‘I’m a modern-day luddite’: Meet the students who don’t use laptops
(www.dazeddigital.com)
from faizalr@fedia.io to technology@lemmy.world on 18 Sep 03:56
https://fedia.io/m/technology@lemmy.world/t/2728138
from faizalr@fedia.io to technology@lemmy.world on 18 Sep 03:56
https://fedia.io/m/technology@lemmy.world/t/2728138
The vast majority of students rely on laptops – and increasingly AI – to help with their university work. But a small number are going analogue and eschewing tech almost entirely in a bid to re-engage their brains
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I do that but its actually because I just don’t own a laptop and don’t want to buy one
Good for these kids. It’s a wise move!
That’s not what being a Luddite means
What does it mean then?
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/ab26933a-3797-4fbe-bdc2-feb81dda4399.webp">
He doesn’t seem very opposed to technology if he just goes straight home and doomscrolls
Are laptops really new technology to this kid if they’ve existed for his entire life?
$5 says it’s the “what’s a computer” kid from like a decade ago
“‘laptop’? it’s like a foldable but with half a screen??? and why is this keyboard broken, all the keys move?? how do I get an overwatch skin for it?? this is awful”
What a pedantic (and incorrect) take. Luddite can absolutely mean a person who purposefully avoids technology.
I’m sure I’ll get downvoted, but words can have multiple meanings and take on new meanings over time. Luddite is one of them. This article used it properly.
And anyone who disagrees with me can kiss my linguistics-degree-holding ass.
This is just avoiding the issue of having a short attention span.
Reminds me a lot of fellow classmates at my college who I discovered hate online classes because they say they can’t stay focused. So I don’t know how these “luddite” students plan to not get distracted when their job will most likely involve sitting in front of a computer.
I used to be easily distracted during online lectures yet had little difficulty following live lectures. It’s a fundamentally different experience, for whatever reason.
Also, the attention span has to be trained. And training it by working without a distracting computer sounds like a good idea.
I had the opposite experience, in person lectures drove me crazy as an unmedicated adhder, I’d be constantly chiming in and answering every question, my legs would be going wild under the table and I’d usually be just doing something else most of the time on the laptop. Online is much much easier to listen to and get invested in at your own time and pace because you can be eating or vaping while watching at 3AM or whatever and nobody gives a fuck
And how do you improve your attention span? By not having distractions available to you.
That sounds like he’s just not going to be well adjusted for the modern world where distractions will always be available. You don’t get over a love for a drug by making it unavailable, you get over it by having it everywhere, yet refusing it.
Attention span is cultivated, so is discipline. Reading about it is theory. Forcing oneself to do it, in increasingly sizable chunks, is praxis. I'm talking to myself here, too.
I absolutely love doing everything on the computer and can’t stand writing things by hand anymore. I’ve always heard simply by listening — instructors that force students to take notes were the worst because I would be too busy scrambling to write things down than actually listen and learn.
All of this goes out the window when it comes to foreign language though. I have to do everything old school: textbooks, pencil and paper, and if it’s a non-Latin character set I have to write the same characters over and over for hours.
For me I always wrote as i listened, still do often.
I rarely read the notes back.
'Revision' was just writing a whole new set of notes either from memory or from sources.
Then, never reading that set of notes.
Massive waste of paper and ink, but it's part of how i pay attention.
Most of my lecturers did provide printouts of all the slides, but I'd scribble all over them anyway.
Typing doesn't do the same thing at all for me.
I always take notes, listening shmistening it’s in one ear out the other, reading and writing helps me absorb information much easier, but I never did take notes when we were forced to use pen and paper, once we switched to laptops in high school, I could note down every word because typing is so much easier and faster.
I realized that when i tried to cheat on a test in school, that when i prepared a cheat sheet, i didn't actually need it afterwards - that only applies when writing the sheet by hand.
I really like this idea, but its difficult. when I used to attend uni it was more feasible but in 2025 all of my courses require online submissions, discussion, and materials. I can rent a laptop from the library, but only for 4 hours at a time. Of course there are desktops, but realistically if you want work from home you need a computer/tablet. That said I still just borrow my partners and haven’t bothered to buy one.
Going to school with a book instead of a phone is way more enjoyable.
i think its mostly AI that was the problem. we all used notebooks even last decade, you just cant concentrate with a laptop writing notes.
i much prefered writing notes on paper but i’d cry if i had to write an essay by hand, i hope those students aren’t torturing themselves this way
Not using a laptop because it can distract you is like shrinking your stomach because you can’t stop eating. Oh, wait…
Stop eating? As if I would grasp the concept of moderation.
Good for them
Title is misleading:
The second sentence contradicts the first:
then
So basically he’s not taking a laptop in to the lecture hall to take notes etc but is still using a computer to complete his work. Which makes sense as pen & paper in that environment is way more practical anyway.
All assignments are submitted electronically now, and if he’s in philosophy, he will also have to follow formatting requirements like font, font size, margins, and spacing. Practically, he’s doing as much as he is allowed off-computer.
They’re still using computers to do their university work and submit it though. It’s more about them not using a laptop in a lecture hall and using pen and paper instead. That’s not really a big deal considering that’s probably what most people were doing anyway up until relatively recently.