Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their shoes

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Hoosiernorm
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Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their shoes

Post by Hoosiernorm »

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/arti ... 974530.php

Which is easier to use -- an iPhone or a shoelace?
If you were 2 to 5 years old, you might actually say the iPhone. A new study shows that many kids pick up high-tech skills quicker than "standard" life skills, such as tying their shoes or riding a bike.
"Technology has changed what it means to be a parent raising children today -- these children are growing up in an environment that would be unrecognizable to their parents," J.R. Smith, chief executive of AVG, the Internet security firm that commissioned the study, said in a news release. "The smart phone and the computer are increasingly taking the place of the TV as an education and entertainment tool for children."
In the U.S., according to the study, 30 percent of 2- to 5-year-olds knew how to operate a smart phone or tablet computer, like the Apple iPad. And 61 percent could play a basic computer game. (Add in Canada and Europe, and those percentages were 19 percent and 58 percent, respectively.)
On the contrary, while 52 percent of kids knew how to ride a bike, just 20 percent could swim and a mere 11 percent could tie their own shoes. Below are some charts from the study, which polled 2,200 mothers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
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Demon of Undoing
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Re: Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their sh

Post by Demon of Undoing »

The thing is, not a single one of these ignorant little monsters can get a fire started with animal dung. Not a genuflecting one. Mine can. Back in the good old days, all the kids could, by that age.

I agree, these little nihilistic shits are going to be a real problem.





Actually, I'm glad my three year old can use my iPhone( too well, I assure you) rather than tie shoes. We got this stuff called Velcro, when she can be made to wear them. I'd prefer she go barefoot, and so would she.
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Enki
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Re: Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their sh

Post by Enki »

Yeah, and tying laces will come easy for them at a certain point. My kids don't tie their own shoes. Lots of shoes come with zippers now too. My daughter knows how to use an iPhone/iPad/Android etc...

I should probably concern myself more with whether or not they will understand the workings of a computer, since they are growing up in the age of computers as off the shelf appliances, rather than the age of knowing the basics of how one actually works. Knowing how to field strip a PC is something every growing child should know.

It's even more important than tying laces I think, because tying laces is a skill that anyone can learn in a few moments when they are older, so it's unlikely anyone would grow up not knowing how to tie knots. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that they could grow up not knowing how to build a PC.
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YMix
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Re: Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their sh

Post by YMix »

My sister likes to remind me now and then that it took me years to learn how to tie my shoelaces.
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Enki
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Re: Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their sh

Post by Enki »

We were in Austin at South by Southwest for a couple of days. We met one of my wife's colleagues and he was doing some kind of game that they organized for SXSW, they had stickers, and one of them said, "My secret rival.", and my daughter gave that one to my son.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
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Re: Study: More kids can use a smart phone than tie their sh

Post by noddy »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapping has suffered a massive reduction in general skill levels aswell.
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