In a thread on reddit, teachers and youth workers discuss how generations are changing. One participant in the discussion says: He supervises young children at a computer camp. Ten-year-olds might be able to create games themselves, but they cannot control them because they have never learned to use a keyboard through games like Minecraft or Roblox. Most would grow up with an iPad and have never used a keyboard.
What kind of discussion is this? Many websites and forum discussions on the internet have been addressing the fact that the younger generation is phone-savvy but lacks the skills to handle a computer.
Although Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2009) is considered “digital natives,” they apparently can only handle phone apps, but not programs like Word or Excel, which are used in offices. They also face problems operating a printer.
Gen Alpha is said to exhibit similar weaknesses.
Children only use the iPad, can’t even type with a finger
This is the discussion: In a discussion on reddit, a user says he supervises kids aged about 8 to 12 in a programming/gaming camp, which is the early Gen Alpha: For him, it is shocking how little knowledge the children have about computers. Many of them have only used iPads so far. Because their parents bought them an iPad, and even in schools, only tablets are used:
These children literally do not know how to type. And I don’t mean that they don’t know how to type like an adult, but that they cannot type at all, not even with a finger. They create games and then do not know how to use the arrow keys to move their character. They play games like Roblox and Minecraft (their favorite games and the reason their parents signed them up for this camp) and have no idea how to play on a computer or figure out the controls themselves. This is truly astonishing.
What skills will the job market of the future need?
This is what it’s about: The striking thing about the discussion is that the people who criticize the youth define their own skills as the benchmark and important: For them, it is more important that children can type than to handle a touchscreen.
That children can design and develop things through creative games like Minecraft and Roblox is not seen as a plus point. It raises the question of whether this is not a short-sighted view.
In the current job market, it is certainly important to be able to use a keyboard. However, what that will look like when the kids enter the workforce, maybe in 10 years, is hardly foreseeable at the moment. Perhaps by then, touchscreens and an AI that can be controlled by voice will already be established in offices as everyday tools: 9 out of 10 executives complain about one thing in Gen Z employees
