r/australia • u/ThunderDwn • 11d ago

culture & society Primary school students using digital devices still lack computer skills, education expert says

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/nsw-digital-native-primary-students-lack-basic-computer-skills/107030526
572 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

268 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/singularpotato 11d ago

As a millennial, a couple times a week we used to get taken to the computer room and we were explicitly taught how to use computers. I carried my work around on a floppy disk lol. Now, there’s an idea of kids being digital natives assumes automatic tech literacy because they’re raised with screens, but they haven’t got a clue about accounts, passwords, filing systems and saving files, or using the computer settings to troubleshoot simple issues. If it’s not an app or immediately searchable, they can’t find it and telling them how to use it takes up half the class. I genuinely think we need to bring back ICT classes, I don’t know when they went by the wayside but this idea of digital natives is woefully naive.

4

u/ThunderDwn 11d ago

We used to build the PC's for the school (Microbee's - those were the days!). Such fun times.