My 96 yo neighbors use internet, without too much hassle. Just like most people they don't understand it, but they use games, search, chat .. funny.
11% of Americans don’t use the internet
231–240 of 295 posts
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know very smart 60yo+ doctors with a lifetime of scientific achievements, who understands concepts way more complicated than the IP protocol or a browser, and who just refuse to learn it. I know a woman who until recently worked as a secretary to one of the presidents of a large regional bank. The first thing she did each morning was to print out the president's e-mails, and bring them to him on paper. He would the…
I know law partners who are like this. If they generate so much value for their employer they can hire an assistant solely to bridge the technology gap.
My father was exactly like this (he retired last year after 49 years in practice as a lawyer, several decades of which he was managing partner of his own firm) - if he needed to send an email, just like sending a letter, he would shout down the corridor to his secretary and she would send it for him. Here's one just for the HN open-office haters: he only really retired because the consultancy gig he'd taken on for the twilight of his career (during which he still had a secretary who would send emails for him) switched to an open-office floor plan and he was extremely miserable because he could no longer take a nap after lunch.
Curiously, post-retirement he's bought a smartphone and is actually moderately competent with it, in a way I never really saw him be with a computer...
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#233That's pretty cool. I think we need a reminder that the Internet isn't a prerequisite for life. :-)
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s surprising how well young children use the internet, pre-literacy. My 4-year-old asks Google questions all the time on her laptop, and gets answer most of the time.
I chuckle every time I remember that when my dad used to interview secretaries to hire ~20 yrs ago, he'd always ask "Can you use computer?" which sounds like a quite funny question to ask a 20-something years old person nowadays, let alone kids.
By the way, I used to think that in the future, when people have had computers already from childhood, everyone would know their way around them really well and be advanced users who know programming and what not. That did not happen.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think functionality illiterate people can still use smart phones. Certainly not to their full capabilities though.
I think they rely on smartphones, especially for basic maths or asking others for help. I'm disappointed that countries set such a high barrier to entry for immigrants (TOEFL level 6.5-7) when local people probably can't even achieve the same.
They set this high barrier of entry because they want only high-quality immigrants. I assume because they think this correlates with good socioeconomic status in the future (there is some indication of this, but I don't think it's been established. Please do send me some papers if it is, I'd love to read them).
When you look at it from that light, I think it makes more sense.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
Writing typically refers to composition, not penmanship. I’m not actually sure penmanship has suffered much from ubiquitous computing. It would be interesting to do a study on it.
Depends what you want out of kids. I can tell you how to NOT do it. Don't start with block lettering for all of pre and grade school, then switch to ONLY cursive for 3 years... now I can't write anything nicely. It's still readable, more so to me. As for actual composition, don't force kids in to a rigid structure all the time. Maybe they've changed that too. It took me years to write in a more free form.
I had only cursive for my entire first twelve years of school, then slowly switched to block letters. My handwriting is really nice, but I don't think it had much to do with my school(s). I can't really glean from your comment why you think the kind of writing you are taught has anything to do with the kind of writing you use now.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s surprising how well young children use the internet, pre-literacy. My 4-year-old asks Google questions all the time on her laptop, and gets answer most of the time.
There are many other factors for this, but the primary one is how much Google has invested in making that the case. Start them young.
And then later they learn the privacy repercussions. Plus earning money on 4 year olds? If its via advertising its shady. There's code of conduct here that commercials for under 12 aren't allowed (so they target the parents instead, yay).
I'll be teaching my kid to learn to go for the duck instead.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know very smart 60yo+ doctors with a lifetime of scientific achievements, who understands concepts way more complicated than the IP protocol or a browser, and who just refuse to learn it. I know a woman who until recently worked as a secretary to one of the presidents of a large regional bank. The first thing she did each morning was to print out the president's e-mails, and bring them to him on paper. He would the…
> - She dressed the part; coming to work in a proper business suit and briefcase each day, not carrying a backpack like a sixth-grader. > - She didn't mind making coffee for the boss. It's a hate crime to even ask these days, but she did it happily. This seems like very strange editorializing to me. Do backpacks bother you so much? Who is complaining about making coffee if that's in the job description?
There are some groups of people that find such tasks offensive/beneath them. I don't understand why, I have just seen it in practice.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
More than libraries, I wish there would be really affordable computers. We’ve already proven it’s technically possible, with Raspberry Pis and cheap Android phones. Now I wish we would stop cramming bloat and shit (like useless JavaScript and ads) into our websites and operating systems so those low-end machines actually remain usable and productive. Internet access should also be a right - not high speed 100+Mbps, b…
You can get a Samsung Chromebook for $75. The FCC operates the Lifeline program, which provides subsidized Internet access to low-income Americans, but the program was gutted about three months ago, dropping about 70% of enrollees.
There's also a second hand surplus of old technology. They may have wear & tear and other disadvantages though compared to today's standards: slower CPU, slower IO, less RAM, HDD instead of SSD, dead pixels, (half) dead batteries just to mention a few but hey its an option.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
You read my mind with that last sentence. As I read your anecdote, I was marveling at how much relief she probably created by circumventing the email/slack/txt/messenger treadmill the rest of us are forced to run on during a workday.
>the email/slack/txt/messenger treadmill the rest of us are forced to run on during a workday. Or at all hours of the evening, night and early morning, since some people we work with don't seem to understand the concept of leaving work at work.
You can enforce such rules on your own, by slowly trimming down after-hours "work" (since it is unpaid, it's not work to me). You can compensate this with very good time management and always being on time/reading up on meeting agendas. Nobody will openly criticize you for such a practice since everyone sees you as together and competent. Eventually they get used to this status quo and nobody will even question it anymore in your case. It might take you a few years, but it pays off in the end I think.