Consider the tech that was available in the 2000s and early 2010s. There was a lot of innovation, but if you wanted to make it work you had to figure it out. For example- okay you bought a computer, want Internet? You have to find and hire an ISP, make sure your computer has an Ethernet port (adding one if it doesn’t), and hook it up. Want to use two computers at once? You need a router, it’s on you to select, purchase, and configure this thing. Want to get email on your PalmPilot? You gotta figure out your POP3/IMAP and SMTP server settings. Computer not working? Better look up error codes or reinstall Windows.
The result was that ‘digital natives’ who truly understood general purpose computers not just on a superficial operator level but on a technician level.
Then we decided to make it simple. Want a computer? Plug it in, it Just Works. Want to get online? Go down to the Apple store and plunk down $400 you’ve got an iPad and you’re online.
Result is the ‘digital natives’ are just skilled operators, and haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on.
Now for what they know, they ARE good with it. I was once in a car with such a kid, and there was some strange scene playing out on the sidewalk with an obviously drunk guy. Kid videoed this on the iphone. I joked that when we get home we should get some music and make a meme video. Kid goes head down, 45 seconds later comes up and shows me it’s been edited into a publish-ready video with a title and background music. But ask that kid where to find a filesystem and you’d probably get an answer like ‘in the drawer under my teacher’s desk’.
My point is- I don’t think a kid should have an ipad, I think they should have an experience like early 2000s-2010s kids had. No plug and play devices. Instead things that if they want to make it work they have to figure it out themself.
Maybe the answer is some kind of raspberry pi based system but give it to them as a bag of parts and they have to assemble it themself into some kind of cyberdeck type setup, load an OS onto it (for this they get a blank laptop with an OS install stick, they have to install it themself to make it work enough to flash the Pi SD card).
Maybe if Linux phones start to be a thing, the answer becomes give the kid the phone but with the memory wiped so they have to image it themself in order to make it work…
Or just give the kid a flip phone (feature phone, not foldable smartphone)- it can text and communicate and call 911 and that’s all you NEED.
MIL sounds insufferable and toxic AF-- even if you are a batshit crazy Luddite (although the Luddites may not have been so crazy, but I digress…) Even if you are a nut, it’s still your fucking kid, not hers. And that means she has no right to make parenting decisions.
You ever read Fahrenheit 451? This reminds me of the guy’s wife Mildred, who’s obsessing over the stupid brain dead TV drama and she wants to replace all 4 walls of a room with TVs to watch the show in surround. And the highlight of her character’s experience is when she goes interactive and they’re asking her if their party should be in the pink room or the blue room. Meanwhile she can’t possibly understand why her husband doesn’t care about any of this.
Your MIL sounds like Mildred.
Here’s the thing- kids should ‘know their way around computers’. But an iPad DOESN’T do that.
I think you might appreciate this blog post: Kids can’t use computers… and this is why it should worry you IMHO this is worth the time to read it.
Consider the tech that was available in the 2000s and early 2010s. There was a lot of innovation, but if you wanted to make it work you had to figure it out. For example- okay you bought a computer, want Internet? You have to find and hire an ISP, make sure your computer has an Ethernet port (adding one if it doesn’t), and hook it up. Want to use two computers at once? You need a router, it’s on you to select, purchase, and configure this thing. Want to get email on your PalmPilot? You gotta figure out your POP3/IMAP and SMTP server settings. Computer not working? Better look up error codes or reinstall Windows.
The result was that ‘digital natives’ who truly understood general purpose computers not just on a superficial operator level but on a technician level.
Then we decided to make it simple. Want a computer? Plug it in, it Just Works. Want to get online? Go down to the Apple store and plunk down $400 you’ve got an iPad and you’re online.
Result is the ‘digital natives’ are just skilled operators, and haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on.
Now for what they know, they ARE good with it. I was once in a car with such a kid, and there was some strange scene playing out on the sidewalk with an obviously drunk guy. Kid videoed this on the iphone. I joked that when we get home we should get some music and make a meme video. Kid goes head down, 45 seconds later comes up and shows me it’s been edited into a publish-ready video with a title and background music. But ask that kid where to find a filesystem and you’d probably get an answer like ‘in the drawer under my teacher’s desk’.
My point is- I don’t think a kid should have an ipad, I think they should have an experience like early 2000s-2010s kids had. No plug and play devices. Instead things that if they want to make it work they have to figure it out themself.
Maybe the answer is some kind of raspberry pi based system but give it to them as a bag of parts and they have to assemble it themself into some kind of cyberdeck type setup, load an OS onto it (for this they get a blank laptop with an OS install stick, they have to install it themself to make it work enough to flash the Pi SD card).
Maybe if Linux phones start to be a thing, the answer becomes give the kid the phone but with the memory wiped so they have to image it themself in order to make it work…
Or just give the kid a flip phone (feature phone, not foldable smartphone)- it can text and communicate and call 911 and that’s all you NEED.
MIL sounds insufferable and toxic AF-- even if you are a batshit crazy Luddite (although the Luddites may not have been so crazy, but I digress…) Even if you are a nut, it’s still your fucking kid, not hers. And that means she has no right to make parenting decisions.
You ever read Fahrenheit 451? This reminds me of the guy’s wife Mildred, who’s obsessing over the stupid brain dead TV drama and she wants to replace all 4 walls of a room with TVs to watch the show in surround. And the highlight of her character’s experience is when she goes interactive and they’re asking her if their party should be in the pink room or the blue room. Meanwhile she can’t possibly understand why her husband doesn’t care about any of this.
Your MIL sounds like Mildred.