Comments on: Dances with Sheep: or children’s role play in the digital age. With help from Ray Charles, Kevin Costner and Ghita the Digital Shepherd!

By: Michael Jones

Michael Jones — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:01:35 +0000

Hi John
I use a lot of email, and I find this a very useful, even indispensable way of communicating. One thing I have noticed is how informal it can be. I always think how I am going to address someone on my email if I don’t know them or am emailing them for the first time. I might start with ‘Dear’ or ‘Hello’, but not usually with ‘Hi.’ If they reply with Hello/Hi then I will respond in the same way. This is very helpful when writing to someone on LinkedIn who has described themselves as Dr so and so, and when emailing head teachers for the first time.
I’m not a LOL person and don’t go in for smiley face/sad face icons or 🙂 🙁 or even ;( but there are those that do. I once read in the Radio Times/Daily Mail/Daily Express/Readers Digest letters pages (they are all dominated by curmudgeons as far as I can see) someone raging about the use of ‘Hi’ in emails (closely followed by another equally incandescent letter about ‘the proliferation of MPs called Mike, Tony, Geoff and Chris).
personally, I can’t stand curmudgeons. There are too many of them these days and they are what is bringing this country to its knees. The rot set in when we joined the EU and went decimal.

By: John Rice

John Rice — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 23:16:55 +0000

An interesting point. Acceptable norms and the parameters thereof will depend upon the social and historical context. We would no doubt shudder if presented with table manners from the middle ages.

So, Michael, what conventions of speech have changed over the years? How more or less respectful and courteous are we towards our peers and superiors nowadays, and how does this correlate with communication technologies?

By: John Rice

John Rice — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 23:07:27 +0000

As the unofficial adjudicator I pronounce both stories to be equally wonderful!

By: Michael Jones

Michael Jones — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:56:36 +0000

Hi Tim! I had the same experience when I couldn’t work out how to do something with a new program. My step daughter sorted the whole thing out in no time. When I asked her how she could work out how to operate the program without even looking at any instructions, she said (in the nicest possible way), ‘It’s a generational thing, Michael. I’ve grown up with IT so it all makes sense.’
I love your story about the little boy with the car and his finger.
As a ‘typical man’ I will have to try and trump your story.
I watched my neighbour’s four year old son ‘helping’ his dad fix something under the bonnet of the family car. Little Tom dipped both hands into a small patch of oil, rubbed his hands together and wiped the oil on his trousers. His mum was furious. “What the heck are you doing? Those trousers were clean on this morning, etc. etc” Tom looked at his mum in the same way that Dani looked at me: “Mum, I’m being a man fixing a car”.
Next post features Talking heads and Lynyrd Skynyrd!
Michael

By: Tim Dunkerley

Tim Dunkerley — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:15:34 +0000

Re ICT information highway(remember that)etc. Here’s the thing, we(of a certain age) are all migrants to this world. People under 18 are natives. So our opinions on what constitutes appropriate use of information /communication devices have radically different slants.
One of the most incredibly brilliant bits of advertising I remember was contained within the launch of the ipad. The phrase “You already know how to use it” applied to a brand new piece of technology struck me as amazing.
BUT us migrants to ICT land can also get very addicted, witness Michael’s “obsessive” email checking. The only difference is that we can vaguely remember a time when we weren’t so hooked (up.)
I remember a conversation with my son(aged 14 at the time, 6 years ago) after he had mastered Logic a music making Mac programme, extremely quickly and exceptionally well. “No one taught me, I just seemed to know how it works” My guilt at watching him pound away at the Sega mega drive (aged 3) kind of dissolved a bit.
I have seen young people on the pretend phone for years but my favourite was a young lad trying to “start his car” turning his finger on the side of a tricycle and making that brilliant repetitive noise that a car that won’t start and you know you are gradually wearing down the battery down and will have to walk to work, makes. I could almost see his Dad’s ratty old escort Mk2 in front of me as he played so imaginatively

Pip Pip
TDx

By: Michael Jones

Michael Jones — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:31:42 +0000

Hi John and Carol. the words ‘can’ and ‘worms’ spring to mind here!
These norms are very important, but they vary from home to home and country to country, as we know. I was visiting a day nursery once and was talking with the children at the table at lunch. An adult told the children to ‘be quiet and eat your food’. I was working in a special school in Bangkok a few years ago and again was sharing lunch with the children. I could see that they were very bothered about me and giving me some very anxious looks. I spoke to the staff about this afterwards. Was I talking too much? Were the children not used to being with an adult at lunchtimes? No. It is traditional in Thailand to eat with a spoon, and the children were shocked at my poor table manners, as I was using a knife and fork to eat!
When I was little my mum was very insistent on us holding our knives and forks ‘properly’. One day an aunt came to visit and we noticed that she was holding her knife in a very unusual way (as you would a pen or pencil). After she had left I immediately asked my mum about Auntie’s strange knife handling. My mum’s explanation was, “Auntie Joan is from Scarborough”.
What to do?!!
Michael

By: John Rice

John Rice — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:40:25 +0000

Well said, Carol. We make a concerted effort to sit down together for an evening meal and we try to initiate, and sustain, conversation. We also try hard to initiate table manners. Having experienced how many school children now eat (stick your fork into something and eat around it like a lollipop!) it can feel like an uphill struggle to make daughter no.2 comply. Perhaps I’m just showing my age and middle class snobbery but eating and conversing in a civilised manner is surely basic to becoming a sociable adult.

By: Carol Adams

Carol Adams — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:15:23 +0000

I agree with John – why do people feel the need to be constantly in touch with friends and family on the phone. This is often at the detriment of holding a real live conversation with the person standing in front of them. (supermarket checkouts !) In 2007 I had a letter printed in a nursery publication concerning children’s poor communication skills. Even then I was witnessing parents on the phone picking up their children from pre-school without any acknowledgement to the member of staff handing their child over, or worse still, no acknowledgement of their child. 6 years on the situation has deteriorated further along with children’s communication skills. We are convinced few of our families sit together to socialise at meal times as we have a real struggle getting our children to sit at a table whilst eating – many are obviously in the habit of eating on the hoof or in front of the television. Whilst I appreciate family lives are changing surely spending time together with children is a valuable and precious commodity that should not be lost.

By: Michael Jones

Michael Jones — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 21:19:48 +0000

Hi John
Yes, I know what you mean. I need lots of space on my own, but on the other hand I really enjoy emails and staying in touch. I’m less keen on the phone.
My concern is when using smartphones becomes addictive, which can happen.
If I were a Romanian shepherd I think I’d be really pleased to get online every once in a while.
Thanks for keeping in touch
Michael

By: John Rice

John Rice — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 20:22:54 +0000

Why do people feel the need to be permanently connected to others? It seems that there’s a deep human desire to be consistently networked. When I was a small child my father was renowned for going ‘walkabout’ during family shopping trips. He had the car keys and my mother couldn’t drive so we could be left abandoned but with the certain knowledge that he’d return within an hour or two – how he found us, I’ll never know! For him (and now me) solitude is an essential aspect of sanity so I don’t always remember to take my mobile phone when I go out…