Kids and computers
 

Both my kids started using computers around 2-3 years old.

We'd load educational games for them.

I like to think it's part of the reason both of their reading scores are several grade levels ahead of the grade they are currently in.

Some of Ardens homework is done online. She had a question on a math portion tonight so I sat with her to help her thru it.

When she finished and closed the browser window I notice an icon for Virtual Boy Advance on her desktop. Virtual Boy is a Nintendo Gameboy emulator. You can download ROMS of old games and play them on your PC.

I asked her what she was doing with it.

"I download Pokemon ROMS and hack them"

You hack them? Hack them how?

"Yeah, look, here's one I'm hacking now. I'm replacing the characters with new ones that I created myself"

I see.

"I'm not happy with the original GUI so I'm going to redesign that and then create some new attacks and Powerups"

Ooooookayyyy.

"Am I in trouble?"

No baby.

She turns 11 in August.

cha ching... she'll be buying daddy a Ferrari in 10 years.

I told my son (13 yr) that if he sits down and writes an Android app with me then he will get my Captivate phone when I upgrade - in 8 months. We are starting that project in a couple weeks.

My son is taking advanced technology in middle school. They focus on using free apps (Google SketchUp) to complete large/involved projects. The more we encourage the use of technology the better.

Dude, are your kids asian?


I had access to computers when I was younger but they were big and slow and mostly set up for doing signs. I still think that helped me out though. I'm very quick to catch on to computer related stuffs.

I learned BASIC on an Apple II in 5/6 grade. Had to store the program on tape, not floppy.

I thought all kids knew computer as well as our kids do, but with a very few exceptions, I found out all they can do is play games. I taught our kids how to use the PC and how to troubleshoot/fix most issues that come up.

She may be on to something. Games make far more money than movies, these days. My 10yr old son does the same, so he is going to a camp that teaches him to create his own games this summer. The options of game learning is huge.

Back in the early 70's I had a Lite Brite, "stick the colored plastic pin through construction paper to make a colored pattern" toy.

Lite-Brite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also an etch-a-sketch, (an early laptop that you shook upside down to reboot it)


and Lego's , an amazing technology that forced you to use your imagination compared to todays "pirates of the caribbean" Lego's kits build a Pirate ship per the drawings and instructions.

Erector Sets, been around since 1913................damn those square nuts.........


In a way, I feel sorry for the kids of today that most likely would be bored building a tree house or playing in a mud puddle......Wii or Xbox Tree house App more likely (don't want them to actually hit their thumb with a hammer, or then sue said Hammer Manufacturer)...but then again, kids today will invent the Holodeck and beam-me-up Scotty transporters.

Both my kids spend more time playing with Legos than pretty much anything else.

They get the kits for the characters but by and large they make their own stuff out of all the parts.

My daughter also knits, spends hours at it.

They draw and paint, put together plays and recruit their friends.

That has led to them starting experimenting with stop motion animation/videos.

Both are taking piano lessons, the girl also took up violin this year and is starting to fiddle around with guitar.

The way she uses the term "hacking" is different that what the word meant when were were all learing computers. Now the game makers leave various openings for the gamer to customize their avatar, character, etc. Kids call any changing of the characters or game hacking. Doing it takes skill but it is part of the program and is more akin to customizing the game than really hacking the program. My kids come from a long line of underachievers. They are doing their best to live up to their DNA. I'd be lost if I had to compete against Monkey's kids.

Don't forget what industry I'm in, pretty incomplete list, maybe one day I'll update it. :cool:

And thanks for the compliment :D

Their mother made a considerable contribution to the gene pool ;)

Keep 'em at it. I started with computer stuff when I was 10 (early 80s) and didn't apply myself in HS or go to college early. Have a decent tech job working in .edu for a decent salary. One of the guys who was a couple of years older than me also started at the same time but he applied himself in high school and went to college early and worked hard there, he helped start this little business called Google.

Sending you a PM with details on some freely accessable online books all about technology - programming, 3d design, etc.

The term certainly has changed from the early 1960s at MIT...

Hindsight being 20/20...I should have gotten more involved with the computers I had back in the early 80's..Did some basic programming on a C-64 and stored on magnetic tapes too.. Cars, motorcycles and WOMEN were more important to a teenager...DOH!

The guys that dove into the technology in the early 80's are on the Forbes list today...

My 7 y/o seems to have an innate ability. Almost like the kids are coming from the womb with a double click hardwired in their brains.

Eventually tech will evolve to not require the brainscan helmet, the 3D glasses and the contoller glove. We'll be able to go to an area and just start "doing"(talking, looking moving, etc). There will always be a person needed to better this method of duplicating the human mind onto electronic circuits, until AI self-programmers come into existance(and Skynet takes over of course).

Wish when I was younger back in the 80's that I'd been able to understand the language of programming, and how syntax can control the hardware. Even getting to a small stage of understanding basic Basic would have been a boost.

Somebody needs to make a programing game for kids!

I, for one, welcome our computer overlords...

My company works in Unmanned Systems...my background in Unmanned Systems goes back almost ten years.

Beyond the incredible leaps in Unmanned System vehicle and sensor technology, huge strides in have been made in the human interfaces, command and control and training presentations. (Nostatic is a wheel in this area.)

A generation of users that instinctively understand controllers, graphics, tactical worlds now control real world tactical vehicles...and they are amazing at it.

My partner briefed one of our UAS system at Tailhook...about half the O-6 and above folks looked like dogs watching TV.

Every Junior Officer was completely engaged.

... or still living in your basement in 20 years.

(kidding)

Sucks for her, no basements in TX.;)