[bjones22]

Not OP, but I'd like to chime in here. Getting good with computers is often best done by spending a large amount of time on computers. For many of "us" that involved teenage years playing MMORPGs, general programming, IRC, etc.

Despite a certain illusion of sociality involved in these activities, I am of the opinion that they are uniquely anti-social, and thus were in one way or another a deprivation of my childhood.

Sure I now have a much higher earnings potential. But was it worth it? I don't know. And thus I'm in no position to recommend it for anyone else.

Theirs probably a balance in it somewhere. And you can be damned sure if I'm ever a parent I'm going to tread lightly between "my child should learn to program, go to college, etc." and "my child needs to live a happy, normal, life".

That why it's a "for better or for worse" mentality in my opinion. We don't really know which is best do we?

[trentmb]

> Despite a certain illusion of sociality involved in these activities, I am of the opinion that they are uniquely anti-social

Makes me wonder about my 'choices'- did my anti-social tendencies arise from my interest in programming (and math, etc.), or did it drive me to them?

[farnsworth]

I think about the same thing quite a lot. I remember having anti-social tendencies from a really young age. No idea why, I was just rarely interested in other kids. So I spent a lot of time dicking around with my computer. That paid off, but I got a little better with social skills later on after working at it. I always wonder how my life would be different if I didn't have all the computer escapism and worked on social skills earlier.

[jwdunne]

This is exactly my education path. The great thing was my MMO opened up both the client and server for development so I learned to program using GScript. God awful language in hindsight but addictive. I eventually spent more time developing for the game than I did playing it. That was god awful too since you had to pay to develop content for their game!

[masterminding]

I'm the opposite. Got all my social out the way early and am eager to be anti-social and increase my earnings potential. Greener grass theory.

[radlad]

This is exactly what I was getting at, thanks. :)