Touché

As long as it’s treated like a media key and not an intrusion of the standard, then I couldn’t care less. It’s a stupid idea, but Microsoft is so often full of those.

Edit> And after reading the article…of course MS is intruding on the standard just like they did with the windows key, but at least that one was turned into “meta” or “super”. I guess this will guarantee I won’t buy another MS keyboard.

Good.

This just makes me chuckle.

After all, here we are, possibly spending time online arguing with strangers instead of engaging in more productive activities.

This feels like a false equivalency. Just because I decided to engage in this post has no bearing on any addiction patterns of mine or the validity of such an activity.

but these devices should come with certain restrictions. For instance, limiting the ability of children to install any app they want or restricting excessive screen time could be effective measures. By implementing these controlled measures, we can provide the necessary safety net while also safeguarding the mental and emotional well-being of younger users.

They do. I used exactly those features on my child’s. If parents choose not to employ them and become educated on the capabilities of the devices, not much else can be done. But this is a broad issue that extends well beyond smartphones.

However, real-world actions should be informed by scientific evidence. Any approach we adopt needs to be backed by data (and not opinions) proving its effectiveness in achieving the desired outcomes.

I agree completely. But ultimately the parents have to know what they are doing and how their knowledge and actions will affect their children. It seems just as disingenuous to blanket smartphones as the problem when it really boils down to parents, education, and understanding the maturity level of their own child.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Point taken. I agree that specific product would solve the safety feature aspect while avoiding the addiction possibility. I suppose it then comes down to when a parent feels their child is ready and cognizant of the dangers of addiction.

My opinion and anecdotal experience is that, yes, it is like that. It’s the same argument concerning sex education. It’s the same argument for almost all child rearing topics. It starts with open and honest communication as early as possible and not sheltering the children from reality. Preparing the child is all we can do as parents. Hiding them from the realities of their surroundings by denying them aspects of it simply makes them want more and they will go to lengths to get it — even so far as to steal, or lie. While I’m not saying give a 3 year old their own device, I am saying that there comes a time in the maturation of the child where it can be a useful tool for both the parents and the child. You teach a child to use a knife, and the dangers of mishandling it, before you let them have one. I’m also not saying all my examples are apples to apples, but the education of using potentially dangerous things is a concept that pervades all child rearing and it’s unrealistic, and I would say possibly does more harm, to keep them from it during their whole childhood.

But I’m not here to convince you or anyone. I simply voiced my viewpoint.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk :)

Happy New Year!!

I am not in agreement with the notion that we should not give children smartphones. I am of the opinion that there comes a time, usually during early adolescence, that a smartphone becomes a safety feature of parenting — namely, the tools it provides for location tracking, and very quick two-way communication. The moment the child is starting to become more autonomous and is going to events with friends, staying at their friends’ houses for sleepovers, going on multi-day field trips, and so forth, is the moment a smartphone becomes an increasingly necessary safety measure.

The first step in dealing with addiction is understanding it and identifying it. The problem is that parents often don’t speak to their children about the dangers, and what it could mean, with concrete examples. And this can be expanded as a general parenting issue across more than just addiction. Open and honest communication is how kids can learn without always resorting to the fuck-around-and-find-out method.

Given the context, it seems to make sense that they mean it’s a bad idea to withhold smartphones from children in such a situation.

I would argue that they don’t need a smartphone specifically, but some means of external communication (a prepaid normal flip phone, for example).

I don’t know what you mean by ISPs in the US don’t have NATs. They most certainly do NAT at the gateway device. But they also typically provide a way to DMZ to your own router instead. I don’t have to deal with double NAT simply because I effectively have my ISP gateway in bridge mode (forwarding all traffic to a specific device, in this case, my personal router).

Note: I have gigabit FTTH from AT&T. I left cable internet the moment fiber service was made available.

City on the Edge of Forever is the best TOS episode in my opinion, and surpasses 90% or more of all Star Trek across all the series.

It’s good to know he knows his Star Trek. But I still wouldn’t want a Tarantino Trek movie — unless, of course, Avery Brooks reprises his role and recites Ezekiel 25:17 and has a phaser with Bad Motherfucker etched on it. That’s a Trek movie I’d watch.

Libertarians (n., plural) - Sooo…. Conservatives.

Perhaps they can take all the asshole Republicans (leaving the reasonable ones…I know, not many left) with them and we can be left with a society that doesn’t suck and is instead filled with leadership that may have opposing viewpoints, but are willing to compromise — like, you know, mature, scientific, educated adults would.

I never once said anything about “control the population.” Clearly you are doing exactly what idiot conservatives do — make shit up. Have fun living in the bubble of nonsense and intellectual mediocrity.

Proof that the Linux kernel is the Debil!

The fact that you think that image accurately depicts liberal ideology is enough to dismiss this out of hand. A moment-in-time choice of vote is as indicative of an ideology as comparing weather to climate. And equating the vote against literal fascists, openly and with pride working to dismantle the republic and install an autocracy, as being a scare tactic just to stay in power is as small-minded as I seem to, disappointingly, expect from the internet.

But I understand all that if you’re spoon-fed that from your choice of news outlets, it gives you less to think about and more to “meme” about.

The inevitable result of an egregiously rich man-baby trying to stick it to the “woke”. I left Twitter the moment that idiot took over. Twitter is a cesspool and a joke now. Time to move on.

Any neighbor whose beliefs and views lead them to look at Trump and say “yeah give me more of that!” can fuck right off.

We should add colons to everything!

Happy? No no no. The use of := should die a horrible death. I… I may have some PTSD from my time in college.

Thank goodness I haven’t used Evernote since… checks notes in Sublime Text… 2010.