> Weird idea #1: A computer is not like a TV, a toaster, or any other appliance. You need to know
> everything about how and why it works before you can use it. Right down to the subatomic level,
> probably.
>
> Weird idea #2: You only get one chance with a computer. Press the wrong button and something
> terrible will happen. Something so terrible it may, in fact, result in the HEAT DEATH OF THE
> UNIVERSE.

This one isn't entirely dumb. Sometimes doing the wrong thing will cause something much worse than the heat death of the universe, like the sudden and irreversible disappearance of the 2000-word report that's due tomorrow.


> Weird idea #3: The six year old next door saw her first computer today and she already worked
> out how to play a game! It's because You Have To Be A Kid These Days to know about computers.
> It's not because she just tried everything to see what happened. Nuh huh.

And to prove that being young isn't sufficient, I'm surrounded by young people who think I'm really excellent with computers, when really all it is is that I take the time to find out how the things work.

"Paul! Help! My essay isn't printing!"
"The printer's run out of paper."
"How do you know?"
"You see this little light here?"
"Oh. Wow. You're a genius!"


> Weird idea #4: The Internet contains many rude and nasty things which you might not want to see,
> just like books do. Unlike books, however, the rude and nasty parts negate the entire potential
> usefulness and value of the rest of the Internet, which should be banned outright.
>
> Weird idea #5: Things are different online. You have to know all these completely different
> concepts of social interaction because when people are online they aren't real anymore.

The variant of #5 that really annoys me is not "You have to learn all these new rules of communication for talking to people online", but "You can forget everything you ever learned about communication when talking to people online".
speling & punctuation dont matter bcoz its just online, rite?

Paul