When I was much younger, I used to spend holidays on my aunt and uncle`s dairy farm just outside Plettenberg Bay. Every evening, when the cows came in to the dairy for milking, I would sit with my aunt in the office and watch them file by.
In the office, there was a computer for doing the accounting and keeping track of statistics. I had used a computer before, but I had never had hours at my disposal in front of one.
Other than Solitaire, however, this computer had very little to hold my attention, until I discovered that it had come pre-loaded with After Dark, a screensaver package with a variety of options.
I was fascinated by this screensaver. There was an aquarium one, where I could decide the number of fish swimming around, and one with, bizarrely, flying toasters, whose toast I could dictate the brownness of.
One evening, a local hippie came to buy milk with his little son. The kid was quite interested in me, so I played with him while his father concluded his purchase. I led him to the back of the office to show him the computer monitor with the flying toasters on it, but his father leapt forward to prevent me and cried, "We don`t like him looking at computers!"
I was really surprised. It seemed a bit pointless to me. And as I have grown older, I haven`t changed my views on the matter. I`m not the world`s biggest fan of television or computer games.
Socially backwards
I think it`s very sad that for children these days, the concept of playing involves a PlayStation, and not a bat and ball, or a tree house.
Georgina Guedes, Editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
I think it`s very sad that for children these days, the concept of playing involves a PlayStation, and not a bat and ball, or a tree house, but I do think that children gain a great deal from having access to the technology de jour.
In fact, I often struggle with the concept of exactly what I am going to do when I have children, and I want to try encourage them to play creative games outside, but at the same time, I don`t want them to be socially backwards from not getting enough time to practise on the PlayStation.
I believe these should be the concerns of modern parents. Which is why, yet again, I was recently horrified by the backwardness of the British royal family.
I have previously dedicated a column to my stupefaction at the fact that Prince William was not allowed to have a computer, even though he desperately wanted one. I am now gobsmacked that Prince Harry failed the basic computer literacy test required for access into his military academy.
What the?
How is it possible for an extremely affluent family to be so completely out of touch?
Granted, their actual powers to rule were phased out long ago, but surely one of the things they should strive to do is keep in touch with the issues affecting the general population.
It`s all very well knowing how to shoe a horse, or feed slops to pigs, but surely these tasks, drummed into the princes on their vacations, are worthy of commoners? If this is the case, then basic computer literacy could also be seen as a worthwhile pursuit for a young prince hoping to stay in touch with his people.
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