Ignorance is bliss

We've all scoffed at the ignorant teenager, not knowing a fact that we take for granted that everyone should know.

He didn't know who wrote Lord Of The Rings!
He didn't know who painted the Mona Lisa!
He didn't get my Romeo & Juliet reference!
He didn't know the name of the Chancellor!

But what I find odd, is that these self-same people will happily confess to a Jade Goody level of ignorance when it comes to certain things, and will even boast about it.

I'm talking, of course, about technology.

I've met countless intelligent people, who are proud of the fact that they cannot fully operate their mobile phone, are clueless about their computer, have never heard of MP3 and wouldn't know their Blu-Ray from an X-Ray. Bluetooth? That's the stuff you get from the dentist to show you where you need to brush more, isn't it? Gigabyte, megabyte, what's the difference? The guy at PC World said it was good, so I bought it.

Parent: "I can't even set the Sky+ box, have to get my son to do it for me! He has his uses, although he's useless at school. When I was his age I could do long division in my head! Stupid boy..."
Son: "My dad is useless, he can't even set the Sky+ box! He keeps going on about how I can't do long division in my head. Like that's important - we have calculators now! Stupid old man..."

Each person is convinced the other is stupid, and this can't be good for the relationship here, because neither probably is stupid, just stubborn. The child cannot be bothered with long division, because he can't see the point. The parent can't be bothered with the Sky+, because he assumes it's difficult and that he is too old, so doesn't try. Of course, the parent would undoubtedly have no problem operating the Sky+ if he put his mind to it, but he doesn't. The child would have no problem with long division if put his mind to it, but he doesn't.

It's a sign of changing times. Mental arithmitic is no longer as important as it once was - unless you want to appear on Countdown - because we have computers and calculators. But does this mean we should stop learning how to do it? No, we shouldn't.

And should we stop learning how to operate new things as we get older and be proud of this fact? No, we shouldn't.

Learning things, old and new, is what makes us what we are.



For non-UK readers, of which there are quite a few:
Sky+ is a hard-disk based satellite TV recorder.
Countdown is a long-running TV show where contestants need to have good word and numeracy skills.
Jade Goody is a foul-mouthed, fat, ugly, stupid woman who became famous after appearing on Big Brother.