Smoke alarm battery

[jblock9907]

I needed a new battery for one of my smoke alarms. They are the square 9 volt. Went to Walmart and asked for a transistor battery. I got the deer in the headlights look for about 15 seconds. So I had to explain that I needed a small square battery. It is truly amazing what todays youth and young adults don't know. 

[wombatie]

I went into a shop and asked the girl where they kept the doilies,     I spent the next 10mins. wondering why on earth I had asked.

Marg

[WayneMahler]

Not going to say much. Future leaders  

[kywoodmaster]

46 minutes ago, WayneMahler said:

Not going to say much. Future leaders  

But on the bright side hopefully we will be dead before they take over completely.

[meflick]

While I am old enough to know what a "transistor" battery is,  I have kids who are in the "group" of future leaders who are probably brighter and more intelligent then me but that said, I don't think they would know what a "transistor" battery is if I asked.  However, if you asked for a 9 volt battery, or a battery for a smoke alarm they would know as they have been trained to switch out the alarms in the smoke detectors.   However, I am sure we have never taught them they were once called "transistor" batteries because for the most part, that is no longer their primary use I(and thus no longer commonly referred to as a transistor battery) because transistor radios have been replaced by many devices in their lifetime. If they want to listen to a radio, they probably open an app on their phone.   Is it their fault that no one taught them what a "transistor" battery was?  Like many things, words and terminology fall out of favor as the world evolves and changes. In the same vein, they could use a lot of common terminology known today by the younger age group that most of us would have no clue what they were talking about.  Think of all the things and technology that has changed in just the last 25 years - my two kiddos are under that age, 22 and 23. I don't expect them to know everything that has changed before they were even born.   Sorry, but I just hate to see us bash the younger generation when it is us perhaps who have failed to teach them things like this.  

Edited April 30, 2019 by meflick

[dgman]

I totally agree with Melanie. I am old enough to know what a transistor radio was, but they haven’t Been around for decades! If you needed a 9 volt battery, why didn’t you ask for a 9 volt battery? In fact, why didn’t you just walk up to the battery rack where they keep all the batteries?

[JimErn]

7 hours ago, WayneMahler said:

Not going to say much. Future leaders  

I remember my parents saying the same thing about my generation.  They did not understand the 60's at all.

 

[Heli_av8tor]

There’s a funny video of a couple teens who were given twenty minutes to phone a friend using a rotary dial phone.

They failed the challenge. 

[Foxfold]

I was raised in the era of 'big bands', when the likes of the Beatles came along my father was horrified and said he'd never heard such and awful noise and didn't understand why it would appeal to anyone on the planet.

[bobscroll]

I had a plastic Gallon can in My hand a few years ago and asked the young teen fill it with a gallon of fuel...He looked at Me totaly confused, I had to say to him it held a GALLON of petrol please fill it!

Bob 

[Fab4]

It is truly amazing  what the younger generation doesn't know
I have to agree with Melanie when she said "Who's at fault"
Can any of you remember why you joined The Village?
I hazard to guess it's because YOU didn't know how to go about doing certain things
and came here to learn how to
Let's cut the kids some slack, we were all there at some point and time
When something like this battery calling comes up and the kid doesn't know
why not become the teacher and show/tell him/her about it - wouldn't take too much time
and the outcome would be a win win for all involved
There are some pretty smart ones out there
Stepping down for my soapbox now
Fab4

 

[kmmcrafts]

8 hours ago, meflick said:

While I am old enough to know what a "transistor" battery is,  I have kids who are in the "group" of future leaders who are probably brighter and more intelligent then me but that said, I don't think they would know what a "transistor" battery is if I asked.  However, if you asked for a 9 volt battery, or a battery for a smoke alarm they would know as they have been trained to switch out the alarms in the smoke detectors.   However, I am sure we have never taught them they were once called "transistor" batteries because for the most part, that is no longer their primary use I(and thus no longer commonly referred to as a transistor battery) because transistor radios have been replaced by many devices in their lifetime. If they want to listen to a radio, they probably open an app on their phone.   Is it their fault that no one taught them what a "transistor" battery was?  Like many things, words and terminology fall out of favor as the world evolves and changes. In the same vein, they could use a lot of common terminology known today by the younger age group that most of us would have no clue what they were talking about.  Think of all the things and technology that has changed in just the last 25 years - my two kiddos are under that age, 22 and 23. I don't expect them to know everything that has changed before they were even born.   Sorry, but I just hate to see us bash the younger generation when it is us perhaps who have failed to teach them things like this.  

Having a 22, 20, and 16 year olds.. I can't agree more with you.. i see it all over the internet about millennial kids.. 

While I suppose it's our fault for not teaching them dumb outdated stuff.. that really doesn't matter any more in this day and age.. why bother teaching them outdated stuff.. they need to be up on the 'New: stuff.. teaching old stuff is just a waist of time when they could be learning something important.. Now.. many kids have missed out on a lot of normal common sense type things because the parents didn't teach them.. it's not the kids fault at all.. the parents was the ones that didn't take time to teach it.. 

Did you all ever think about how they feel how stupid we older folks are when we have no idea about this app or that app.. or how to build a computer.. these youngsters may seem like they are lazy or not too bright.. but most all of these young kids can tech talk way over our heads..  

 

I probably can speak for most when I ask... Who do we go to when we can't figure out a computer or phone issue.. Most will say.. their kids / grand kids, LOL... I remember a day when I  didn't know the difference between a MB and a GB now days its GB or TB.. LOL  

Edited April 30, 2019 by kmmcrafts

[teachnlearn]

I'll go grab the Webster dictionary Oxford dictionary and look this stuff up. Wait a minute, it might be in the Britannica Encyclopedia, and if you jump into science there's the Vannorstads  Encyclopedia. RJF

[Rockytime]

I wouldn't know what a square battery either. Nine volt batteries are rectangular!

[teachnlearn]

50 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

I wouldn't know what a square battery either. Nine volt batteries are rectangular!

Then if you add 3 volts to make a 12 volt battery one side is 3 inches longer? RJF

[orangeman]

18 hours ago, wombatie said:

I went into a shop and asked the girl where they kept the doilies,     I spent the next 10mins. wondering why on earth I had asked.

Marg

did you mean dollies?

[savethebeer]

You should have asked for the battery that you tested by touching it with your tongue. See what they made of that info. Bob

[JimErn]

Common sense is hard to teach, I have one adult kid almost zero common sense and the other adult kid has plenty.

Common sense is just like wisdom, it comes from experience which usually means mistakes first.

What I see today is the kids being more and more isolated, internet friends, etc etc.  Socialization is losing ground, as is imagination in the real world.  You rarely see kids nailing skates to a board to see if it works, or modifying anything to see what happens.  Hell even the ability to follow instructions to put together something that comes in a kit form is rare anymore.

And forget my method of only reading the instructions when I am done, kids just will not puzzle it out for themselves for the most part.

[Heli_av8tor]

The trouble with common sense is that it's not so common.

Tom

[MTCowpoke22]

Here's a few things from my peanut gallery. I'm north of 35, and I have never heard that style of battery called a transistor battery. However, it you told me it was for your smoke alarm, I'd have it for you in milliseconds.

The thing about kids is that they all start out as a blank slate. However, some have more ability than others. Is it our fault for not teaching them, or their fault for not absorbing information? The reality is likely somewhere in between.

And common sense is the most nonsensical phrase ever used. Your so called common sense isn't always something someone else needs to know. A better word is common knowledge, which is an ever-changing concept. For kids my age, it was common knowledge for everyone to know how to use a rotary phone. However, I wouldn't ever expect my daughter to be have to know how as today it's very rare to find one still in use.

[JimErn]

A sort of adopted daughter we have was watching a movie with my wife, old movie.  The star used a rotary phone, while saying to someone else I'll dial it for you.

Pseudo daughter says, so that is where that expression comes from.

Y'all really had to turn a dial huh?

Then we explained about party lines, calling the operator to be connected long distance, too funny

[Jim McDonald]

I spent 20+ years in the consumer electronics business and dealt with everyone from 90 year olds down to teenagers (and the occasional wunderkid). If it plugged in, ran on batteries or solar--I have heard everything called by some other name.  (And for further confusion, we had a huge special order function)

The really old timers sometimes called that 9v battery an "A" battery. I read a reference book on batteries once (really a page turner ) and learned quite a bit about the sizing and naming for different sizes. Sometimes, there would be extremely minor differences and therefore another battery number.

[Roberta Moreton]

What makes me crazy is when the total charge is $4.23. You hand the clerk $5.25 and the hand the quarter back saying you gave me too much. I usually say, just type in the numbers, I don’t expect you to count. 

[Phantom Scroller]

I was only talking about teaching at schools these days when we were at school we were shown how to do woodwork, metalwork, welding, pottery, tech drawing and loads more. So where has that all gone now. It's no wonder they grow up with no knowledge of building and making things with tools and hands. Just saying. Roly