TVs are best for entertainment. Ours is black all day long. One hour of news, maybe. Then later, a movie, perhaps. Unless I turn on the ROKU fish tank screensaver. I like how the eel slides in and out of his cave. I am tempted to name him you know what...but perhaps not. I respect eels too much.
Bill, we just cut Comcast cable and now have an antenna which picks up the local stations we want as we do watch an hour of news and sometimes Masterpiece on PBS. We also have a couple options for TV sports because Comcast can't reach an agreement with the Big Ten where Oregon now resides. Other than that, we stream and enjoy productions that, by and large, are not filmed here. We both read voraciously.
Unfortunately a lot of people's (especially the young's) time is predominantly the computer, ipad or phone. Questions don't have to be asked or remembered - "How many yards in a mile? Strike if you looked it up. No need for formal "knowledge any more - or thinking. Google will tell you all. You don't even have to think. . . or question. It's all really easy
What's wrong with looking up an answer to something you're curious about, Lady Emsworth? I absolutely agree that it's great to have relevant data stored in one's natural memory (vs. RAM), but as a nearly 77-year old, I can assure you that memory fades, and it's wonderful to be able to refresh it by online search.
Of course, one of the problems about posting comments, is that it's not a conversation - who has the time?
I look stuff up all the time - no problem with that. But at my stage of life,nobody is asking me to spend precious brain hours learning things off by heart, that are only learned for the sake of passing an exam. And that I will never, ever use again.
For instance - sines, cosines, logarithms.
Though I will say, I have used Pythagoras' theorem quite a bit. . .
I think that information in natural memory tends to become better integrated into one's overall map of reality than freshly "looked up", even if a look-up was its original point of contact. I find that stews are always better the second or third day, more flavors fortuitously come foreground, yet mingled, integrated into the whole. Stuff "cooks" in the mind as well.
That said, at 77 and never the worlds most precise person anyway, I regularly use the Internet to sharpen a memory, or to supplement it. It is a boon to obtain information so widely and easily.
And I dearly love being able to refresh my memory of old legal cases (holdings, usually), synopses of books I read a long time ago and have since donated, definitions of words so my speech and writing is as precise as I want it to be, etc. I have PLENTY of information available for daily use stored in "the little grey cells", but it's information I use regularly. I don't think I ever knew how many yards were in a mile (when would that ever be useful? - I'm asking seriously), but conversions from degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit, or centimeters to inches, etc., I have on hand.
If I may, I think it's a grave error to assume younger people don't think or question simply because information is readily available. There have always been butterflies flitting around from topic to topic after the equivalent of nectar, and there have always been ants, working to store information - in my opinion, it's a mistake to generalize and thereby disparage all young people.
I live in a metric country, Lynn. That's the only reason I have 1760 yards to a mile embedded in my brain. How else am I going to estimate what she's talking about when google maps tells me to turn left in 300 meters? This is only to inform you how many yards are in mile. It falls into your category of "information used regularly" for me, but is probably superfluous to most. My gray cells are preoccupied with bilinguality. I didn't make any comment about young people in my post about online references. I think you're referring to Lady Emsworth's post to which I replied.
Young people are young people, as were we, and our duty is to embrace and empower them. I think we always need to be aware of what we are teaching them, directly and indirectly; by instruction and by example. Will they (and how many) copy puerile and self-centered behavior we see in society today, or endearingly reject it? Do we let them see enough of the caring, responsible behavior we are capable of as well?
In my experience, parents try to prepare kids for an idealized world, then drop the pretense once they are "of age". Ideals are a good thing, but they require consistency to be realized and persevere. The rules we teach kids in the classroom and playground seem to go out the window when we turn to the ways we actually practice politics, and too often in the workplace as well. It's really hard not to take the devil's bargain without sufficient cultural support.
I have two tvs and rarely watch them. My screen time is predominately iPad or computer time.
Same here.
TVs are best for entertainment. Ours is black all day long. One hour of news, maybe. Then later, a movie, perhaps. Unless I turn on the ROKU fish tank screensaver. I like how the eel slides in and out of his cave. I am tempted to name him you know what...but perhaps not. I respect eels too much.
Bill, we just cut Comcast cable and now have an antenna which picks up the local stations we want as we do watch an hour of news and sometimes Masterpiece on PBS. We also have a couple options for TV sports because Comcast can't reach an agreement with the Big Ten where Oregon now resides. Other than that, we stream and enjoy productions that, by and large, are not filmed here. We both read voraciously.
I stream stuff too. I stopped watching commercial TV years ago when all the news was a cheering squad for W's invasion of Iraq.
You could call him "Slick Willy," the Bill Clinton social media handle.
Unfortunately a lot of people's (especially the young's) time is predominantly the computer, ipad or phone. Questions don't have to be asked or remembered - "How many yards in a mile? Strike if you looked it up. No need for formal "knowledge any more - or thinking. Google will tell you all. You don't even have to think. . . or question. It's all really easy
What's wrong with looking up an answer to something you're curious about, Lady Emsworth? I absolutely agree that it's great to have relevant data stored in one's natural memory (vs. RAM), but as a nearly 77-year old, I can assure you that memory fades, and it's wonderful to be able to refresh it by online search.
It's also pleasing to have remembered enough to know where to search.
Of course, one of the problems about posting comments, is that it's not a conversation - who has the time?
I look stuff up all the time - no problem with that. But at my stage of life,nobody is asking me to spend precious brain hours learning things off by heart, that are only learned for the sake of passing an exam. And that I will never, ever use again.
For instance - sines, cosines, logarithms.
Though I will say, I have used Pythagoras' theorem quite a bit. . .
I think that information in natural memory tends to become better integrated into one's overall map of reality than freshly "looked up", even if a look-up was its original point of contact. I find that stews are always better the second or third day, more flavors fortuitously come foreground, yet mingled, integrated into the whole. Stuff "cooks" in the mind as well.
That said, at 77 and never the worlds most precise person anyway, I regularly use the Internet to sharpen a memory, or to supplement it. It is a boon to obtain information so widely and easily.
Plus Wikipedia is now being so widely corrected by experts who can quote sources that it's getting more and more quotable.
And I dearly love being able to refresh my memory of old legal cases (holdings, usually), synopses of books I read a long time ago and have since donated, definitions of words so my speech and writing is as precise as I want it to be, etc. I have PLENTY of information available for daily use stored in "the little grey cells", but it's information I use regularly. I don't think I ever knew how many yards were in a mile (when would that ever be useful? - I'm asking seriously), but conversions from degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit, or centimeters to inches, etc., I have on hand.
If I may, I think it's a grave error to assume younger people don't think or question simply because information is readily available. There have always been butterflies flitting around from topic to topic after the equivalent of nectar, and there have always been ants, working to store information - in my opinion, it's a mistake to generalize and thereby disparage all young people.
I'm not complaining they "don't think" - I'm complaining they're not TAUGHT to think. For every ant. you are getting more and more grasshoppers.
I live in a metric country, Lynn. That's the only reason I have 1760 yards to a mile embedded in my brain. How else am I going to estimate what she's talking about when google maps tells me to turn left in 300 meters? This is only to inform you how many yards are in mile. It falls into your category of "information used regularly" for me, but is probably superfluous to most. My gray cells are preoccupied with bilinguality. I didn't make any comment about young people in my post about online references. I think you're referring to Lady Emsworth's post to which I replied.
You're right; sorry, Laura.
Young people are young people, as were we, and our duty is to embrace and empower them. I think we always need to be aware of what we are teaching them, directly and indirectly; by instruction and by example. Will they (and how many) copy puerile and self-centered behavior we see in society today, or endearingly reject it? Do we let them see enough of the caring, responsible behavior we are capable of as well?
In my experience, parents try to prepare kids for an idealized world, then drop the pretense once they are "of age". Ideals are a good thing, but they require consistency to be realized and persevere. The rules we teach kids in the classroom and playground seem to go out the window when we turn to the ways we actually practice politics, and too often in the workplace as well. It's really hard not to take the devil's bargain without sufficient cultural support.