123 post game

[JackFrost22]

I played this at another forum and it was pretty fun. The 123 post is the winner. The rules are,
1. No double posting
2. No spamming we ushaully had a topic from time to time to stay away form spam
3. Mods/Admins are not allowed to delete posts in this thread unless the poster violated a forum rule

Topic-----At what age should children be exposed to the innternet and computers
I say like 5 or 6 years old once they get in school.

[Black Six]

I think as soon as they're able to use a mouse. A friend of the family who's big into coomputers had a daughter 8 years ago, and she has had her own computer which she knows how to use for the majority of that time. It began with double clicking on large icons to launch educational programs with simple, intuitive GUIs to now surfing the web and text-editing and such. Learning to use a computer is just like learning a language in many respects, when kids no nothing else, it's a lot easier to teach them, which is why adults have such a harder time learning a second language, or how to use computers.

[Lucretius]

I think another important factor is supervision. Parents blame all kinds of people for putting crazy crap on the internet, and their kids accessed it. But the kid would never have gotten access if the parent had been keeping an eye on the kid. So who's at fualt?

[JackFrost22]

I have found that websense and stuff like that that "kidproofs" computers are just stupid be in the same room with your kid when there on the computer or just don't give them the internet. I didn't have the password to the network gateway in my house until I was 10. I surew wouldn't try to look at porn with the mom in the room with me. I don't even like watching movies with nudity with my dad.

[Reaperman@home]

agreed, the younger the better. my atari computer was the official computer of the 1984 games--which would have made me 3-4 when I got it. Without getting too in depth I learned much about what of my total knowledge about programming and networking with that (and later) computers.

Computers are my career now, and they probably wouldn't have been if I hadn't been there watching them evolve.

...I remember the day I downloaded mosaic... I'm sure my pa knew about it, but he let me "discover" it on a university FTP server.

[shmagoogin77]

i think i played games on the computer when i was like 3 or 4

[Sparkfist]

Well with my family we got our first computer in '94 (christmas) so I was 10. However at my school I had been using Macs and had an idea on how to use them, and a friend of mine had a computer of his own. Though there isnt much you could do as I saw until you got the interent.

And exposing kids at an early age is better. They're willing to listen to you and you can set the ground rules better as to where they're aloud and whatnot. Putting up something like WebSense and NetNanny are for lazy parents that what to protect their kids but not be physicly involved. Not to mention how hard is it to get around those?

[Reaperman@home]

yeah, a good kiddie filter is a good motivation to learn how to get around network "problems". I didn't have one, but it's a useful learning tool, I guess.

there's no telling how I'd've turned out without regular access to quality digital porn as a kid. I even ran an IRC fileserver for a while...

...and I turned out fine...

8u7 j00 k|\|0w, 7h3r3 m1g|-|7 83 4 d0\/\/n 51d3 70 |_3771ng j00r k1d5 5p3|\|d 700 |\/|uc|-| 71m3 0nl1n3. 7|-|3y 50m371m35 m4k3 fu|\| 0f 7h3 wr0|\|g n00b 4|\|d |-|4\/3 70 5h0w 7h31r 1337n355 8y h4ck1ng 127.0.0.1.
(not to mention that they pick up bad 1337 habbits)

[Lucretius]

It's the same as those Video Gamer hunts that lawyers like Jack Thompson are pulling. They blame all youth related violence solely on video games. I have a hard time understanding this. But lets explore it:

Let's begin with "Violent Video Games Cause Violent Kids". The mind that is so poorly devolped and aided by parents influence, that it can't discern reality from virtual reality should not be playing violent video games. Agreed.

So how do they get them? One of two methods:
1. A friend.
2. Their parents.
In the first instance, it is not the parents fault that the kid has the game, but the parent should be monitering the childs activities enough to notice the game and dissallow it. In the second instance, EVERYTHING is the parents fault.

Now we have a poorly developed kid, with imposed violent tendancies. This kid decides he's going to bring a backpack full of guns to schopl and fire them all off. How does the parent not notice this harboring of weapons? How did the parents of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold not notice a sawed off shotgun on their kids' dressor day before 4/20? Once again...parents at fault.

And the kid goes through with his plan. The parent's are "devistated", and rather than accept the blame for the poor job the did with their kids, they blame it all on the violent video game.

It's a trend. It's sick.

[BloodNess]

i think that as soon as possible, but parenal supervision, or restricted access to some sites( speak from experience), then like at 16 and 17 get access to all the features of a computer, internet etc.

As for video games... D.A.R.E

[MilkMonster]

when they come out they should be issued a computer

[usbcd36]

First of all, no forums or IM clients until they take typing lessons. I did exactly that and look how I turned out.

Next, get a computer for them, but don't give them the internet until they are about 13. My family got a computer 3 months after I was born, and I was an expert on it (I could start it up, adjust stuff in the Control panel because of the dead PRAM battery, open my games and type, albeit slowly) by the time I was 7. The main reason not to connect them to the internet too early is because it is confusing and filled with stuff they shouldn't have (again, the internet wasn't really a viable option when I was little; AOL 1 wasn't released until I was like 5 and my parents weren't interested in springing for it).

Third, don't put the computer in their bedroom, (same goes for a TV in my opinion) because it becomes their private space to be breached by no one. I don't care how many people come into my bedroom as long as they don't step on my N64 guts or something.

Fourth, make sure they are reasonably good at both platforms (doesn't matter if you get them a Mac or PC, make THEM universal) before sending them off to school or any other place with computers.

Fifth, protect the child from the computer, but don't forget to protect the computer from the child. Get one of those keyboard covers that water/crumb proof the keyboard but allow you to press all of the keys through the cover. Set up accounts and make sure they know what not to do. Also, don't keep them in the dark about what will happen if the "accidentally" trash the System folder or something. If a kid doesn't know what will happen when they do something "bad", they are more likely to try and find out than if they already know the answer.

Sixth, teach them that computers aren't everything, books and magazines are still in existence and nothing is going to replace them soon. Separate the computers from the games, it keeps me more to what I'm supposed to be doing if I don't have anything on my computer to wander off to.

[*o*]

my opinion is that a computer is a useful device which should be available to all!

[bioniclebert]

I remember the first computer, Hey Im even using it now! The GATEWAY 2000! Man this thing is old! I was able to play at a very young age(we had dialup back then, BIG MISTAKE) so i never knew HOW to use the internet. I was stuck with chips challenge, and solitare (I also had no Idea how to play solitare)

If you didnt know, the gateway 2000 did not come out in the year 2000, it was older than that.

[JackFrost22]

Hmm what os did you guys start with I started with Dos v3.3 ,but then Unix and when i was 8 windows 3.1 I think a child should get used to the command line maybe thats just me I got a gui when I was 8 and I turned out fine.