A generational hardware gap


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1 comment.

Anyone who has been using computers for a few decades has the questionable pleasure of reflecting on how far technology has come. We remember the massive leap forward 3.5" floppy disks represented over the old, which makes us appreciate the volume and affordability of modern storage all the more.

Newcomers to technology don’t have that historical context — but rather than berate them for not knowing how good they have it, Montreal journalist Jean-Christophe Laurence brought them face-to-face with hardware older than they are. He presented several kids with such equipment as a Nintendo Game Boy, an LP record, several floppy disks, and more. With nary a hint as to their purpose, the children were tasked with determining the nature of the enigmatic tech. He recorded the results, which are presented in French with English subtitles:

It’s a creative scenario, as it doesn’t try to impress upon the students how different this stuff is from what they know: when they guessed an LP was like a CD, nobody said “Yes, but it holds this much less data, and has this much slower access times.” It’s more a matter of function and design than of better or worse, which is likely to be more educational and thus make them better appreciate (and familiar with) what’s come before. (Maybe they’ll learn the other by being taught programming on retrocomputers.)

It’s also similar to what older generations have to do when confronted with new technology. We’ve heard those old chestnuts of newbies mistaking a CD-ROM tray for a cup holder, or a mouse for a foot pedal or a TV remote. Those mistakes happen because users are familiar with cup holders and channel changers, so they bring those analogues to their new experiences. It’s impressive how spot-on many of the above children’s guesses are, especially when they have to use modern metaphors to make their guesses. Although it’s useful to have a frame of reference by which to learn new skills, as they demonstrated when confronted with a 3.5" floppy, it’s also occasionally necessary to abandon old ideas to grasp new ones.

What do you think? Should these kids have been able to identify these objects? Would you have been able to?

(Hat tip to Genevieve Koski)

  1. Martin Haye says:

    That was a delightful video.