In a world in constant connection, the internet is a territory full of opportunities, but also full of pitfalls. This is why training is needed to help the new generations understand the difference between the true and the probable, between opinions and fake news.
When, during the 1980s, the presence of the first personal computers began to become widespread in Italian homes, from Commodore 64 onwardssuddenly flourished study courses and training programs on computer topics, hours and hours of lessons for all generations to make their own concepts hitherto obscure, such as the difference between hardware and software or the fundamentals of basicthe language of the future.
Well before the network was conceived and the internet was born, many Italian schools set up computerized classrooms, in which the rudiments for the correct use of new technologies were taught. This momentum towards learning, the son of a company still accustomed to carefully reading the instruction booklet when a new purchase entered the house, gradually diminishing when, with the impetuous advance of the new devices, it was realized that the ’empirical learning, developed simply through the use of the medium and the emulation of behaviors, was extraordinarily more effective than the deepening of theoretical models, so much so that a Cartesian turning point gradually took place between the generations: the children, even very young ones, were far better equipped to handle technology than their bewildered parents.
This dynamic, added to the digital revolution and the triumphal entry into a world in perennial connectionhas discouraged the idea that some form of teaching by authoritative masters could be useful to understand well how to orient oneself in the computerized universe, as if the value of experience could put a brake on the push for innovation.
In universities – it is true – innumerable courses related to technology have been created: masters on cybersecuritydegree courses on web communication, seminars on digital transformation, focus on smart administration. But they are all branches aimed at giving a greater technical and specialization level to those who are already fully trained on the subject, certainly not at educating young people in an area rich in opportunities, but also pitfalls, and above all to build a bridge between the real and the virtual, helping the new generations to consciously discern between the real and the likely, between an opinion and a fake news, in the avalanche of information they receive and share. Yes, because new technologies can represent a great opportunity for knowledge and not just for connection, they represent an opportunity to get anywhere and without any intermediation, but they should not be used only to find a shortcut. Having extraordinary technical skills with no solid foundation to put to use when using i device it can be a handicap and be harmful, even dangerous for the community.
It is therefore necessary for the children to have by their side, already from the first years of the school cycle, figures who help them to orient themselves in the network, to choose the right direction or at least to manage themselves more consciously. And, of course, to learn know-how to better introduce yourself to the world of work. And then, if the matter dealt with from within – thanks to guardian angels who know how and where to direct – appear, to those who apply it, notable angles because, as the famous American computer scientist Nicholas Negroponte said, programming computer languages allows you to reflect on the ability to think.
Today, much more than forty years ago, the existence of teaching on these issues is truly essential to educate young people in the correct use of the opportunities provided by the network and, more generally, by technology. A basic training that, without the ingenuity of the early days of the PC and without the deregulation granted to millennialsindicate a useful, but also productive, way for the correct use of the technology in a society that smartphones and social networks make seem simple, but that behind the veil of the touch screen more and more complex and full of traps.
May 24, 2022 (change May 24, 2022 | 20:25)
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