I’m a big fan of letting children around your computer. No, they aren’t going to become zombies and yes, they need to go outside and play. The computer isn’t just something that needs to be relegated to how video games are treated (and I think there is some value there too). At any rate, I’m a fan of computers and of children being introduced to them. Our son is constantly around computers because of the type of work my wife and I do. We work with information and process that information for ourselves and for others (in our case students) on a computer. One of the amazing things that computers do is allow copies to be made and disseminated at a low cost. An e-mail is relatively cheap. Printing copies is only a little more expensive (and don’t even get me started on the benefits of editing). However, despite my best efforts to be a fan of children and technology I recently encountered a problem.
So… a while ago I ranted about backing up data. No, our son didn’t spill orange juice all over the keyboard or hit the disk drive with a baseball bat (he’s not even 1 yet). What he does do with computers is bang on the keyboard with his little hands. It’s very similar to what he does with a piano. This pounding is generally harmless as long as it doesn’t get physically out of hand. This week though our son, magically, hit a combination of keyboard shortcuts that did some amazing things. He erased my most important folder, stopped my constantly running application from storing the data in the cloud, and destroyed my ability to log in normally. While I’ve fixed the computer I still haven’t found the files. I’m currently talking with the backup company and weighing my options. Perhaps this is just a lesson learned. Still I persevere: our son will learn the skills a computer requires.