Twice recently I’ve been lucky – nay priveliged – to travel on a train from London Blackfriars to Gatwick Airport. Both times I’ve been sitting amid or near older teenage girls (the first time they were sisters, one doing A-levels, one GCSEs and both were hilariously funny), and both times these various girls have been dissecting in detail the pros and cons of specific models and network options of mobile phones. Geeky? I’d say so. But I’m sure they think they’re very cool knowing precisely which features the Nokia 85164311ba comes with that the Samsung 65727437gs lacks.
Should I be surprised? Not according to a new report which suggests that it is women who are the true inhabitants of the internet and are even encroaching into the true male bastion of computer gaming.
Come one, come all I say. Not least if it encourages more girls (and people in general) to take up maths and science subjects at school. Of course this requires curriculum setters to make this leap and tie the “fun” of nerddom with the practical application of science & maths as academic subjects. I assume (although I fear “hope” might be more accurate) that already in primary school maths books there are problems such as “Indira is on the Pink network and pays 5p a minute to call landlines; Steven is on the H2O network and pays 17p a minute to call non H2O mobiles. If each of the friends calls… ” etc. etc.. you get the point. I hope teachers and text book writers are getting it as well.