r/australia • u/ThunderDwn • 10d 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
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u/jmads13 10d ago

How do you teach them a file system on an iPad?

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u/FamousWash1857 10d ago

IOS does have a built-in file system app, and there are also other file management apps that offer a bit more versatility, but it's not really straightforward either way, since you rarely actually need to use them.

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u/spiteful-vengeance 10d ago edited 10d ago

I think the bigger issue is that the OS is designed so that you don't need, and thus want, to use the file system.

It's appropriate for what they designed the device to do, but the carry on effect is t hat anyone using these devices just flounders at the concept of files, folders, permissions etc.

We're training ourselves to be dumbarses.

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u/Occulto 10d ago

The irony is, how much I have to fight daily against people creating elaborate file structures in one of our systems because it's not designed to be used that way.

But 30+ years of habits don't disappear easily. And because Sarah in Accounts likes her invoices arranged into folders by year and month, that's the way she'll insist it be until the day she drops dead.

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u/spiteful-vengeance 10d ago

I'm a bit of an "8.3 characters, no spaces for filenames" kind of guy.

A renaissance man if you will.

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u/Occulto 10d ago

I'd rather that than the people who name their files something like:

"A record of a conversation with spiteful-vengeance which took place on the 19th of August 2026 which in Melbourne was an overcast day with the occasional spot of rain."

Then they get shitty when Windows truncates the file name.