What impresses kids nowadays? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 03:52:45 am
content: Had the camcorder sitting on the bench this morning and next to it was the DSO and next to it sat a tablet. All pretty hi tech items. When I was a kid in the early 60's I remember being impressed by the fact my nanna had a pop-up toaster.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 04:19:39 am
content: Hard to beat robots. 3D printers and quadcopters tend to be particularly interesting.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 04:21:53 am
content: I remember in the early 60s being very unimpressed by our pop up toaster, as the results were rather inconsistent. I'm fairly impressed with the toaster we have now, which cost peanuts and produces very consistent results.

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 05:48:19 am
content: You can't beat Tesla coils and Jacobs ladders.In general it depends on the kid really - there's no one answer.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 06:45:46 am
content: There's never been a better time to get into electronics, but kids now-a-days seem to be content to be users of things, rather then builders of things.

author: ccs46
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 07:29:21 am
content: Well in my day (I was born in 2000) Power Rangers was still alive and kicking since it's premiere in 1993. From what I'm told by my cousin Power Rangers is still alive and kicking and it's in it's 22nd series!Star Trek (The Next Generation) is on BBC America (So It might be on BBC?). I volunteered to be a counselor at a summer camp at my old elementary school and these 4th graders were talking about in a episode how Captain Picard got assimilated by the Borg. I asked them where they heard of that character. They said how old are you that you don't watch BBC America?! I was likeI then proceeded to ask them if they knew how that show was. They said it "can't be that old..." I told them it was from the 1980's. The look on their faces!They then said that they don't watch "Old people shows" like that. I think they really liked that show... Now that they probably will never watch it again! I find it weird these days that kids like retro things but as soon as you tell them it's age then they get turned off by it.Then there is MythBusters on Discovery Channel. I hear a lot of kids like it. But I hear ratings went down severely when Kari Byron was kicked off the show...

author: ElectroIrradiator
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 07:33:52 am
content: The latest cat video their friends shared on FaceBook seems to be popular.I just realized I don't know any teenager, who has what I would consider a proper hobby...

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 09:14:54 am
content: QuotePewDiePie.Quote from: daqq on July 27, 2015, 05:48:19 amAs much as I don't get it the above wasn't just a joke. PewDiePie seriously seems to be a constant with those under 18.Quote from: george graves on July 27, 2015, 06:45:46 amI'd say the barrier for entry for interesting stuff has gone up. Yeah there's never been an easier time to grab a few modules and throw them together. The same with programming, just grabbing some libraries and throwing in some glue code can get you a lot done as long as you want to do what's already being done. But imagine you're a total noob and have only ever experienced that and then you try to do the work without the black boxes...Quote from: ElectroIrradiator on July 27, 2015, 07:33:52 amAnd euphoniums, my little brother is a bloody good euphonium player lolQuoteSame here. I keep trying to get my little brother into drink, drugs, and girls but only the latter seems to have caught his attention so far. Maybe sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll are more a trumpet players sort of thing

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 09:35:39 am
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on July 27, 2015, 09:14:54 amThe under 18s I know find him really annoying. They are mostly people who like to play games, and who frequently watch YouTube videos of others playing through the bits where they have got stuck. They would never consider watching a PewDiePie video.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 09:47:48 am
content: Quote from: coppice on July 27, 2015, 09:35:39 amI think I have more in common with the under 18s you know than the ones I do. Well except that I've always found strategy guides, walkthroughs, cheats whatever as for the soft not-real Scotsmen... sorry I meant gamers :/

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 06:41:20 pm
content: The map on the wall and the collection of QSL cards showing all of the countries that I've talked to. The young boy I'm mentoring stood there fascinated on his first visit because he couldn't believe that someone could talk to so many people.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 01:09:48 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on July 27, 2015, 06:41:20 pmI wish I had the wall space to show my QSL cards and special event station Certificates. I am relegated to a big 3 ring binder. I do have some of the certificates framed but not near all I have.OK, I admit I probably have room for some of them but that would mean taking down my acrylic cases with my diecast car collectionI would do that but SWMBO says they can't go on the bedroom walls. That's it, it's her fault. That's my story and I am sticking to itA new ham that I am Elmering came by not long ago to pick up some stuff I was giving him and he brought his family with him. His oldest son (twelve years old) got a kick out of the ham shack but an even bigger kick out of the car collection. I am hoping that he leans more toward ham radio with his dad. That could lead to an interesting career path.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 03:10:47 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on July 27, 2015, 06:41:20 pm"look, I just pinged a whole subnet. over 200 hosts responded!"

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 05:06:21 am
content: When I was a kid anything with wheels was amazing. the most fun i could really have however was playing in the mounds of dirt around the neighborhood. Riding my bike around. I suppose parents don't let their children do that sort of thing. They call it Free Range parenting now. Back then it was called getting exercise, and it was encouraged.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 05:35:43 am
content: Quote from: linux-works on July 28, 2015, 03:10:47 amAmateurs! I wrote my own high speed, multi-threaded ping utility. (I just pinged an entire division of a corporation)Quote

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 11:01:47 am
content: When I was a child I was amazed by porn, bionic limbs and all things that make explosions.When i was a younger teen i was into by cars and mountain bikes...Nowdays i'm impressed by almost anything technical that has to do with some sort of engineering or science. Mechanics, electronics, chemistry, math... (everything except programming)edit: I'm 18 so one part of my childhood was in era of computers and internet so my past experience is somewhat related to kids nowdays

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2015, 08:14:44 pm
content: When I think of some of the things I got up to when I was a kid it's enough to give a modern parent a heart attack.Start off with roaming far and wide on my bike (without a helmet of course). I remember getting as far as the local airport which must have been about a 16 Km ride and then climbing through the fence to have a closer look at one of the radar antennas. My explorations were swiftly interrupted by one of the airport ground crew who was somewhat concerned about where I was and how I got in.Then there was the local telephone repair depot which I used to visit on a regular basis, nobody bothered about security in those days and a kid wandering in off the street wasn't a problem. The battery room was quite accessible and I thought that the thick copper bussbars and the man in the rubber apron with the jug of acid was impressiveI only got into trouble once. In the center of town was an abandoned train station and I was exploring it one day with a schoolfriend of mine. With the floor taken up we stepped in the wrong place and brought down the ceiling of the floor below which created a hell of a racket and a massive cloud of dust which could be seen across the street in the police station. One ride home in a police car and I was ready for the next adventure.What impressed me? Space, anything to do with space. These were the days of Mercury and Gemini and I remember watching every rocket launch on a grainy 405 line black and white TV. By the time Apollo arrived I was hooked.

author: Throwaway
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 02:04:31 am
content: "What impresses kids nowadays?"Boys : the youtuber idiots who make these stupid game videos, the worst thing is that it encourages the kid to do the same and waste his precious time becoming a video game freak posting horrible videos instead of socializing with his peers.Girls : One Direction/Justin bieber and other similar stuff. Not quite as bad as the boys actually.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 02:55:50 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on July 27, 2015, 04:19:39 amDon't forget controlling said things from your phone.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 10:41:36 am
content: Quote from: Electric flower on July 28, 2015, 11:01:47 amIt will be interesting to see what effects of internet porn viewing at a young age has on children as they reach adult hood. And when I say interesting...I mean - it will be down right weird and awful - I'm sure of that.

author: Josephine85
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 11:16:43 am
content: i think the internet of things will be the next big thing. everthing is connected in a highly technical word. and to answer your question: i think this will impress kids nowerdays

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 11:36:38 am
content: Quote from: george graves on July 29, 2015, 10:41:36 amI wrote that thing about porn more in joking manner, but nonetheless it was an addiction for me, and i can say that i had some problems in communicating with girls at one time,but after i broke off that addiction few months later it was like the all porn stuff never happenedand I did everything without shame/problem. I can say that now when I look at the past I would say that female body is beautiful and I think it didn't do any damage to me (can't say for sure, i'm not psychiatrist), but i think that all the ways in which relationship between two people is portrayed in porn is bad for everyone, no matter what age, it's unnaturall and fake (I consider porn dangerous only if one thinks that those things he sees are real world that awaits him), and only way someone can watch it without feeling guilty or shameful is to be little bit crazy, quickly regular porn isn't enough so it often leads to other even more wicked sorts of porn.Also all these actors, how many of them are forced to do and do it under influence of alcohol and drugs so I don't approve or consider porn to be okay.As far as i have noticed personally is that some people try to use drunk or drugged girls, i don't know if it's from watching porn or if you are simply bad person, but guess what, these things were done before...Watching porn is the least harmful thing that can happen to child, there are far more important things in childhood that define you one day, I know no one from my generation who hasn't watched porn while younger than 10 years and today nobody is a psycho.

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 11:57:29 am
content: From where i sit, it seems they like, happy slapping old people, jumping from cliffs into rock filled pools, playing on railway lines, mugging pensioners, taking drugs, smoking and all manner of other idiot things they can brag to friends about. I used to read papers, now I dont because every day some kid had done something stupid and died or killed someone.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 12:29:40 pm
content: Quote from: Deathwish on July 29, 2015, 11:57:29 amWell you are in Wales, they're just imitating the one Welsh success story from the last 30 years, Dirty Sanchez.QuoteIt's much rarer than when the baby boomer's were kids, but baby boomer's hate it if their kids aren't to blame for the problems they created so kids who are less violent, promiscuous, into drugs etc, etc, and much more socially active in all the good ways in general must be demonised in the media to protect their egos.Also "Another successful charity fund raiser by the children of Madeup Primary" doesn't sell papers.

author: electrolux
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 06:43:21 pm
content: Quote from: ElectroIrradiator on July 27, 2015, 07:33:52 amMe?

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2015, 02:00:11 am
content: Quote from: Deathwish on July 29, 2015, 11:57:29 amYeah, probably a good idea to stop reading those sorts of papers.Of the people who still read papers, I expect that at least half are grouchy reactionaries, and as such, will gobble up anything that confirms their negative view of the world today while giving them something to bitch about with other like-minded people. The other half are pretty similar, but the stuff they like to bitch about would be easier for me to put a finger on if I had less in common with them. (Not that I'd stain my fingers with ink, or can be bothered to look at my Facebook feed much these days).I think the truth is that kids have always done a lot of stupid shit. The fact that we can forgo the newspapers and see their own documentation of themselves doing it on YouTube these days doesn't mean kids today are substantially different, in anything but the technology. Stupid shit my father did as a kid: stole his fathers car, drag raced, played with gunpowder, developed a life-long relationship with alcohol which would end up killing him. Stupid shit my father-in-law did as a kid: played with dynamite... Stupid shit I did as a kid: Raced cars down twisty canyon roads on my bicycle, played with gunpowder, played with sensitive high-explosive chemicals, slid one of the family cars into a curb while doing stupid shit on an icy parking lot while under the influence of unusual chemicals. Gave my drunk 250 pound friend a ride home from a party on a motorcycle (neither one of us were wearing helmets). Minor acts of random vandalism. Minor acts of directed vandalism for for reasons that escape me. Oh, also, I bought a Joe Boxers album.As for what kids are interested in today, beats me. I got lucky in guessing that my nephew would be interested in secret messages, so I hid one in a little python script I sent him without explanation other than the filename secretmessage.py. It turned him on to programming, but it was pretty much the beginning and end of our interaction on the subject. I actually have 4 nephews. Robots also seem to hold some interest, as did Kerbal Space Program, D&D, Soccer, and any number of computer, gameboy, card and board games. Oh, they were also interested in some improvised gasifying wood stoves I was making for a while. Fire must hold perennial interest for many. Explosions too. They all love to read actual books too.It depends on their age, but before puberty at least, I think most kids are interested by adults who are interested in them, and who are willing to meet them oh their level. I know I was. Puberty can change things. They start being more active and self-concious about their own identities, about distinguishing themselves from their families and their younger selves.One thing worth keeping in mind is that the stuff that may have fascinated you may be taken for granted and/or inaccessable to them. I thought many people 10-20 years younger than I would be generally much more sophisticated about computing than I was. I was surprised that wasn't the case. I realized that I learned about computing in large part because it was unusual, and because using computers at all required knowing about stuff that someone today can completely ignore. Think about electronics too. Its commonplace. It is common place in large part because it is cheap and reliable. That cheapness and reliability is in part the result of integration and scale. The consequence is that its less necessary to understand anything about electronics, and every day electronics are harder to learn about. Of course, that's also a huge opportunity. Give them a glimpse under the covers, a chance to understand something that others take for granted, chance to know secrets and some of them are going to want more.

author: ccs46
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2015, 05:39:42 am
content: Yes some of today's new parents are a bit too protective over kids, even if not their own. I'm 15, so I still look quite young... However I am 5'11 so I am kinda tall. Once I had this soccer mom pull up with her kid in the car and ask my 10 year old cousin if she was alright and if she "Knew that man" while we were walking down the sidewalk coming from the Ice cream shop with cones in hand. Even when my cousin proceeded to say she was fine and that we were cousins. The lady still called the cops on me. Then I had to call my Aunt to come rescue me from the back of the squad car, and the explain to cop that we were in fact cousins and it was fine. This lady told dispatchers lies that said my cousin was in danger.She must have been part of the local feminist group, cause she sure handled the situation in a way that they do. The woman was still worried after we left. SMH...I wish people wouldn't be so worried about things, I blame the media.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2015, 08:45:38 am
content: I must confess that I don't understand over-protective parents, but then I do not have any children so I am looking at this from a different viewpoint (being an Aspie doesn't help here either). Someone I know has an eight year old son and one day this child broke his arm in a school yard accident. After making sure that his son was OK he visited the school and asked to speak to the teachers who were supervising at the time. Apparently these teachers were petrified that either a) they would lose their jobs or b) the school would be taken to court but he just told them that it's OK because kids break things including themselves, he then insisted that the headmaster take no action against the teachers concerned.

author: rickselectricalprojects
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2015, 07:44:36 am
content: I am a 14 year old boy so i know boys my age are impressed with things like:

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2015, 08:35:39 am
content: Quote from: ccs46 on July 31, 2015, 05:39:42 amIf that's the only explanation you can come up with, you should really broaden your circle of friends and the social media you consume.Quote from: rickselectricalprojects on August 22, 2015, 07:44:36 amMost 14 year old boys are lucky that they won't be getting their hands on anything like the last two any time soon. They'd never make it to 15. It wouldn't be a glorious death either, unless crapping your pants is your idea of glory. I had somewhat humbler ambitions, and it's a wonder I made it out of my teens.

author: ccs46
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2015, 11:34:11 am
content: Quote from: eas on August 28, 2015, 08:35:39 amNo, it's confirmed now she is a part of it. I do believe she is one of those "mommy blogger, I won't let my kids take a walk outside without my assistance" type, considering I personally know her child, (Girl at my school, I asked she said not a chance because of her mother) she has now told me about how her mother is.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

author: WZOLL
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2015, 09:31:15 pm
content: Realistic video game graphics and frame rates

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2015, 09:38:57 am
content: My better part works at a local kindergarden. Some time ago I build some kind of basic electric teaching board, basically just a wooden plate with some switches, wiring, lightbulbs and an old laptop power supply and a bunch of resistors and pots. As I was told, that thing is everyday in use by the kids. The "grown up childs" working there are sometimes fascinated by this simple thing, too.I plan to make up a little instruction manual/kit for a simple detector radio, hoping to become the electronics god, breeding a new generation of hobby electronic enthusiasts!