Are kids really better at computers than adults?

Posted by
October 4, 2012
Computer smart kid
The standard caricature has some 12-year old kid showing adults how to fix a computer. While there are certainly 12-year old kids who can hack computers, the fact is that most kids are like most adults— they don’t understand much that is technical. The illusion that all kids are technical whizzes arises partly because kids learn things faster and master by rote very quickly the things that interest them. Thus, it is not uncommon for 8 or 9-year olds to be very proficient at a game or other computer activity where they have memorized the procedures. Kids are also unafraid of computers while many older adults, who did not grow up with computers, are intimidated by them.

Another factor is that computer coding and technical subjects are the type of thing where talent in the area surfaces at an early age. Just as there are prodigies in mathematics, music, or chess some kids are accomplished at coding. But the existence of 6-year olds who can play the violin doesn’t lead us to believe that all 6-year olds must be musical geniuses so why do we seem to think that, because some kids are hackers, all kids can understand computers?

In fact, I have met very few kids (or non-professional adults) who understood what was actually going on in a computer. Faced with a computer problem outside their normal experience, most kids are just as baffled as most adults. But it’s nice to think that they might be smarter than we are. Somebody has to clean up our mess.

Originally posted in a slightly different version February 7, 2007. What do you think? Do kids understand computers better than adults or are they just faster learners?

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Education, Society and technology

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