h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Was talking with my sister the other day and we were discussing children who have been excluded from school (she works in one of the centres that takes them in and supposedly tries to help them).
One thing she mentioned was that some kids don;t bother because they'd sooner be at home on the internet, spending all their available time there. And of course the parents often let them because it means they ain't out on the street drinking or causing trouble.

Stereotypes aside, does this mean that soon we will have the first generation of young adults who have been educated by the internet? Do you think it'll be something new or too small a group to make any difference to anything socially?

my kids are already set internet based homework. it's a pain because it requires a parental oversight not needed with books etc. the upside of course is that as a resource it is...well...unequalled.

but this is not what you meant i'm sure.

were kids today to spend lots of time online that would be a VAST improvement on the idiot y generation's obsession with games consoles.

I don't know about educated might be wrong i thought it was mostly chat sites talking to there friends music and games while there on the Internet i don't know if they look up historical moments of history or mathematical equations

They will probably have good knowledge about computers tho

curiosity is a natural part of being a child. they will as a matter of nature, follow up and read, yes READ, about things that interest them. the key is appropriate supervision and guidance.

My stepson had ADHD & Dyslexia. Until he was about 11 he could barely read & write. When he discovered online RPG games, suddenly he had a need & a desire to read & write. It brought him on to the point that he was able to go to college. If the internet provides the impetus for kids to learn, I'm all for it. Maybe all kids computers should have a password requiring a quadratic equation or a grammar problem to be solved?

Learning about relationships on the internet will not work. Theory yes, practise no

"were kids today to spend lots of time online that would be a VAST improvement on the idiot y generation's obsession with games consoles."

Things I (a member of the idiot console-player generation) do on my computer game console - play problem solving games that improve your lateral thinking, games that cause you to think about moral issues, games that are fun with friends.

Things I've inadvertently seen on the Internet (thanks b3ta and sick friends! ) pornography, beastiality, dead people, coprophilia.

The Internet, much like games consoles, provides equal opportunities for kids to be creative/educate themselves OR to see some of the most violent/depraved acts mankind carries out. To claim that "ooh, that Internet's better than them sitting on an xbox" makes no sense at all to me.

swl. there are ample games online and otherwise, which enable progress thru the game on the basis of solving problems of various sorts, including the sort you mention. kids love them. media reports suggest that research indicates the downside of the internet for adults and children alike is shortened attention spans, as people expect things to be instant, include answers and explanations. sorry that is second hand and i have no cites.

what i love about the net and kids is sometimes i get asked about stuff i don't know, which is a lot. i can either look it up for them or i can tell them to go online and find out themselves.

"Supervision and guidance" absolutely agree with that.



I'm perceiving from my students that they watch a lot of unsuitable things in Internet. The effects: kids of 10 years old want to play to be cool adults because they watch pornography, "glamourous" behaviour in relation to drugs consume, ultra violence...etc.

They have got a lot of information but are unable to process it correctly. Many are quite confused.
Not sure about the effects within a time. I wish I could find many parents a bit more responsible and mature.

On the other hand , internet is a fabulous tool, well used, of course.

psycorp. what part of 'appropriate guidance and supervision' wasn't clear?

You didn't mention that in the quote I responded to.

psy. no. in the post you replied to i mentioned 'parental oversight'. equally clear i would have thought.

and i think the idea that donkey kong, and all its successors, played in isolation, is capable of delivering training in decision making and moral choices to be a REALLY long bow.

"i think the idea that donkey kong, and all its successors, played in isolation, is capable of delivering training in decision making and moral choices to be a REALLY long bow."

True, but the same goes for algebra, or the Tudor history, or any other small part of an indvidual subject. Nobody plays a single franchise or type of game in isolation.

Well Donkey Kong is not necessarily intended to be a cerebral game, but it certainly involves plenty of problem solving.

Most singleplayer games don't involve moral choice, with the exception of some RPGs. Multiplayer, well, how far is it ok to use my team-mates as bait ?

Actually, here's another one I heard that I quite like: computer games teach people not to give up on their problems, but to [reload and] try a different approach.

Hoh nos, we'll end up with an entire generation of people, who as adults, want more cowbell and lion cash Culturally the influence of the net in the coming years will be... not sure 'interesting' is the right word, as internet memes become more widely used outside the online environment per sai...

"I don't know about educated might be wrong"
No, I think perhaps 'Educated' with a capital E they won't be since it won;t be a formal process. But they're bound to pick stuff up and click links to anything from psycorps favourite websites (you really think that 'inadvertently' fooled us?? ) to conspiracy websites to wiki sites. It is an education of sorts but could be quite eclectic I would have thought depending on the curiosity and, well, nerdiness of the child.

I'm wary of kids using technoilogy X will end up in position Y as someone who was constantly told that watching too much telly would turn my brain to mush (no, that was what I called 'having a good time' that did that ). So, TV, consoles (never got them anyway), computers, internet, whatever.

I just struck me that this is an opportunity/situation which no previous generation has had. The first to grow up with such a mass of information available (most of it wrong) to them and those who are in a position for this to be the main education they get.

"One thing she mentioned was that some kids don;t bother because they'd sooner be at home on the internet, spending all their available time there. And of course the parents often let them because it means they ain't out on the street drinking or causing trouble.

Stereotypes aside, does this mean that soon we will have the first generation of young adults who have been educated by the internet?"

I think you are confusing two different things. It seems to be that you think that parents let their kids on the internet, or out on the street when excluded. They are not the only choices. Some parents of excluded children fight with the school to supply work for the exclusion. If it is not supplied immediately, they find other things for the kid to do.

My son uses the internet, both for school and for pleasure. He is not educated by the internet - he may be learning things - but not being educated. Only people can do that.

>> The first to grow up with such a mass of information available (most of it wrong) <<

Sadly, a lot of what I was taught at school also turned out to be wrong.

Some of it turned out to be wrong even while I was *at school*. Stuff that was "right" at 'O' level was "wrong" at 'A' Level. That then turned out to be "wrong" at university.

What I was taught as "right" at university is probably "wrong" now.

RF

The BBC bitesize seems to have more than it's fair share of typos. I just happen to know that.