As you may have read, Jay does not want his baby to learn on an iPad when she goes to school. And as you may also have read, he's not alone. Parental concerns about a Big Tech takeover of the public schools is increasing, with some successful pushback limiting its incursion.
That seems like a topic ripe for discussion, no? As a childless, aging bon vivant, I won't have a decision to make about this stuff. But as someone who thinks books are good and the tech-foisters are duplicitous mutant sociopaths, I'd be happy if we erred on the side of an analog future.
And you? What are your gadget policies at home with your children? What are they exposed to at school? Think we're blowing this all out of proportion?
And if you're a genetic dead-end like me, what effects has tech had on your own life? Have you tried disciplining yourself? Personally, I have recently loaded apps from a dozen or so pubs I like to read on my phone, as a way to keep me corralled, rather than grazing indiscriminately across the vasty electronic deeps or, worse still, scrolling through socials. (Twitter is basically a no-go zone for me, Facebook a wasteland it's easy to avoid.)
As always feel free to ignore this prompt and talk about whatever you want. This is your Open Thread after all.
What do you have to say about all this, David Thomas of Pere Ubu?
