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Kryton57 - MemberOnes creative, controlled, expressive and allows interaction. The other induces a brain dead trance if used in the manner indescribed.
Really ? You've not seen the interaction between kids who play Minecraft or Terraria then ? My lad can talk for hours about the Eye of Cuthulu or the Wall of Flesh or some random pumpkin sword..... It allows expression, imagination, knowledge, memory, hend eye coordination etc etc.
One involves, drawing with a pencil between 2 lines.
I'm surprised that any parent would ask the difference between a colouring book and a tablet.
At least with mine, colouring in stuff is a creative interactive activity. They play with each other and us through their drawings, they show us what they are doing and talk about it. Also, a piece of paper starts off blank and they have to come up with an idea for it themselves. This usually grows into a story or a world.
Tablets on the other hand suck the kids in and demand so much of their attention that none of this happens. And with most games they are just going through the game designers script all the time.
I am not anti-gaming, I play games myself. But there is a time and a place for it. I wouldn't whip out a tablet in a social situation, neither should they.
My son draws on the walls when we aren't looking. The ultimate form of artistic expression!
I've had a similar experience with music when a younger guy in the office (20s) claimed to have never heard of The Smiths or New Order
Oh how I wish that was me. Dreary depressing drivel (smiths) and tuneless plinky plonky crap that sounds like the demo track on a cheap Casio keyboard.
In my day we called it the "cinema" and watched "films". "Movies" was a word only heard in Starsky & Hutch.
In my day we called it the "cinema"
How modern! In my day (in them there West Midlands) we called it 'the pictures'. ie:
' Amyew gowin ter the pickcherz tomorrer? It's Blazin Saddles, ayit?'
'Kin'ell itayisit?'
'Ar ... issa double bill wi' The Oley Grayull.
'Wum gooin ter the pickcherz then aywe?'
'Ar, bostin, ar.'
wish I could find it, but recently saw a screenshot of a facebook post along the lines of "omg they made that t-shirt into a record", accompanied by a photo of the Unknown Pleasures album cover.
[i]we called it 'the pictures'[/i]
Dammit! We did too!
Every Saturday morning, Dad would drop us at the pictures for Children's Film Foundation showings. I strongly suspect those films have been hidden in a archive somewhere out of embarrassment to the directors.
Remote controls.
'We' couldn't be bothered to unpeel ourselves from the vinyl G-Plan sofa to get up and switch the telly to another (choice of 3) channel or finely re-tune the radio off the light programme. Therefore, through suffering we were educated.
Hmmm....
At least with mine, colouring in stuff is a creative interactive activity. They play with each other and us through their drawings, they show us what they are doing and talk about it.
As Weeksy said... they talk about the games as well... not only to each other but mine is always trying to tell me about some game or other...
Even if I play that game myself .. I find the whole thing disturbing.
Also, a piece of paper starts off blank and they have to come up with an idea for it themselves. This usually grows into a story or a world.
Tablets on the other hand suck the kids in and demand so much of their attention that none of this happens. And with most games they are just going through the game designers script all the time.
Part is tablet... but part is the way they deliberately design the games.
It's all about the "daily bonus" for signing in .... and this is mixed with the instant gratification...
In some way's I think its a bit like McDonalds where the food/environment is crafted to be addictive. (disclaimer not been in one for decades)
The ingredients are a mix of sugars with casein and gluten added (both of which are classed as exorphins as they bind to the endorphin receptors like opiates) The smell is artificial and pumped out in the AC apparently containing the "new baked bread smell" (acclaimed for helping sell houses)
Then they add the Ronald stuff and toys etc.
Anyway.... the point is non of these things is particularly bad by itself in moderation. (obviously unless you're allergic)
It's the mix that makes them addictive and specifically for children.
Tablets and games are a very highly developed "mix" of instant gratification, daily "rewards" or penalties if you don't log in daily... and especially in kids quickly "replace" the real world or then come to dominate the RealWorld.
Adult's aren't immune .. it's just kids themselves lack experience in life and this instead becomes "normal".
At the risk of sounding like an old fogey .... are kids actually happier than "a couple of jumpers for goalposts".... because I don't think they are.
I am not anti-gaming, I play games myself. But there is a time and a place for it. I wouldn't whip out a tablet in a social situation, neither should they
Ideally not ... but back in my "jumpers for goalposts... bike suspension wasn't invented" childhood meals out were very rare and real occasions nearly always involving other family/friends....
You were "allowed" to let the kids "go and play" without having some child protection officer querying why your kids are being allowed to play in a field or by the river without an adult...
On the other side I'm dismayed by (mostly) younger colleagues who seem incapable of sitting through a meeting without playing with a phone.
Be it for good or bad the backdrop has changed...
The tablet/game thing is like the kid doing an interactive jigsaw but everytime they get stopped some of the pieces are taken away and mixed back in the box... but all mixed in with a sensory overload...
On the other side I'm dismayed by (mostly) younger colleagues who seem incapable of sitting through a meeting without playing with a phone.
It's an easy trap to fall into, last week in Spain it was an almost unsaid/unwritten rule that when out, the phones were not used, OK if you get a text/whatsapp from the Girlies etc but apart from that, they were not picked up when we were out in company.
The world now is not the world of 20 years ago and you can't really compare them.
The world now is not the world of 20 years ago and you can't really compare them.
Mercy. I said exactly that, except twenty years ago 😯
some parents seem it ok to throw an iPad in front of kids with careless abandon to shut them up, or allow them to disengage. Not so long ago we witnessed a family in a restaurant with 2 kids aged approx 5 & 3 both creating a bit of a fuss.
We once went out for a family birthday meal (our family, the grandparents and my brother-in-law's family - the meal was for one of his kids). Halfway through the meal, out came three iPads for his three kids and they just completely withdrew. This was even before the birthday cake came out or anything. Then of course our two wanted our phones so they could play on them 'because x, y & z are'. Naturally we wouldn't allow this but I was dumbstruck at the selfishness of their actions.
I am that old man in the corner at work at the moment! Surrounded by 20-somethings that wonder why the old guy is getting all excited about seeing some band called the "Stone Roses" at Wembley this weekend, they just look blankly at me (same for De La Soul and Leftfield gigs this year), on the rare occasion we have music on i try to educate them about how the EDM they are listening too used to be house/techno and that actually it is just a remix from '92, but just get the "shut up grandad" look!
Naturally we wouldn't allow this but I was dumbstruck at the selfishness of their actions.
You're dictating to the birthday boy/girl what they're allowed to do on their special day? No jelly for you!
(Have a third child - then you might have half a clue what it can be like to be outnumbered).
You're dictating to the birthday boy/girl what they're allowed to do on their special day? No jelly for you!
Not dictating as I didn't tell them to stop. Just amazed at their selfishness - we were out celebrating their child's birthday but he was more interested in his iPad. Our kids aren't allowed near their Kindle Fires if we have any company.
Youtube stars.... lolAnyone with kids around 8-10 know Stampy Longnose and DanDTM.
The more worrying one I found was someone who knew who Teal Deer was, but not Johnathan Dimbleby.
I'm almost 40. To current teenagers, Oasis and Blur are as outdated as Queen was when I was their age.I'm 44 and Queen was sill very much in date when I was a teenager.
Well I'm 42 and I never liked them.
My friend was into Queen and The Beatles while we were at sixth form ('93-'95), but that was niche retro and most people weren't.
There was an apprentice in our office a while ago and I was amazed that he'd never heard of Gary Numan. Then someone of my age said "what do you expect? It was almost 40 years ago and he was shit."
Fair enough.
on the rare occasion we have music on i try to educate them about how the EDM they are listening too used to be house/techno and that actually it is just a remix from '92, but just get the "shut up grandad" look!
All that means is they're ignorant philistines without an appreciation of any musical history who instead want to be all tribal about why their stuff is best and yours isn't.
Anyway, all the stuff in '92 was remixes of older stuff and borrowed huge samples of other older stuff, so what's new?
You're the first person I've ever come across who uses Yammer. The traditional approach is to install it because you're told to install it, then never use it because no-one uses it.
I'll have you know I used it religiously for a whole week after I was told to install it. Until i realised I was talking to myself cos no-one used it 😆
I used Yammer, used it to raise a query as to why we (a state/tax payer funded organisation) were being charged over 1000% mark up on a part. The ensuing ructions went all the way to MD level. Whereupon I get a very snotty, " you've no idea about contracts", thinly veiled stop-rocking-the-boat-or-else, email from the head of procurement.
So that was the last time I used it.
Slack is painfully "in" right now, all the young kids in the office use it. I think it's the /giphy <gif> option.
Old age came to me when our team got an intern who was half may age. I normally feel like I'm a 25 year old living in an older, more ruined body, but that made me feel properly old.
Still, he did manage to throw up all over the office floor one day so he will forever be remembered as 'Chuck, the intern'.
43 here and, whilst I did not like all their stuff, Queen was there during my childhood, but then so was Madness, ska and punk and, later, Stone Roses and hip hop.
akira - MemberFine, my kids wrote Mein Kampf, invented interpretive dance, built the moon, played bass in the Stones, directed Das Boot and their dad could beat up your dad.
Nazi moon base.
I knew it!
I saw a young guy (Mid 20s) blasting Creedence Clearwater Revival out in his corsa today in Tescos car park.
I used Yammer, used it to raise a query as to why we (a state/tax payer funded organisation) were being charged over 1000% mark up on a part.
Yes, Yammer's not for anything that could rock the boat, it's like a safe space for senior mangers and fluffy departments like HR to communicate things down to the minions. Posting on Yammer is like announcing your presence as a trouble maker.
Slack is like the unofficial (because it is) place where the technical ineptitude of our glorious leaders is called into question. The person who sends one of them an invite will be sent to Coventry, and we'll have to go hang out on a private Mastodon server or something (STW?) instead 😀
I had the following conversation a while back:
Stepson Two: Have you heard 'California Dreaming'? It's by Bobby Womack.
Me: Dont be daft, it's The Mammas and the Pappas.
Stepson Two: No, Bobby Womack *clicks on youtube*
new guy at work....
flat eric?
errrr no....
criminal!
I saw a young guy (Mid 20s) blasting Creedence Clearwater Revival out in his corsa today in Tescos car park.
That's because Fogerty and his crew are timeless. You can't apply any logic to CCR. I'm only 40 and love me some Creedence
*wanders off singing Looking Out My Back Door