I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens

Posted by arch_deluxe 9/10/2025

I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens(sethpurcell.com)

1185 points | 392 commentspage 5

cm2187 9/10/2025|

You can say the same thing of the long text that are often next to the exhibit in museums. I don't get the point of trying to read some essay while standing in the middle of a crowd pushing. You might as well read the wiki page in the comfort of your home and focus on the actual exhibit in the museum.

gorfian_robot 9/10/2025|

I usually want some interpretive signage, but there is a sweet spot on length.

jermberj 9/10/2025||

The author is applying a universal prescription to ALL museums based on a single experience at a single museum.

paxys 9/10/2025||

If you want to take your kid to a museum then...go to a museum. The Franklin Institute, which they went to, is not a museum. I have the Liberty Science Center near me, which is also not a museum. They have interactive exhibits, planeteriums, and yes, screens. All this is by design, and it is great.

ideasman42 9/10/2025||

This has also been going in in Libraries in Australia. Go to the library - toddlers Rush to play on the computer.

I wouldn't mind so much if it was available for those who wanted it but in my experience it tends to be central and noisy - difficult to avoid if that's not what you're after.

Aeolun 9/10/2025||

I’m going to call out the science museum in Manchester, and the one in Osaka (Japan) as two of the best ones I’ve been to. Manchester had a whole section of old machines, and a working mainframe computer, and Osaka had a planetarium that was nearly the height of the entire building.

winux-arch 9/14/2025||

Come to Germany or Norway! Im comparison to the USA museums there are not full of screen. I can recommend "Deutsches Technik Museum or "Oslo technical Museum".

schwartzworld 9/10/2025||

The museum of science here in Boston got a lot less interactive and a lot more screens after Covid. I get that it’s cheaper to develop new exhibits when they are all digital, but my kids aren’t even interested in it. They want to get their hands on stuff.

peteforde 9/11/2025||

Cory Doctorow wrote one of my favourite sci-fi novels, "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" a few decades (!) ago about a battle between people maintaining the classic rides vs people trying to replace those rides with VR experiences.

It holds up.

CHB0403085482 9/11/2025||

Best museums are the ones where the old stuff still works ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MTOz7eOvmg

Like the Tank Museum in Bovington.

robertlagrant 9/11/2025|

Sophie Winkleman (Big Suze from Peep Show) did a good speech on this[0].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V6nucKFK88

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