Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#311

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:42 PM UTC

mattlondon wrote: post #234

My favourite one that surprised me and continues to surprise people: kids that have grown up with smartphones and iPads from birth are computer illiterate. People see their 5 year old using an iPad and the knee-jerk cliche thought/assumption us the classic "oh wow these kids just get technology!" (recall all the "I need my kid to program the VCR" type stuff from the 80s/90s - it is the same thing of older people assu…

Good, looks like training my 1 year old to use a controller instead of a tablet was a good idea LOL

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#312

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:44 PM UTC

Terretta wrote: post #308

mattlondon wrote: post #234

My favourite one that surprised me and continues to surprise people: kids that have grown up with smartphones and iPads from birth are computer illiterate. People see their 5 year old using an iPad and the knee-jerk cliche thought/assumption us the classic "oh wow these kids just get technology!" (recall all the "I need my kid to program the VCR" type stuff from the 80s/90s - it is the same thing of older people assu…

Not sure if this is different from growing up mechanically illiterate: a whole new generation growing up not knowing what a spark plug or timing belt is. Engines are finally entering their appliance phase, just in time to be replaced by electric motors. It’s okay for computers to become appliances too.

Not exactly. Being able to use a keyboard or a mouse is different. By comparison, is not being able to drive a car.

I sure know nothing about engine but can drive.

A computer illiterate needs the minimum of being able to maneuver it.

Files might disappear, they are an abstraction after all.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#313

Post by jaclaz » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:46 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #245

gorgoiler wrote: post #167

Journey time calculations in Google maps, Uber etc. mean no one I know is ever on time. If you need to be somewhere at 8:30 and the journey “takes 17 minutes”, one psychologically sets 8:13 as the deadline for leaving the house. You pick up your keys at 8:13, actually leave a few minutes later, hit traffic or take a wrong turn or two, and end up crossing the threshold at your destination fifteen minutes late. It’s no…

I'd guess it isn't because of specific services like Google, but the fact that you can now say "I'll be 5 mins late" while you're on the way. People used to not be contactable until the appointed time, now it feels like you're already there with them.

And this gets us back to the classic xkcd:

https://xkcd.com/612/

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#314

Post by karmakaze » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

Not so much new tech, but I was out on the deck really late in the summer and heard a horrible sound like a dying alien. After sorting through the noise, I finally recognized it as a mocking bird doing a very bad imitation of a car alarm. I've heard good ones but this was just sounded sickly--perhaps it was blending different types of alarms together.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#315

Post by marpstar » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:59 PM UTC

tracer4201 wrote: post #242

mattlondon wrote: post #234

My favourite one that surprised me and continues to surprise people: kids that have grown up with smartphones and iPads from birth are computer illiterate. People see their 5 year old using an iPad and the knee-jerk cliche thought/assumption us the classic "oh wow these kids just get technology!" (recall all the "I need my kid to program the VCR" type stuff from the 80s/90s - it is the same thing of older people assu…

Not a parent yet, but I certainly don’t plan on giving my kid a touch device... certainly not with internet access. I grew up using the internet as a 90s kid. Today, the internet is even more messed up.

My kids (9 and 6) started with touch devices but are increasingly preferring an actual PC. I just bought a Dell G3 gaming laptop (in addition to the Lenovo PC we already owned) so that I didn't have to give up my MacBook every time they wants to play Garry's Mod.

For first-person "builder" games (current favorite is "Scrap Mechanic") WASD+mouse-look is a lot easier for them than tapping and dragging on a touch screen. Also: larger displays.

Forget mouse+keyboard dexterity...most other kids don't seem to even know about the Esc, Enter, Space, and Shift keys.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#316

Post by mikestew » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 5:41 PM UTC

mattrp wrote: post #309

mikestew wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just checked to make sure: yup, I still see all of my wife’s devices in Find My. So it’s not broken out of the box. You did see the new Devices tab at the bottom, right?

Is she on the same iCloud login or her own?

Her own iCloud account that is part of a Family. So yes and no? Yes, she has her own account, but no, because she’s also under the umbrella of my account (“Family”). But it has always been this way, yes? One must be under the Family umbrella to see the devices of others?

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#317

Post by mikestew » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 5:42 PM UTC

buboard wrote: post #298

mikestew wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not, in most places. I fail to see what difference it makes: people do it. Hell, I do it on occasion, and I don’t like wearing headphones when I’m riding.

riding a bike is already dangerous, riding with headphones is doubly so

Sure, but that’s orthogonal to laws and their effect on behavior. People ride with headphones, dangerous or not, legal or not. I’ll was honestly asking what difference a law makes when people obviously do it, and in areas where I’m sure it’s illegal. Hell, I’ll see people driving with a headphone in each ear, and I know for a fact that’s illegal in at least three states.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#318

Post by mattrp » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 6:55 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #316

mattrp wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is she on the same iCloud login or her own?

Her own iCloud account that is part of a Family. So yes and no? Yes, she has her own account, but no, because she’s also under the umbrella of my account (“Family”). But it has always been this way, yes? One must be under the Family umbrella to see the devices of others?

That’s the distinction - we didn’t put her account under the family plan. I must truly be an edge case then!

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#319

Post by Terretta » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #312

Terretta wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if this is different from growing up mechanically illiterate: a whole new generation growing up not knowing what a spark plug or timing belt is. Engines are finally entering their appliance phase, just in time to be replaced by electric motors. It’s okay for computers to become appliances too.

Not exactly. Being able to use a keyboard or a mouse is different. By comparison, is not being able to drive a car. I sure know nothing about engine but can drive. A computer illiterate needs the minimum of being able to maneuver it. Files might disappear, they are an abstraction after all.

Surely “mouse” is not a particularly modern artifact. Remember Scotty from Star Trek trying to talk into one?

Mouse was because you couldn’t manipulate directly, iPad you can. Keyboard is because you can’t talk to it. But now one can.

As for not driving a car... why would you need to know how once it can drive itself better? The car’s purpose is to get you from A to B, not to be driven.

Clearly we are on an appliance trajectory there as well. Knowing how to drive is a skill that only a few generations may ever need.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#320

Post by buboard » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 7:48 PM UTC

qeternity wrote: post #49

kylecazar wrote: post #27

The world's tourist must-see spots are seeing an unmanagable spike in foot traffic.

As an expat all of my life, I’ve really noticed this in the last 5 years. It’s also extremely hypocritical because I find myself walking around in places I have lived before, or been to many times, and feeling angry at the “tourists” ruining it.

As someone who lives in a pop tourist place, my reaction is less about being angry, it s more ‘what the hell are they all doing here’. It feels like those lines outside shops on black friday that i used to see on US TV. How can it be ‘cool’ to travel when everybody’s doing it?