Schools across the U.S. are starting to rethink the abundance of digital devices in classrooms. After pouring billions of dollars into laptops, tablets and learning apps, a growing number of schools say it is time to scale back.
A lot, TBH. The walled garden is everything in tech these days. When you control the platform and make it hard to leave, you control the flow of information.
The Trump administration already had apps removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play. (ICETracker, Tiktok was until it was sold to hard MAGA supporters)
Also, there have been many studies showing how YouTube videos will push right-wing agenda videos to people.
These are the 2 major aspects for chidren, locked down app stores and YouTube, both which have shown a favortism for right-wing politics lately.
This doesn’t include Tiktok’s new MAGA owners, Discord’s usage of age verifaction company Persona (which feds the info to the Trump administration) X(itter). Social media that force-feeds children right-wing propaganda.
so far, nobody’s talked about taking away computers. however, you’re correct in that taking them away is not a solution.
american schools are notoriously underfunded. google realized this a few years ago when they came out with the Chromebook lineup, which are dirt cheap entries into the google ecosystem. the hardware is not the problem, the data collection introduced to children in the guise of convenience at early stages is.
my preferred solution to that would be to introduce hardware outside of the google ecosystem. the issue is, very few companies can produce at scale in the way google can. any competitors would have to sell hardware below asking price to compete. its not feasible for small companies to do so. apple and Microsoft could, but they don’t have the same data collection ecosystem that google does for the same hardware subsidies.
another big reason small companies can’t compete is that the entire Gsuite is cloud based. all you need to access it is a browser. there’s not a single public school with the IT team to set up an open-source alternative, so schools are forced (or are enthusiastic about the opportunity) to get a full Microsoft-esque productivity suite for the kids without the licensing fees.
ever tried to convince someone non-tech savvy to switch from chrome to Firefox? attitudes range from uninterested to impossible, despite the functionality being identical at worst. now try to do that with every single tool they’ve been using since they were in elementary school.
its a simple game plan. lock them into a data-harvesting ecosystem. collect their data. nudge their opinions. influence their votes.
A lot, TBH. The walled garden is everything in tech these days. When you control the platform and make it hard to leave, you control the flow of information.
What does that have to do with right wing propaganda? I’m just not seeing the connection.
When you control the device, you control the information allowed on to the device.
Are you suggesting the right wing somehow controls all compute devices? And if so, how?
The Trump administration already had apps removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play. (ICETracker, Tiktok was until it was sold to hard MAGA supporters)
Also, there have been many studies showing how YouTube videos will push right-wing agenda videos to people.
These are the 2 major aspects for chidren, locked down app stores and YouTube, both which have shown a favortism for right-wing politics lately.
This doesn’t include Tiktok’s new MAGA owners, Discord’s usage of age verifaction company Persona (which feds the info to the Trump administration) X(itter). Social media that force-feeds children right-wing propaganda.
That’s an internet and media problem, not a computer problem. Taking computers away doesn’t solve that problem.
so far, nobody’s talked about taking away computers. however, you’re correct in that taking them away is not a solution.
american schools are notoriously underfunded. google realized this a few years ago when they came out with the Chromebook lineup, which are dirt cheap entries into the google ecosystem. the hardware is not the problem, the data collection introduced to children in the guise of convenience at early stages is.
my preferred solution to that would be to introduce hardware outside of the google ecosystem. the issue is, very few companies can produce at scale in the way google can. any competitors would have to sell hardware below asking price to compete. its not feasible for small companies to do so. apple and Microsoft could, but they don’t have the same data collection ecosystem that google does for the same hardware subsidies.
another big reason small companies can’t compete is that the entire Gsuite is cloud based. all you need to access it is a browser. there’s not a single public school with the IT team to set up an open-source alternative, so schools are forced (or are enthusiastic about the opportunity) to get a full Microsoft-esque productivity suite for the kids without the licensing fees.
ever tried to convince someone non-tech savvy to switch from chrome to Firefox? attitudes range from uninterested to impossible, despite the functionality being identical at worst. now try to do that with every single tool they’ve been using since they were in elementary school.
its a simple game plan. lock them into a data-harvesting ecosystem. collect their data. nudge their opinions. influence their votes.
I guess not explicitly but I felt like that was being implied above.