Impact of Simpler Software: Are Teens Web-Addicted, Digital Illiterates?

  • Former Disney technical director and Nickelodeon animation supervisor, Sang-Jin Bae, thinks kids have become “digital illiterates.”
  • He describes the students who come into his animation classes at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts as falling into three groups: “There are the pure geeks who love technology,” he explains. There are those trying to understand. And then there is the biggest group: “Those who couldn’t care less.”
  • “The kids I have, and that is roughly two dozen of the brightest young digital artists a semester, often have no idea what Microsoft Word is,” he says, noting a dumbing down of essential computing skills. “They can’t tell a Mac from a PC. And forget Excel. They will not use email. It’s a constant struggle to have them simply stop SMSing me.”
  • To make matters worse, software developers are creating simpler versions of their products. He cites Windows 8 as an example. Even AutoCAD’s Maya, a professional tool, has a hair animation function that has been re-designed for the “non-techie.” Apps like Instagram also cater to these digital illiterates.
  • “It has gotten to the point now that if it takes something basic like a password, they can’t figure it out,” suggests Bae. “Application developers are in a race to the bottom.”

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