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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh my. There are still people out there who seriously think a 5 year old needs to start learning about technology. The technology he will be exposed to and needing to deal with when he is 20 is a completely different one, than the one that is around today. No child needs to know how an iPad works at age 5. Honestly...are any of you aware that there are 1-2 year olds who can handle an iPad? What does that tell you about how hard it is or how long it would take someone to pick it up if they never did it before? Really!?

Children have no need for technology. You try to make them and us believe that they do - but they just don't. Once they enter high school - maybe. Once they enter college - surely. Once they enter the job world...the basic stuff, absolutely. Programming? Coding? Only if their job takes them that way. In our world today everyone picks up the necessary skills almost automatically. A child does not need to learn how to type on a keyboard before they get into the teenage years. Honestly, no child even actually needs to 'learn' that either. Just having them exposed to PC and internet from an appropriate age on automatically slowly has them pick up the typing skill. There is exactly ZERO need to start at age 1 with introducing children to technology. Zero. And if you feel differently and really have your young children have screen time daily from birth I feel sorry for their brain development.[/quote]

First, nobody here is talking about technology exposure from birth. Why do these things always degenerate into the extremes on either side of the issue?

Second, yes, it's actually harder for people with no or limited exposure to deal with what we consider to be common, everyday technology.  I volunteer with the local jail teaching very basic computer skills, because while many lower income people have access to a smart phone, that's the extent of their tech knowledge. They get very intimidated trying to navigate basic data entry on a fast food cash register or at an oil change  place that has a real computer screen.

Third, appropriate exposure to technology in the elementary years is similar to appropriate exposure to everything else.  We expose our kids to different hobbies, books, music, travel, etc.  Exposing them to technology is no different. Some may develop a great love of coding. Others will at least get a cursory overview.  I programmed in Basic when I was in sixth grade. That was the late 70s. I didn't love it, but I grew up to be able to develop a website for my brother's business when he was just starting out. And now, even though I work as a lawyer, I provide some basic website maintenance for my employer.  Smaller businesses very often need and recruit people with these talents.

And I'm the one who said my generation had to learn typing. This generation has to learn coding. I'm old enough to have worked where businesses had huge support staff and the "professionals" hand wrote or dictated their legal briefs, analyses, or other written material. And I watched as the support staff shrank and people were expected to do their own typing, formatting, publishing.  My husband is a journalist but he also does his own production work for radio and Tv -- which requires programming skills. It didn't used to. But businesses downsize and require more from their employees. I fully expect similar workforce changes to occur regarding technology over the next 50 years.  Our children's prime career years.[/quote]

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