My Nieces Make Me Feel Old...

Yes, they are very sharp, but also naughty, lol.

Yep, young children catch on really quickly, both the good things and the bad ones.

In some areas of the world, the phone is number one no matter the age. I think it's just like banks and crypto. If crypto gets to a place first or it's more trustworthy than a bank for the regular people, it gets adopted first and despite the bank. The same happens with technology and the internet. Depends on what you get access to first and what offers better services. If one gets access to the internet via mobile for the first time (or that's the better service), that will be their main device.

Absolutely! If I need to, I could probably replace many things I do on the laptop on the smartphone too. I just prefer to do them on my laptop. I do them quicker, too. For the young generation, the situation is probably reversed.

I haven't had much direct contact with consoles tbh, other than also at my nieces, but they got bored with them quite easily, probably because they only had a limited number of games and they rarely played with their friends, while on Roblox they keep saying they have access to 1000 games. I believe the graphics on those kids' games is awful (especially compared to console games), but they seem to enjoy them.

What this platform does well is that it splits players and games into age categories. I guess for their age categories, graphics is secondary to having fun. As it is here in crypto secondary to earning rewards, still.

When you say it like that, I think you live in my mother-father generation

I'm borderline Baby Boomer - Gen X, but living in communism until my teenage, we were always lagging when it came to high tech compared to the West in those times.

Well, the generation gap is really felt nowadays even with just 5 years of gap. It's time to catch the gap or let the next generation do it. I think I'm on the edge as I still like PCs (work and play) and consoles (play) especially Nintendo Switch rather than smartphones tbh 😂. Smartphones are just for business calls and messages only.

Someone who uses a smartphone for everything they do, and all day long, like some youngsters nowadays will always know more tricks, have experience with more apps and phone models, etc. than someone who uses different devices. I'm not trying to catch them on that front, I know I wouldn't be able to keep up at the same speed. There are other things they lack, generally, like focus, and we often still have more. There are exceptions, obviously.

The generational gap is something I enjoy observing, especially between the much older generation and the newer ones.

Ah, yeah! You should see my nieces educating their grandparents on tech stuff, and how their eyes grow big, not understanding how things could work "back in the day".

Will there come a time when the full hands typing of QWERTY becomes a lost art?

Yes. Of that, you and I can be sure. With AI replacing at least the heavy-lifting part in all areas where typing is involved, I see the requirement for quick and accurate typing as less of a necessity in the future. I also believe the smaller devices like smartphones are transitory and a much bigger revolution is preparing. We will see if that will be the metaverse, brain-computer direct link, or something else, and how the world will react to them.

I guess they alternate the moments when they piss you off with moments when they make your day with their innocence or unrestricted minds.

Well, that's a fact. Time passes for everyone. And it's been quite a while since I've been their age and experienced life as a child. :)

Of course, we still have the life experience on our side, but they have the childhood energy and curiosity on theirs. Luckily, they are both young enough to still listen to their parents (generally, lol). In a few more years, they'll believe they know all about life.

Just think of all the things children learn in the first few years of life, from making sense of the abundance of sensations as newborns to saying the first words to learning how to walk. Then, learning to talk and understand the world around them better and better, often by exploring it or playing. Their brain develops exponentially compared to an adult. And the way they do this is by soaking up information and making connections between them.

Sure, curiosity and excitement of learning new things can remain at any age, but how do young children learn to speak after they've been helped to say a few words? They record how the adults talk, even when they don't pay seem to pay attention, like when they play. Their brain is like a sponge and continues to be when they are a little bigger.

When we are older, we have methods of learning. We have focus and determination. But our brains are rarely sponges any longer. They need some "convincing" to open up to more information. Training is a way to do it. Training the brain to not lose curiosity, seek out answers, and solve riddles.