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What’s the skill though? Most everything you do on a smartphone is trivially easy thanks to all those hard working app developers. We all know from experience t

What’s the skill though? Most everything you do on a smartphone is trivially easy thanks to all those hard working app developers. We all know from experience that the vast majority of actual phone time is spent consuming some kind of media. I’m not at all worried about kids not learning to use a smartphone well enough- that part will sort itself out. It’s all the other (boring) skills that get pushed aside in the mindless scramble for dopamine that concerns me.

swiftcoder 1y ago
I think there might be something to be said for the idea of teaching computer literacy on smartphones. There's often a real gap in comprehension of conceptual computer use in those who grew up in the age of ambient smartphones/socialmedia/etc. That smartphone one only uses for TikTok is still 100x more powerful than any computer we had access to at that age, and it can do real work (just so long as you look beyond the consumption apps).
criddell 1y ago
Where my kids went to high school, a smart phone was required. The teacher would encourage kids to put assignments and tests on their calendar. They would use the camera to take a picture of a home work assignment written on a whiteboard. They used the camera for photo and movie projects. They had some twitter-like app for the teacher to broadcast to all students.
- mixmastamyk 1y ago
  Here too, kids are enslaved to google, microsoft, AND apple as well.
- torpfactory 1y ago
  That sounds like dystopia to me… the smartphone is such a crazy distraction to deep learning why on earth would you bring it into the space willingly.
GuB-42 1y ago
Using the smartphone a a useful tool while avoiding the mindless scramble for dopamine is the skill.
- torpfactory 1y ago
  Tbh an intensive class dedicated to teaching kids how to put their phone down would really be a good idea!
udev4096 1y ago
There are quite a lot of things you can mess around with. Install a custom ROM, a custom recovery or build a custom ROM from scratch. Use emulated players such as winlator for gaming. Use GrapheneOS for maximum privacy and security. Use termux for learning CLI. There are tons and tons of things you could do with that little rectangle screen
- mixmastamyk 1y ago
  The time our kid spent doing that, even when shown the possibilities: zero.
- Jolter 1y ago
  I guarantee you 100% that this is NOT what a teenager is up to on their phone during the school day. I mean, they COULD, but then they first have to develop an interest in science and technology. The likelyhood of developing such an interest when hooked on tiktok videos of makeup influencers? 0%.

swiftcoder 1y ago

I think there might be something to be said for the idea of teaching computer literacy on smartphones. There's often a real gap in comprehension of conceptual computer use in those who grew up in the age of ambient smartphones/socialmedia/etc. That smartphone one only uses for TikTok is still 100x more powerful than any computer we had access to at that age, and it can do real work (just so long as you look beyond the consumption apps).

criddell 1y ago

Where my kids went to high school, a smart phone was required. The teacher would encourage kids to put assignments and tests on their calendar. They would use the camera to take a picture of a home work assignment written on a whiteboard. They used the camera for photo and movie projects. They had some twitter-like app for the teacher to broadcast to all students.

mixmastamyk 1y ago
Here too, kids are enslaved to google, microsoft, AND apple as well.
torpfactory 1y ago
That sounds like dystopia to me… the smartphone is such a crazy distraction to deep learning why on earth would you bring it into the space willingly.

GuB-42 1y ago

Using the smartphone a a useful tool while avoiding the mindless scramble for dopamine is the skill.

torpfactory 1y ago
Tbh an intensive class dedicated to teaching kids how to put their phone down would really be a good idea!

udev4096 1y ago

There are quite a lot of things you can mess around with. Install a custom ROM, a custom recovery or build a custom ROM from scratch. Use emulated players such as winlator for gaming. Use GrapheneOS for maximum privacy and security. Use termux for learning CLI. There are tons and tons of things you could do with that little rectangle screen

mixmastamyk 1y ago
The time our kid spent doing that, even when shown the possibilities: zero.
Jolter 1y ago
I guarantee you 100% that this is NOT what a teenager is up to on their phone during the school day. I mean, they COULD, but then they first have to develop an interest in science and technology. The likelyhood of developing such an interest when hooked on tiktok videos of makeup influencers? 0%.