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I'm not gonna sit down and read a thick book. There's nothing in the world that interests me enough to sit down for long periods of time and read endless pages about it.
I think this is the crux of the problem. TV and computers have given us very short attention spans. We can't concentrate on anything for any length of time. We expect immediate answers and don't want to actually have to think, reflect, or concentrate on anything. This most definitely plays into the hands of the elite who rule over us.
I am quiet not sure but me I won't get mad like you because some one asked me to explain something they don't know how to do. But I do get mad when people trying me out as they don't know,
I don't recall not helping my friends or saying I was mad at them.
Yes, I do this with my friends and I try to help therm individually, but on the WHOLE, we as a country need to somehow get people to understand that almost everything they need to know or learn is on a book somewhere - or also in many cases located on the internet. We need to teach people how to learn instead of JUST telling them what to study.
The likelihood of teaching everyone how to learn isn't going to happen. To buy into the notion that we, as a country, need to somehow get people to understand that almost everything they need to know or learn is in a book somewhere. There is no way to verify who knows and who doesn't and those who don't know it may be unable to know it. If they don't know about libraries, that's too bad. A horse can be led to water, but.... making him drink is another story. Same with people. It's disgusting, but very real. Some people actually like being ignorant. I'm sure you've seen the posts by people making fun of a college degree. To do that is a form of ignorance and ignorance is a part of life. It isn't going away.
I think this is the crux of the problem. TV and computers have given us very short attention spans. We can't concentrate on anything for any length of time. We expect immediate answers and don't want to actually have to think, reflect, or concentrate on anything. This most definitely plays into the hands of the elite who rule over us.
The "elite who rule over us"? The people that make the rules are politicians that we the people voted in to office. I heard a few twenty somethings say they didn't vote in the last election because their vote would have been worthless because they didn't know who to vote for. And these were young adults who had advanced degrees - they didn't want to bother researching who to vote for.
As to the OP and being disgruntled because people aren't willing to become tech literate - I sympathize to a certain extent because I've been in their shoes. Unlike my kids, I didn't grow up with computers, tablets and smart phones. I've never had an actual class in Microsoft Office or even anything on the computer. Everything for me has been trial and error and oftentimes, I'm never going to need to do a certain whatever again - I just want that one little thing done so I can move on.
I'm a reader. If I have a five minute wait for something, I'll be antsy after one minute if I don't have something to read. But if I have a tech problem and I have one of my kids home and I know they can figure something out in 30 seconds that would take me an hour, I'd just as soon ask them because MY time is valuable too.
As a former librarian, this issue drove me crazy. But, OP, I think the explanation for the issue you are describing is that people have different learning styles that work with the way their brains are configured.
For OP and me, we learn visually - by reading and seeing. Many people, though, can only learn kinetically (by physically doing things). Adults in particular tend to learn best experientially - by doing things which they can relate to other information which they have gained over their lifetime. Some people learn aurally - by hearing information. Most of our schools and universities base their teaching on aural learning - but the fewest people in the world can learn this way. (I'm so completely non-aural that you can tell me how to do anything under the sun, but if I can't read instructions or see something done in front of me, I won't remember or understand what you've said.)
So this kind of explains why many older adults have a hard time figuring out computer stuff - they basically lack context (which helps people to learn). As people age kinetic teaching becomes the best style for them.
Whoo, I read the above and think that I explained it so badly! But it is an interesing topic, for those of you who are interested. There are a lot of books and websites about learning styles. Here's a website I found quickly on-line: Overview of learning styles. Many years ago I came to discover Learning Styles by finding books by one of the godfathers of adult education, Malcolm Knowles.
There's a whole other side to people not reading, and it is related to class differences in America. Some people from low education level families tend to despise or feel intimidated by others who they believe feel "better than" them, so they claim pride in their own lifestyles. It is these people who are proud to say "I don't read", or "I don't have time to read." I was a librarian in a very blue collar community and it was SO common to hear kids say "I don't like to read" and their parents would just laugh, and would not make the slightest effort to take advantage of free activities at the library. They'd just come in to play on the computers or check out videos/dvds. So depressing.
You can't. They can look up anything they need to do on youtube and watch a video. They can turn on Netflix and watch the movie if it's entertainment. People only want to learn what they have to learn and they want to be entertained. Movies are more entertaining for many.
The more time we spend online, the more 'pureed' our attention span is.
Almost regardless of what activities we are engaged in. It's quite startling.
I am glad I grew up, mostly, before the internet. But, fear for my children.
I'm the person in the office who hears someone in another cubicle wonder about something and I do a quick google and figure out the answer. My last bunch of coworkers mentioned that to me, that they missed me being there getting quick answers to stuff. I have had to use particular programs at work, some civilian, some AF, some Navy, now Army. I can dig around and run reports on data no one else knew the system could do. I'm not all that hot at it, I just dig and look until I figure it out.
Aaaand I can't bear the thought of not having a book. I love historical fiction but am into murder mysteries at the moment. Like popcorn. Plus, when I can't sleep at night I can read. I love to write, too.
OH I was just thinking about when Girlzilla first joined us in Hawaii. I picked up a couple of Janet Evanovich paperbacks for her and was promptly told "I don't read books." It went downhill from there.
The more time we spend online, the more 'pureed' our attention span is.
Almost regardless of what activities we are engaged in. It's quite startling.
I am glad I grew up, mostly, before the internet. But, fear for my children.
This is how I feel for my students. I learned to think and use my brain before I was introduced to the internet and I use it quite differently than my students. When I want to know about something, I research it and study it. They look for a youtube video.
I've been teaching 7 years now and in a couple of weeks I'll do something I do every year. I'll put a Galileo thermometer on my desk and offer extra credit to any student who can explain how it works. They all perk right up until I tell them that the common internet explanation is wrong. Then they just exhale. I have yet to have one single student try. While that thermometer is sitting on my desk we are studying states of matter and the reasons it works.
One thing I've noticed about my students is I get half answers. They think they're done as soon as they have any answer. The other day one of my students twisted an empty plastic water bottle, shot the cap off and showed me the wisp of condensed water vapor that comes out. I asked him if he knew why that happens. He PROUDLY told me "The sudden decrease in pressure". I asked him WHY would a sudden decrease in pressure cause water vapor to condense. He couldn't answer me and he couldn't find the answer on Google. The Google answer is "The sudden decrease in pressure" but that's just the start of the explanation.
What scares me is my students don't know a good answer from a bad one or a half answer from an intelligent one. Of course they're high school students but I'm bothered by how quickly they accept what they find on line and how little thought they put into it.
Thanks for the book recommendation. This is definitely one I want to read.
I am a mechanical engineer that can fix just about anything ever made, except my computer. I have tried reading about computers to understand them and figure out how to do more things with it, problem is I just do not understand it, and WAY too many acronyms are used with no lists explaining what those acronyms mean. Show me how to do it is the only way I can do anything on a computer, and unless I do it daily, I'll probably forget in a few months. To add to the problem, every time they come out with a new operating system everything works differently. Can you imagine if every time a car mfr came out with a new model the basics of how to operate the car were different.
And for those of you with reading comprehension problems, yes the youth of America does not read anything on paper anymore. I love real life adventure stories, if you do too, find a book titled "Dreams Die Hard" about a motorcycle adventure crossing the Darien gap
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. Show me how to do it is the only way I can do anything on a computer, and unless I do it daily, I'll probably forget in a few months. To add to the problem, every time they come out with a new operating system everything works differently. Can you imagine if every time a car mfr came out with a new model the basics of how to operate the car were different
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