A World without YouTube
I read ดร. ธวัชชัย ปิยะวัฒน์'s "ถ้าเด็กไม่ดู YouTube แล้วจะให้เด็กทำอะไรดี?" <https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/582903>
and thought of the time when I was young. I was born on a rural farm some 40 km from a nearest town. There was no electricity supply, no water supply, no computer, no internet, no phone (nor mobile phone ;-), nothing but one old beaten up truck that we used to go to town once a month. A round trip to market in 'amphur' was a special day. We got some candies or iceblocks and a chance to look around at things in shops, movie posters, and people in various dresses. We got to listen to music and stories on radio. We came home full of ideas and imaginations. If you could see me then and me now, you would wonder how I survived my youth -- without TV, computer, Internet, mobile phone, digital watch, CDs, sports shoes, hip sunglasses, ... (and YouTube).
What did we do in rural area before and after school and at school? We learned to do 3Rs (Read, Write, Arithmatics). We played soccer, "basket" ball, to-the-hill sprint, pedalled bike, swam in treanches and ponds, trapped, snared, hunted and caught many kinds of lizards, snakes, insects, birds, squirrels, fish and mussels. We raced and teased our dogs over rice fields and woodlands. We picked wild vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruits to eat and to make laces. We went to creeks to look for round pebbles and odd colourful stones to decorate our plant pots and foot baths. We climbed up trees and swung down on ropes or from outreaching branches. We made bows and arrows and practiced archery on banana trunks. We fought with evil warriors with our bamboo sticks. We made up codes and cracked them once or twice a year. (Modern spies would laugh at our code encryption techniques. But hey we were front runners in our 'world' -- a legend in our own mind.)
So, what is happening in this age of the Internet (and YouTube)? Do children no longer have 'free space' and 'free time' to play by their themselves? Do children no longer have 'free will' and 'free spirit' to learn and entertain themselves with 'free games', 'free thinking' and 'free imagination'? Are children no longer 'active' physically and imaginatively but passively wait and watch 'commercials'? ...
What about parents? Are they now too busy to play with their children? Do they not remember their young and carefree time -- playing, honing their physical abilities, learning how to win and lose intelligently? Don't they know 'young brains can develop better and faster' with physical activities and interactions with other beings?
What is happening in todays' culture? What is being transmitted and absorbed via the Internet (and YouTube)? How much time spent and productivity generated on the Internet (and YouTube) -- to put it another way 'Are we getting back 'valuable or useful return' for our time investment on the Internet (and YouTube)? (Remember playing, sports, yoga, even meditation can return good health and wellness.) Are we as a nation of consumers becoming an Internet (and YouTube) 'junkie' (or addict) that we must have doses each day or we show our ugly side?
OK. I have told nothing good about 'children on the Internet (and YouTube)'. Why? Because, I think 'children should learn and do more physical activities; train their body and brain to the 'max' they know how; gain confidence in their own capacity to do/make/interact; then with or without the Internet (and YouTube) children can grow up 'free'.
Now, It is your turn. If you don't have opinions one way or another, may I suggest searching the Internet (and YouTube) and think about what you find carefully? Happy day!
ความเห็น (14)
A World without YouTube.... เขียนได้ดีมากๆๆค่ะ
ฮาๆๆ เห็นด้วยครับ ลืมบอก background เมื่อวานที่ผมเขียนบันทึกไปว่าตอนนั้นนอกบ้านฝนตกหนักครับ หาดใหญ่ฝนตกหนักติดต่อกันมาหลายวันและวันนี้น้ำเริ่มท่วมแล้วด้วยครับ
ถ้าฝนยังตกอย่างนี้อีกสองสามวันพรุ่งนี้หรือมะรืนนี้อาจจะได้พาเจ้าต้นไม้ไปมีกิจกรรมนอกบ้านด้วยการไปดูน้ำท่วมหาดใหญ่ครับ
Dear 
Dr. Ple : Thank you for kind words and a beautiful picture (of two deviis). I had to correct a few mistakes though ;-)
Hi
ธวัชชัย: I hope you and your family are not badly affected by this flood and bad weather. Unfortunately there is a strong trend for this sort of wild weathers to continue and I thinkl Thailand is not prepared enough for them. (I read about a soldier washed away and drowned while trying to preform rescue and a helicopter crashed while inspecting flood areas -- all are bad news.)
Had you looked at Hadyai TMD for satelite and radar weather maps and read the forcast? I am sure you'd find them more thrilling than a lot of clips (on YouTube). ;-)
I do agree with yours, when I was a young boy I played at the paddy field where made me happy and also I had nothing about communicational tools but I was so enjoy. Nowadays I see all the young and adult go with tools everywhere, it likes they are dominated by modern consumerism.
However, we cannot escaped these equipments even if now we deny but in near future they certainly confront them. It depends upon that how do use them with realization of valuable usage.
So all of children should study of their pros and cons completely before using them.
Thanks Sr.
Thank you ส.รตนภักดิ์
for your support and kind words.
Perhaps it is too much to ask our children to weigh up pros-and-cons for everything. Parents should consider carefully if they should buy and pay for 'gadgets' and 'data services' for children. What contracts (or undertakings) they should ask children to agree in exchange? After all it's the children they have to care - not interests of gadgets and ISP/data companies.
In my view, we are in a transitional period. These gadgets will be 'old toys' (like fax machines, cassette players, postcards, and "paper" newspapers and books). Our house is getting free of many clustering devices - replaced by multi-functional digital-memory gadgets and online or on-the-air storage and services rather than closets and boxes and 'servants'. People will be 'wired' (with micro-sensors and micro-machines/chips) from birth to death because it is a way for 'Big Brother' ruling groups to exercise more control over people.
Soon, the new change for larger (village, town and city...) scales will catch up. We will be wondering what happened to electricity power grid cables, landline telephone cables (those spider web wires); roads for 'personal' cars; goverment offices and fat-cat public servants; school and hospital block buildings (replaced by gigantic robots that can house and care for children and people -- even remotely). We can be shopping from home (in front of our big screen TV); children may choose to stay and study at home (in front of a big TV); doctors may see patients in their own home (in front of a TV); farmers may switch on water pumps to irrigate their away-from-home farms (in front of a TV); ...
Yes! Next generation TVs will be very much multi-functional large smartphones (with cameras) that let us video-call, watch TV (and YouTube), do Internet (and email); entertain, educate, and monitor children activities;...[NB This is the world first design for new TV ;-)]
And that would also be a transition period toward another 'webs of Internet of Things (IoT).
It depends so much on the parents. I had all the modern electronic things around the house but we also had a lot of books. When my 3 boys were young, we also had these things in the same time but we preferred to use them as our tools. They don't have too much influence on us and I think what I see now in my 3 young men is that they wisely choose what to do for their time. The electronic gadgets are just our tools to use our own lives. So, as I said, it's up to you, all the parents!
Dear K. sr, I totally agree that children should learn and do more physical activities.
In my opinion, ดร. ธวัชชัย ปิยะวัฒน์'s post on "ถ้าเด็กไม่ดู YouTube แล้วจะให้เด็กทำอะไรดี?", may wish for our inputs on alternatives but, in fact,
could we really stop them from watching YouTube?
I think not.
Let's spend the family's valuable time together which will keep our children close to us and trust that they would be able to make it on their own, just like we've done.
Thanks โอ๋-อโณ 
: Yes. Parents should lead the way. I had quoted "We are useing tools to change our world. But we don't realize that the tools are changing us (too)". And this "Today many parents are learning from their children.". Some parents will need guidance and support from successful parents (like you) to bring up their children in this 'gadgets age'.
Thanks rojfitness 
: It is difficult to fill children time under constant parental supervision. Children will try their very best to explore the world (and what available) around them. That's the way children learn (about the world). The best parents can hope for is that children do explore 'outside' and 'real' world (that would actively develop their worldly skills to fit real world demands) and not become addict or passively react to 'virtual' world.
:
Articles below show that physical activities are good or better than sedentary watching YouTube ficks. (For me physical exercises help us to learn to make decisions in real time and to do follow up and correction in real time. Repetitions speed up our reaction time too.)
ออกกำลัง ช่วยคุณรอดจากมะเร็ง by นพ. วัลลภ พรเรืองวงศ์ 23/12/2014
https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/583011
"...การศึกษาก่อนหน้านี้พบว่า
คนไข้มะเร็งหลายชนิด มีสิทธิ์รอดจากมะเร็งมากกว่า
ถ้า ออกแรง-ออกกำลัง เป็นประจำ
... การศึกษาใหม่จากสถาบันคาดรลินสกา สวีเดน
พบ คนที่ออกแรง-ออกกำลัง
เทียบเท่า การเดิน หรือ จักรยาน 20 นาที/วัน ขึ้นไป
มีสิทธิ์รอดจาก มะเร็งต่อมลูกหมาก..."
and
Nottingham Trent University/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Friday, December 19, 2014 - 3:00pm
Exercise changes your DNA
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25484259
Who's resolving to go to the gym more in 2015? If you need some more motivation, The New York Times reports that scientists have now discovered that physical exercise is changing your body right down to the level of DNA. By having volunteers pedal a bicycle with only one leg for 3 months, researchers were able to compare the exercised leg with its lazy counterpart. They found that, in the active leg, 5000 sites along the DNA were altered by a process known as methylation that regulates when and how genes are used.
I do agree with your story. When I was young ,I always learned many things from activities. I lived in rural area in Kanchanaburi , I swam and found many fish from canals.
We have learned from natures. Thanks.
มากล่าวสวัสดีปีใหม่กับอาจารย์นะครับ
ด้วยความระลึกถึงครับ
ส่งความงดงามมาเติมสุข จากธรรมชาติเนื่องในปีใหม่ ขอตั้งจิตอธิษฐาน ให้ผู้เป็นกัลยาณมิตร เป็นเครือญาติ เป็นครูแห่งชีวิต ผู้ตั้งมั่นในความดี เข้าถึงความเย็นใจ ทุกเมื่อทุกวัน
Thank you แสงแห่งความดี... and หมอเจ๊ คนสวย แซ่เฮ for the cards and beautiful wishes.
Many happy returns ;-)
ดิฉันกระจ่างชัดนะคะกับสิ่งที่ีคุณเล่า เพราะเติบโตมาในบริบทเดียวกัน
การที่ชีวิตวัยเด็กได้เติบโตมากับธรรมชาติที่เนิบช้าทว่าอบอุ่น ช่วยให้มีเวลาสังเกต ใคร่ครวญ ไตร่ตรองและตกผลึกสิ่งต่างๆ ได้เยอะโดยไม่มีตัวช่วยมากมายเช่นในปัจจุบันที่ทุกอย่างฉับไว(เกินไป)ที่อาจชี้นำความคิดจนคนไม่ต้องคิดอีกต่อไป เพียงแค่อ่านแล้วก็เชื่อโดยอาจไม่ทันได้คิด ดิฉันเห็นภัยตรงนี้มากกว่าจะเป็นคุณ(สำหรับเด็กๆ ที่ยังไม่รู้เท่าทัน)
ดิฉันโชคดีที่ได้เลี้ยงลูกในยุคที่ Internet ยังไม่ครอบงำ และตั้งคำถามแทนพ่อแม่สมัยนี้ว่า เขาจะดูแลลูกให้รู้จักคิดใคร่ครวญโลกแวดล้อมตามสภาพจริงได้อย่างไร หลานๆ ดิฉันก็ต้องเติบโตมาในโลกที่ว่องไวและอลหม่านแบบนี้
พวกคนรุ่นใหม่คงมีคำตอบ?? คนใกล้แก่อย่างดิฉันยังไม่มีคำตอบ แต่ห่วงใยว่ามิติด้านที่อ่อนโยนของมนุษย์จะหายไป
ดิฉันพลาดการติดตามคุณมาตั้งนานได้อย่างไร
ขอสวัสดีปีใหม่ด้วยภาพลายเส้นของลูกชายค่ะ
