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I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

sethpurcell.com

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Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#331

Post by wojciii »

I try to limit my kids exposure to electronic devices while they are small.

I can't avoid it, but I try.

I consider blacklisting YouTube at our house. The withdrawal symptoms look like people having tried drugs. This is scary.

I noticed that playing with phones for shorter amounts of time is ok and the kids get creative as soon as they don't have access to electronic entertainment.

Currently I play chess with them and do reading. My kids are 4 and 7.

This was a bit off topic, but I think that parents should stop exposing their kids to electronic entertainment.. its worse than drugs.

I'm sounding like a lunatic.. I know.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#332

Post by GJim »

loco5niner wrote: post #141
pklausler wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the parents shouldn't let their offspring go feral on the exhibits?

As a parent with one of those kids, you never know which mode they will start off with, even with the right prompting. And yes, you correct them and steer them in the right direction and hope they will eventually learn how to behave.

[flagged]

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#333

Post by d3k »

I totally agree with the post. The definition of a museum is "an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects", according to Wikipedia. Most of the time I do not see anything significant on these screens in museums, since equivalent content can be easily reached on any phone. Real, relevant objects are much harder to find and find a way to create interest around them. But that is exactly what makes a museum a good museum, not the screen.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#334

Post by tomaskafka »

kleiba wrote: post #94

There is an incredible pressure on a lot of public facing endeavors to include digital , no matter whether it makes any sense at all or not. Take education, for instance - if it weren't such an important topic, it would be almost comical to observe how our schools are trying to jump through hoops to cram more IT into the classroom. (I wish the people responsible would take a look at Scandinavia though, where they are…

I believe it’s rather

- schools being pressured to do “something” but being clueless about how education works - IT vendors exploiting this and happily selling them piles of digital something

The same cycle happens on political levels - “I know nothing about education, but I guess screens mean progress because everyone (= IT vendors) says so, so let’s give schools money earmarked for screens.

And of course the IT vendors happily support it by marketing and bribes.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#335

Post by jansper39 »

ghaff wrote: post #193
incone123 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NHM is free to enter, some special exhibitions charge for entry and I think some require free booking to manage crowds. There is a very strong encouragement to make a donation though.

As a tangent, I find it a bit annoying that so many UK museums advertise free pretty aggressively and then provide such "very strong encouragement" as you put it to attend. Mind you, there's less direct pressure than there is in some places. The Met in NYC used to have an optional but not really optional policy for museum admission as you got your pin though it now not optional at all for non-NYC residents.

I find that less annoying than what some museums around Europe charge to let you through the door.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#336

Post by Theodores »

card_zero wrote: post #167
Theodores wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I didn't bring my niece to a museum to look at a screen..." I took my niece around the Natural History Museum in London recently, taking in the new 'Darwin' extension first. It was a liminal space of sorts with lots of broken screens. The tech had not been updated in a decade or more so you had Adobe Flash Player running, complete with the crash pop-up messages to let you know what version of Flash they were updated…

I think you're mistaken if you got the impression that the museum once had guides. This isn't a recent trend, so far as I know it's been delightfully free from tour guides since 1881. You had to buy tickets prior to 2001, so that's changed. (Was entry free in its early history too? Not sure.) That used to be your greeting, the ticket desk. They had an earthquake machine in 1985, it must be the same one.

I didn't think that they would have guides, it was just odd to go into a city of millions and spend all day surrounded by people yet not have any need to share words with anyone for any reason whatsoever.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#337

Post by [deleted] »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #239
kridsdale1 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The STOP OIL NOW people are changing that with their paint.

(a) Just Stop Oil has disbanded. (b) They only pulled that stunt on art that was already behind suitably-protective covers. (Whether the stunt is effective or not, they weren't putting artwork at risk: just temporarily disrupting the operation of galleries, and getting themselves arrested.) (c) This is completely off-topic.

[deleted]

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#338

Post by LeonM »

kleiba wrote: post #94

There is an incredible pressure on a lot of public facing endeavors to include digital , no matter whether it makes any sense at all or not. Take education, for instance - if it weren't such an important topic, it would be almost comical to observe how our schools are trying to jump through hoops to cram more IT into the classroom. (I wish the people responsible would take a look at Scandinavia though, where they are…

I volunteer for a historical museum about transportation (mainly steam engines/trains) I was recently approached if I could create an 'interactive video game' to use in the educational corner.

I politely refused, of course, but I did ask why we'd even want that. The reason was simple: we receive government funding to do 'educational stuff', and kids like computer games, right?

Having employees (or volunteers in our case) to educate visitors during all opening hours is a massive challenge for most museums, so an interactive screen/game sounds like the logical solution to ensure the funding is approved each year again.

I hear the same thing from other musea that we collaborate with. Reality is that these systems are broken more often than not. Typically designed on a budget by an external developer, who is no longer employed or paid to maintain it. Employees/volunteers don't understand how the system works, so the screen just stays off.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#339

Post by incone123 »

TRiG_Ireland wrote: post #213
incone123 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar thing at This Museum is (Not) Obsolete, in Ramsgate. Just so many things that can go wrong that you expect not everything will be working on your particular visit.

That's a one-man passion project, isn't it? I follow Look Mum No Computer on YouTube.

Might be a couple of people. I certainly don't hold it against them if a few things are out of service on any given day.

Re: I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

#340

Post by sersi »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #323

Did the Author missed the note about digital age ? Society evolved since he was a kid. His kid will also probably end up doomscrolling on TikTok and have the attention span of a gold fish. That’s just how it is, you can’t change society and going against it is a tough fight. I’d even say that the author contributed to it seeing his age and he works in tech.

I disagree with you. Yes society evolved as a kid but I think nowadays we're going to see increased class division around screen use habits. Educated wealthy parents increasingly try to control screentime and teach their children how to manage it responsibly while uneducated parents or parents who are poor in time (because they need to have 2 jobs to feed their kids) will let their children have a lot more access to screens and won't help them form good habits. I think it's likely to seriously decrease upward mobility in the future.
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