<story><title>How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons from Madagascar</title><url>https://theconversation.com/how-kids-in-a-low-income-country-use-laptops-lessons-from-madagascar-93305</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>codetrotter</author><text>&amp;gt; But there was one marked difference: computer use in Madagascar tended to be a collective rather than an individual practice. Children and their families would gather around one laptop to play educational games, take photos or make videos. Computers were being used to strengthen existing social relations among siblings, parents and peers.&lt;p&gt;I think it used to be like this for a lot of people in the developed world as well when computers were new and most people did not have computers and those that did had only one in the whole household.&lt;p&gt;Nowadays a lot of people including the children have a smartphone each and the household might have one or more iPads and up to several laptops. And of course a PlayStation or an XBOX.&lt;p&gt;I don’t have children yet, but when I get children I hope to show them programming and involve them in what I do with computers and to show interest in what they are doing and to encourage them to be creative.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dahart</author><text>&amp;gt; I don’t have children yet, but when I get children I hope to show them programming and involve them in what I do with computers and to show interest in what they are doing and to encourage them to be creative.&lt;p&gt;I had the same hope for my children (now 12 &amp;amp; 14), so I let them start using devices &amp;amp; playing games when they were 3 (even gave my older kid the first rev of the OLPC laptop). To a large degree, I regret the decision to start that early.&lt;p&gt;Nothing has gone the same way it did when I was a kid. I had a DOS machine with a couple of crappy games, and a BASIC interpreter. The only thing I could do is learn to program, it was the most exciting thing available.&lt;p&gt;Today, the absolute flood of high quality content in videos &amp;amp; games has basically prevented them from wanting to spend time figuring out low level details. They have options for spending their time that are so much better than I had that they basically can&amp;#x27;t choose to create. At least not yet.&lt;p&gt;My oldest has been talking about creating his own games for years, he&amp;#x27;s very curious, he&amp;#x27;s a super user of the OS&amp;#x27;s he has access too, his knowledge of game styles and history far exceeds mine (and I was a game dev for a decade). But when it comes down to spending time making things, he inevitably chooses to play an interesting game rather than learn coding. My younger son is almost as addicted to games, but has a simultaneous addiction to YouTube.&lt;p&gt;Recently I met a couple of extremely smart and creative kids whose parents (AI researchers) have completely and severely restricted their access to any devices at all. It got me wondering what the best way to encourage creativity is. Pushing too much will turn them off or make them resist, but a lack of any support can be even worse.&lt;p&gt;Making sure they have time where they&amp;#x27;re bored and don&amp;#x27;t have access to high quality and structured entertainment choices at all times currently seems like a good idea to me.&lt;p&gt;OTOH, they&amp;#x27;re growing out of some habits I was worried about, and maybe the best approach is just to set a good example and love and support them in whichever directions they want to go.</text></comment>
<story><title>How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons from Madagascar</title><url>https://theconversation.com/how-kids-in-a-low-income-country-use-laptops-lessons-from-madagascar-93305</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>codetrotter</author><text>&amp;gt; But there was one marked difference: computer use in Madagascar tended to be a collective rather than an individual practice. Children and their families would gather around one laptop to play educational games, take photos or make videos. Computers were being used to strengthen existing social relations among siblings, parents and peers.&lt;p&gt;I think it used to be like this for a lot of people in the developed world as well when computers were new and most people did not have computers and those that did had only one in the whole household.&lt;p&gt;Nowadays a lot of people including the children have a smartphone each and the household might have one or more iPads and up to several laptops. And of course a PlayStation or an XBOX.&lt;p&gt;I don’t have children yet, but when I get children I hope to show them programming and involve them in what I do with computers and to show interest in what they are doing and to encourage them to be creative.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aequitas</author><text>This was also the case with TV&amp;#x27;s. Where one family in the street would own a TV and all the neighbourhood kids would come and gather to watch. Well before my time though :)</text></comment>