I think kids tend to do it in traditionally adult spaces just as a buffer from the extreme criticism that can exist online. Saying, "someone wrote a cpu guide" has a lot less impact than saying "a teenage girl wrote a cpu guide". I don't think the individual behind the content is all that important and we have to recognize that we only ever see the kids that tell us they're kids, i could be an 8 year old prodigy for all anyone knows.
Praise is nice, especially when you're young. Stating your young has to dramatically increase praise to criticism ratio in adult spaces like this. No one would care on reddit but we're all old men here lol so the kids stand out. It can be overdone if the person makes the content about themselves instead of the content, or intentionally starts controversy. But this is fine.
Since she states she won a hackathon she's probably a very gifted and motivated young person who is still surrounded with adults telling her she's great, that doesn't mean they're wrong. And sooner or later the adults begin drastically raising the bar for praising you so it's cool for her to get her last couple years out of it.
I think this approach is pretty alien to me. When I was a kid, I hid the fact I was young on the internet because I wanted to be taken seriously and not be dismissed or treated with kids gloves due to my age. I didn't like that I could show a website I built to someone in life and have them say 'oh wow good job kid'. Internet is brutal but usually pretty honest.
Encouraging youth is a good thing. But I suspect that the youth most in need of encouragement are the sort of kids who wouldn't even have the courage to post something to HN. Maybe I'm wrong. But I think that's why these things rub me the wrong way.
These things always strike me as merely fishing for praise, while trying to stifle legitimate criticism, which is unfair to everyone else, old and young alike.
Agreed. Honestly, I thought it was always about humble brag. For example: Look at me I'm a 5 yr old cat living in a $2M loft in Soho while I go to school in MIT riding my private helicopter. I'm such a success at cat.
Praise is nice, especially when you're young. Stating your young has to dramatically increase praise to criticism ratio in adult spaces like this. No one would care on reddit but we're all old men here lol so the kids stand out. It can be overdone if the person makes the content about themselves instead of the content, or intentionally starts controversy. But this is fine.
Since she states she won a hackathon she's probably a very gifted and motivated young person who is still surrounded with adults telling her she's great, that doesn't mean they're wrong. And sooner or later the adults begin drastically raising the bar for praising you so it's cool for her to get her last couple years out of it.