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Retro-Tech Parenting

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Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#111

Post by sejje »

AkshayGenius wrote: post #102
TimTheTinker wrote: post #18

Some of the things my wife and I have provided for our kids: - lots of bookcases with probably >1500 books (including lots of kids/picture books) - what we've collected over the years - a family laptop (2012 MacBook Pro) with no internet connection, pre-loaded with Pages, Sheets, Affinity Photo/Designer, a few small games, and some coding tools (Python, Ruby, VSCode, Scratch, etc.). - Lego Spike and Spike Prime robot…

This sounds very interesting and very much in-line with what I’ve been musing as a soon-to-be father. One question that comes to my mind is do your kids compare their experiences to their friends? If their friends have access to a laptop with internet, or a music subscription service with all the music constantly available (a la Spotify), do they not compare and ask you why their experiences must be so limited? Why d…

Just tell them the truth, friend. You want to protect them, this is your family's way.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#112

Post by lukan »

Bratmon wrote: post #54
japhyr wrote: post #45

This is great, but it's also easy to go too far in this direction. This can work through elementary school and into middle school, but I don't think it works in high school. It's really hard to be a high school student without your own phone. I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school. It avoids some of the addictive and distracting issues that come from having phones at a young a…

I don't think enough parents have internalized that if they're the "I don't let my teenager have a phone" parent in 2026, that also means they're the "I don't let my teenager have friends" parent.

If .. many parents would do this (like you imply), then there would be many kids without a phone who can be friends with each other?

Also I doubt the "not being able to have friend without a phone" in general. But surely harder in most areas.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#113

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

jjulius wrote: post #49
japhyr wrote: post #45

This is great, but it's also easy to go too far in this direction. This can work through elementary school and into middle school, but I don't think it works in high school. It's really hard to be a high school student without your own phone. I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school. It avoids some of the addictive and distracting issues that come from having phones at a young a…

>And the landline at home doesn't help you coordinate pickups and drop-offs as people start to do a wider variety of activities. How did people coordinate these before even email became widespread?

> How did people coordinate these before even email became widespread?

With a lot more difficulty.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#115

Post by masterj »

japhyr wrote: post #45

This is great, but it's also easy to go too far in this direction. This can work through elementary school and into middle school, but I don't think it works in high school. It's really hard to be a high school student without your own phone. I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school. It avoids some of the addictive and distracting issues that come from having phones at a young a…

Protecting your kids from dopamine-drip algorithms and the effects of social media and short-form video during their most formative years and gradually letting them take over as they mature sounds like… parenting.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#116

Post by [deleted] »

ravenstine wrote: post #97
TimTheTinker wrote: post #18

Some of the things my wife and I have provided for our kids: - lots of bookcases with probably >1500 books (including lots of kids/picture books) - what we've collected over the years - a family laptop (2012 MacBook Pro) with no internet connection, pre-loaded with Pages, Sheets, Affinity Photo/Designer, a few small games, and some coding tools (Python, Ruby, VSCode, Scratch, etc.). - Lego Spike and Spike Prime robot…

I love this! I'm kind of sad that I'm likely beyond the point where I can ever have kids, but what you describe are absolutely the kind of things I'd want to provide them if I'm lucky. One recommendation I have is a basic 3D printer and OpenSCAD installed on the family laptop. I can see that opening up a lot of added interactivity with other things like the Legos, robotics, etc.

[deleted]

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#117

Post by Swizec »

picofarad wrote: post #75
Swizec wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The other 99% who were into yoyo-ing back then are now into TikTok, that's all. Hey dude, some of us were yo-yoing while waiting for Gentoo to build from stage 0. Compiling an OS on a single-core Athlon takes time. For the 3 days it takes to build all the way up to KDE, you have no computer. Hope you didn’t forget something

distcc-pump And, I forget what the toolchain setup is called, but on gentoo its literally just `emerge -1av distcc` on machine with beef and just `emerge -1 distcc` on athlon... I found out how to do it consistently in 2010 and its like black magic knowing how to target a real OS at BS hardware.

I was doing this in 2003 and my computer was also the internet/network router for our house. When that thing was down, you had no access to external information that you didn’t pre-save somewhere.

One time I forgot to install network drivers and had to download them through my flip phone via GPRS and then awkwardly load onto the computer via a clunky USB connection. Fun times.

Also my English wasn’t this good yet. I’m sure it would’ve been a lot easier had I actually understood all the tutorials and documentation fully.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#118

Post by anthk »

masterj wrote: post #115
japhyr wrote: post #45

This is great, but it's also easy to go too far in this direction. This can work through elementary school and into middle school, but I don't think it works in high school. It's really hard to be a high school student without your own phone. I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school. It avoids some of the addictive and distracting issues that come from having phones at a young a…

Protecting your kids from dopamine-drip algorithms and the effects of social media and short-form video during their most formative years and gradually letting them take over as they mature sounds like… parenting.

I've been there, but going to cybercafés instead of having an internet connection at home until very late. A simlar case with a mobile phone, having to use the one from my dad until I had 18.

I nearly ended up alone, as anynone would expected. Parents understood too late the value of sharing common culture points, up to the point to apologyze and feeling really desperate on the consecuences.

Cracking up wifi and such saved me up a little, but not much. I missed TONS of stuff and experiences. When I could finally got all the media and proper skills, it was really damn late.

Don't do this to your kids, then. Time doesn't roll back. Ever. Don't be a shitty narcisist parent and let your kids develop their OWN tastes.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#119

Post by contingencies »

japhyr wrote: post #45

This is great, but it's also easy to go too far in this direction. This can work through elementary school and into middle school, but I don't think it works in high school. It's really hard to be a high school student without your own phone. I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school. It avoids some of the addictive and distracting issues that come from having phones at a young a…

I know some people who have kept their kids from having phones into high school.

In Australia this is normal. The distribution of phones increases slowly during high school, not before. Kids don't really use phones anyway, they use some combination of online games and messaging apps so they can do it from a computer or tablet without a phone.

Re: Retro-Tech Parenting

#120

Post by TimTheTinker »

j45 wrote: post #107
TimTheTinker wrote: post #18

Some of the things my wife and I have provided for our kids: - lots of bookcases with probably >1500 books (including lots of kids/picture books) - what we've collected over the years - a family laptop (2012 MacBook Pro) with no internet connection, pre-loaded with Pages, Sheets, Affinity Photo/Designer, a few small games, and some coding tools (Python, Ruby, VSCode, Scratch, etc.). - Lego Spike and Spike Prime robot…

Emulators are a great idea. Makes me want to 3D Print a mac classic, then put a tablet in it running an emulator with the touchscreen disabled. Touchscreens can quickly be disracting, finding ways around that are important.

Another option: buy a real Mac SE (re-capped), then put a scsi2SD in it with whatever cool stuff you'd like your kids to have on the SD card.
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