this is going to be detrimental in the future when (i) the kids will be adults making decisions and (ii) computers will be everywhere.
There is an element of truth in that. I want my kids to be hackers. Like I was at their age!
Patrick Ng says
14 August 2013 at 21:57Personally, I don’t care if my daughter become a hacker or not. What I do care is for her to find her passion and to pursue it, as long as the passion is not something like becoming a porn star.
Patrick Ng says
14 August 2013 at 22:15Also, it is not always about what we, as parents, want. If they are interested in knowing how computers work, there is not much we can do.
Avinash Meetoo says
14 August 2013 at 22:29I agree. Kids should discover and pursue their passion. But the point of the article is that, no matter what passion this is, computers will surely be involved and, therefore, the kid will have to understand how they work…
Patrick Ng says
14 August 2013 at 23:14I don’t agree with this statement, at least not 100%. The author is giving the idea that there is a clear definition of what is “He/She cannot use a computer.” The author is also givint the impression that we are doomed if we don’t fix this problem. But we can say the same thing about many aspects of life
Drivers
There are millions of people diving cars every day around the world. Not all of them know how to check the oil level, the tyre pressure, the break fluid level, how to change a flat tyre. In North America many don’t even know how to drive a manual transmission car. Is it important for every driver to know these things? Of course it is. Does everyone know these things? No. But life still goes on. Ainsi va la vie.
Cooking
We all need to know how to cook and what is a healthy meal. Yet, not everyone knows how to cook and (too) many people in developed countries rely on fast food.
Owning a house
Many house owners have no clue how to fix a leaking pipe, how to fix a broken electrical switch or how to replace a broken window. They don’t know how to “use” a house.
DSLR
Many DSLR owners keep their camera set to P or Auto and never look back. They don’t know anything about aperture, shutter speed, nor ISO. They don’t know that using a short focal length exaggerates perspective whereas using a longer focal length compresses perspective. They don’t know how to use a camera. Should they not use one?
I do agree what parents should teach their kids important skills. However, not everyone evaluates the importance of a skill the same way.
Patrick Ng says
15 August 2013 at 19:01Avinash,
Those who don’t know how ot use a computer can always use a Mac, can’t they? It just works :-)
Pramod says
16 August 2013 at 08:02The knowledge of hacking is very powerful. It is good to have that knowledge. However what’s important is how to make use of that knowledge we possess. The same knowledge can do good as well as bring chaos. What is important here is to make sure the person having that knowledge is also able to distinguish from right and wrong. Well I mean more about ethical hacking. Teach your kids how to hack but also teach them when and what to hack and why! :)
Avinash Meetoo says
16 August 2013 at 08:10Hi Pramod,
Personally, I am unhappy that most people believe that hacking is bad. A hacker is “a person who enjoys exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness” or “someone who loves to program”.
I have always been a hacker. And will always be. Like countless others before me, tons right now but, possibly, less in the future… according to the article.
Pramod says
16 August 2013 at 09:05For me Hacking is a knowledge. And it is up to us to decide what to do with that knowledge.
Just like science. You can use hydrogen to propel a space shuttle for space exploration, or it can be used to propel a destructive weapon to destroy a target.
Hacking we can use that to understand the core of computing, to see how things function so that we can improve it for the better, enforce security, or there are other people who enjoy to compromise a particular system either to steal or just for the fun of it, not realising that it is causing harm to others. :-)
It is not hacking that is bad, but what a person does with that is bad or good depending on the effects.
Avinash Meetoo says
16 August 2013 at 09:43Like driving. It’s an essential knowledge and skills which everyone should master. Like hacking is going to be shortly.
Adarsh says
29 August 2013 at 11:56In my opinion, the real issue here is not really about someone can use a computer or not, it is more about the ability of someone who can learn new things and adapt to new things on his OWN. You cannot really teach someone on how to learn these “small things” such as on how to use a computer, how a mobile phone works, what are the functions on a remote control, how to use new or existing features on a device, to use a particular software, etc… It is a sad thing that a majority of people still thinks that learning is limited in schools and it is even sadder that our education system is not really preparing people on how to continue on learning.
Avinash Meetoo says
30 August 2013 at 07:26You’re spot on. People stop learning as soon as they leave school. I’ve seen that when I was an academic…