Cheat codes

I was reading an assigned poetry book for a college course several years ago. One of the poems began like this:

Up up down down left right left right B A start. 

The professor, a gen Xer, and I, a Xennial, were the only ones in the class of early Gen Zers who got the reference. That sequence is the cheat code to the game Contra on the original Nintendo system.

When I was a kid, everyone knew that code. It passed from gamer to gamer, like a piece of juicy gossip. The author of the poetry book is a Gen Xer who grew up in North Carolina. I had no idea how prevalent this code was so far from my home town. Although my generation's childhood was more sheltered than, say, the Boomers, we still grew up before the Internet was a thing. That means this cheat code spread due to the strength of social capital.

I'm not sure the same phenomenon can happen with today's kids, especially in a post-COVID world. But I'm not sure that it matters. 

The other day I finally gave in to my eight-year-old son's pleading and played Minecraft with him. His depth of knowledge of the game exceeds the cumulative knowledge of all the games I have ever played. He knows how to craft and enchant complex weapons, how to build portals, and he beats me in combat with ease, all while calling me a "newb."

He's played online with a friend a handful of times, otherwise he has learned all of this on his own. When he's not playing Minecraft, he's watching videos of YouTubers playing Minecraft and learning from them.

When I was a kid, playing video games was a social event. You learned how to beat Don Flamenco (dodge his big uppercut, then alternate left and right hits to the head until he falls) by playing with friends. My son learns these things on his own. While he is probably lacking in the development of social skills, his technical knowledge has far surpassed any level I could ever have attained.

I definitely worry about the decline of social capital, and if this is evidence of that, but I also wonder if it even matters. I wonder if technology has made it so he'll be able to solve problems on his own. 

I still think social skills are important for mental health. Having a community reduces the odds of being a mass shooter or being seduced by radical ideology. But I'm no longer convinced you need it for professional success.