nickiwest @ nickiwest @lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

They know how to use the light switch, but they have no idea what to do when the bulb burns out.

Have you tried video tutorials? I have noticed that a lot of younger people are more likely to look up tutorials on YouTube than written ones.

As a GenXer, I'm kind of horrified by how much of the "how-to" universe is shifting from written instructions to video.

(No, I don't want a video tutorial for how to knit a scarf. I want a normal pattern. Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.)

Seriously, though, the next time you go through something with this employee, use a screen recorder to capture the process and then share the recording with him. Maybe it will help.

I agree with you. And to extend your metaphor, we can and should help them build up their savings. One thing parents can do to help is to give their children hints without giving the answer.

In your example, instead of pointing directly to the object, I would say, "Where have you looked? Try three places where you think it could be." After that, if he still couldn't find it, I would say, "It's right here in this room. I can see it. Can you find it?" Then I'd let him spend some time looking for it.

I'm an elementary school teacher, and it blows my mind how often children expect the adults around them to drop everything to help them find a pencil (which is in their pencil case, right where it should be) or a paper (almost always in their desk, folder, or cubby) without expending any effort to find it themselves. This obviously works for them at home, but it removes their personal responsibility for keeping up with their own supplies.

If we want to raise a generation of independent, critical thinkers, then we have to give them opportunities to be those things. We have to give them space to try for themselves. We celebrate with them when they're successful, and we provide them with the support they need to try again when they fail. Both experiences are necessary for their growth and development.

Part of it is that they've grown up with smartphones and tablets, so they don't understand the basic functions of computers.

Schools have mostly moved to Chromebooks, so kids don't learn how to save and organize files locally. Everything in their lives is in the cloud or in a specialized app.

Trying to work on a PC with a shared file server on a business network without additional training is like trying to converse in a language they've never spoken.

GenXers and elder Millennials were the last people who learned tech skills on PCs first. There are very few younger people who ever needed to learn basic DOS prompts or how to troubleshoot problems.

They're used to everything just working without additional intervention, and they have no idea where to start looking for answers when it doesn't. Most of that is our fault -- we've made things far too easy for them because it's more comfortable for us as parents and teachers to give them the answers than to guide them as they struggle with the challenge.

Assault rifles were only banned for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004.

Maybe a "breakfast bar" or an "oatmeal bar." I think a UK flapjack has a more cake-like texture than a US granola bar.

Surely the leopards won't eat his face.

I hope there are enough students who are willing to take such a bold step together to make their point.

I don't think the average American can afford a Tesla, let alone the average Trump voter.

I feel like GenX said, "The fucking old people caused this mess and are standing in the way of fixing it. We need them to die off so someone else can turn it around, but there aren't enough of us so it's probably up to the younger generations."

We never had a lot of collective ambition, which I guess is good because our parents still won't let go of power.

You've just encapsulated my entire living memory of US politics.

China already took custody of the young Panchen Lama, who plays an integral part in identifying the reincarnated Dalai Lama.

I'd say their attempt to replace him is more than inevitable -- it's already underway.

I'm sure Orwell didn't really expect telescreens to become a real thing, but we have very literally welcomed surveillance devices into our lives and homes. Now, it's just a matter of who starts actively using them as a monitoring device.

If Ronald Reagan came back, MAGA would call him "far left" too.

Insofar as any gerrymandered election has been "free and fair" in my lifetime, yes, I do.

(Sidebar: I'm pretty concerned about some of the proposed legislation requiring birth certificate matching for names because of the potential to disenfranchise both trans people and married women, but I hope there's enough pushback that it doesn't go anywhere.)

President Grandpa's puppeteers are only successful because they've manipulated a washed-up reality TV star with name recognition who is more concerned with ratings than with government. Without his inexplicable cachet with the electorate, they could never get their agenda pushed through, and they know it.

The man is not all-powerful. He's also old and out of shape. A lot of things could happen before the next election cycle that may end his party's political reign. There's no clear successor whom the masses of Trumpist cult members will follow. Vance? Don Jr.? I don't think either has the charisma or reputation to take the reins.

I hope that the rest of the world is taking notes and realizing that they cannot rely on the current US government to uphold its side of any prior agreements (or even the basic tenets of etiquette in civil discourse).

I hope that every country that does most of its trade with the US is quietly looking for new markets.

I hope that Republican isolationism actually comes to pass so that the entire population of the US can feel exactly how painful it will be to cut themselves off from the rest of the world. And then in two years, I hope enough people will get off their asses and vote against the people who let it happen.

Man, that's bleak.

I'm sure the NYT has noticed, but their attorneys probably advise against making medical claims about sitting presidents. Especially since the current one is particularly litigious.

Amen, sister.

Yes, I'm living my best life now in spite of everything I was taught in my formative years.

You're right about that whole last paragraph. Of the dozen-ish kids from my small, rural church who were in our youth group together, I'm the only one who got out. The rest of them are raising their own teens in the church now, most of them still even in the same town.

I don't know what made me so different. I always had a keen sense of logic, and I was just rebellious enough to question things. I also had access to "heretical" art that helped me feel less alone (shout out to '90s alternative rock). I wasn't the only one of us who went to university, but I was the only one who moved out of my family home to do it.

I don't think there's anything I could say to any of them now that would make them reconsider their worldview. Of course, that works both ways. I know they consider me a sort of "fallen woman" for having strayed from the Straight and Narrow™.