Thread: Am I getting old.....or what?

No, pretty normal.
When the mother in law has problems with her iPhone or iPad, she goes straight to the 7yr old grand daughter.
It was funny watching my wife trying to explain it, they both just got more confused, my daughter just gets straight to the point.

I do not know your age, I am 67 and I remember back then we use a lot of creativity to entertaining our self.
We used to play soccer (the real football ) with an old sock filled with newspaper and played bear feet now if the do not have FIFA approved gear and shoes they do not play
When the weather was bad we used to play a lot of card games and other table games were the need to outsmart the other was the only way to win.
And most important we new about maths formulas without a calculator.
Now if they run out of batteries they are lost
So mate, it is not to bad, every generation have the things in favor and against.

Yes, you're getting old, but so am I, so I can understand. It's just spooky how easily kids can do these things. However, I have teenaged rellies who am I sure have never climbed a tree and I know will never, ever be able to weld, split firewood, or assemble anything from Ikea, so it all evens out.

I am also amazed at how quickly my now three year old granddaughter has picked up those same skills.

However, I strongly dispute the claim that being able to do that means that kids are smarter.

I bet none of them are very good at milking a cow and I bet none of them can do the sort of knitting, crochet and tatting that my mother could do from an early age right up until her death at 92.

The illusion that kids are smarter is perpetuated by the fact that they frequently get the chance to show off their skills by setting the clock on the microwave or setting up the video recorder (or HDD PVR) to record a program. Grandma seldom gets the chance to show off the skills that she learned as a young girl because they are unfortunately less relevant today. Yet grandma's skills took just as much intelligence as learning to use a touch screen.

Kids aren't smarter, but they are learning different skills from the ones that their parents and grandparents learned.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

And most important we knew about maths formulas without a calculator.
Now if they run out of batteries they are lost
So mate, it is not to bad, every generation have the things in favor and against.

I have seen young people stare in jaw dropping amazement at the sight of an adult who can do mental arithmetic.

I think they are just as astounded by that as we tend to be at how quickly a toddler masters a touch screen.

Kids can learn an develop lots of skills very quickly.
It has been said before but I think one of the issues the younger(including mine) have is there are just so many different things to give our attention ad time to.
I personally think that my grandparents grew up in the best generation.
Who knows exactly what these generations will be like.
I am amazed how many young kids can use so much different technology.

Yep you are right. I am 67 and as stated we had to entertain ourselves OUTDOORS. Climbing fishing swimming, billy carts etc.etc. Kids these days live a much quieter life when they are young. I never saw tv until I had left school. Coff's Harbour was a quiet place back in the 50's. Oh well this is modern society for you! Us old dinosaurs are a lost race, but there is still some bark left in me yet.

Those skills we are discussing here probably pale into insignificance when compared with the fact that infants can learn to use language to communicate.

In fact some children learn at a very early age to communicate in several languages and that has always been the case.