Changes are good sometimes. I have been posting about changes that I am not happy about for the most part, but one such good change is the ability to post here on Hive. What a warm welcome I just got yesterday. Thank you all for your engagement!
There are other good changes as well. The internet would not make its debut until several years after I closed my shop. I was the first repair shop to adopt a computerized inventory and invoicing system. It was hell learning to type and worse climbing up to the top shelves and getting codes for some of the parts that I had in stock. Try bar-coding a tire! But it did make tax time easier knowing exactly what I had on the shelf and what all my stock is worth just by pressing a button and printing out my inventory.Changes are good sometimes. I have been posting about changes that I am not happy about for the most part, but one such good change is the ability to post here on Hive. What a warm welcome I just got yesterday. Thank you all for your engagement!
There are other good changes as well. The internet would not make its debut until several years after I closed my shop. I was the first repair shop to adopt a computerized inventory and invoicing system. It was hell learning to type and worse climbing up to the top shelves and getting codes for some of the parts that I had in stock. Try bar-coding a tire! But it did make tax time easier knowing exactly what I had on the shelf and what all my stock is worth just by pressing a button and printing out my inventory.
Now, we have the internet and 90% of the people that live on this planet know how to use it. Or do they?
With the advent of the internet came the information age and everybody stopped using their brains, and now they use the internet. But lately, I have noticed that most, if not all, people that I talk to are not using the internet at all. I tell them about a product or service and give them the URL so that they can see the site that I'm talking about, and they go to Google and type it in. That is called searching for something when you already know how to find it.
Look, you do not have to search the location of your home or office on a map. You don't have to look up your mother's telephone number in order to call her. Then again, nobody calls anybody anymore. That is another change...
When I tell them to go to element.io to get a more privacy oriented chat app, which does everything whatsapp does but without any of the data leaks that accompany their preferred instant messaging app, they cannot even find the place where you're supposed to type a web address. It is called the URL bar and I think some browser apps have disabled it by default. They only know how to use Google, and don't get me started about the limit that places on one's ability to find information. Strange because that site was the best search engine until they removed the "don't be evil" mission statement that used to appear on the site. I have a copy of the original "Google Cheat Sheet" somewhere but the last time I pulled it up from my hard drive, most of the commands did not work anymore.
It was similar to the above...
Everyone agrees that young children are impressionable. But, does that mean that adults are not? I would venture a guess that it does not. I think even adults trust their search engine to present a balanced information spectrum that reflects the real stories of the world and its people. That is not always the case though.
Worse than that, it is like someone asked a friend to show them how to use the internet. They were taught how to use Google and the learning stopped there. They never learned the other 99% of what the internet has to offer or how to make a bookmark, or keep the URL in their mind and type it partially to see that it comes up from the cache, which tells you where you've been. If you pull up your banking site from the cache, you know that it is the right site and if you did not have your money stolen the last time you were there, chances are you will not have it stolen on this visit either. This is important because if you're searching for it every time, you may end up on a phishing site as many do. Google will present a phishing site that is a knock off of the original. All you have to do is type a slightly different search term - and the scammers are hoping you do!
After many years of watching YouTube videos, and remembering something cool that we saw, we used to pull up the video to show someone that same part of the video that we liked. We would have to scroll through the video, advancing it to the cool part. Now, with instagram, it is filled with nothing but the cool parts. I suppose that is good, in a way. It gives us instant gratification with every swipe of the finger. Is there a cost though? Read on...
When I was a child, I might have had a cool experience while walking to school. Afterwards, during the walk, I would have time to reflect on what I had seen and store the information along with my feelings. I think that the time we used to have for reflection is a really important part of learning and processing information, which is important in order to store things properly in our minds. If it was a deer in the woods that looked at you, you would be able to reflect on nature. If it was a robbery that happened to you (or a bully that hit you), then you could reflect on what you are not doing in order to protect yourself and make a plan for the next situation like that.
Seeing a really impressive trick on a motorcycle, or an impossible basketball shot and then moving on to another really cool video is entertaining but nobody shows the weeks or months of hard work that person had to put into developing the talent to do one of those things. That is what's missing! The gratification of such a feat is only real when someone puts in the work that it takes to develop that ability.
When I ask my daughter a question and she instantly goes to Google to find the answer, or to pull up her calculator to give the right answer, it makes me wonder if she's even using her mind the way it was intended to be used. Then there's the subject of critical thinking. When does the thinking happen?
I looked for a scene from "Yellowstone" for this post. One where Monica catches the kids outside on a bench and they are all staring at their phones instead of interacting with one another. Her response was commonsensical! I was not sure if I could share a clip from my yewtu.be instance - you know it as YouTube, but mine gets videos from the API and leaves the ads all over there. Google is rich enough from people searching for sites with perfectly memorable URLs. I did not find the scene but it would be helpful if someone would tell me whether it is appropriate to share clips from that site here for demonstrations purposes. If I find it I may put it in the comments ( or one of you can). It is an exceptional series!
Many people look up to me and are amazed at some of the accomplishments I've made. For example, I used to be part of a team that created some of the apps that make life easier for others. That kind of work involves guessing the things that people will click on and anticipating the results that they will get from their click, or in this case tap. Will my children be able to do that?
my image - pop up cam
Many adults see a particular success of mine and ask if I can teach them how to do it too. On occasion I have attempted to do that, sacrificing some of my time to explain things to them. But these days, it is difficult to hold their attention long enough for them to absorb the information. Could this have something to do with that instagratification I mentioned? Where is the connection to the process that brings success? There I go again, presenting a change that is not positive for the world or the people in it.
You are here, reading this, and that's a good sign that you are a thinking person who can remain on the same page for more than a few seconds. For that reason, I know there's hope!
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