cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27501866
source: @n7gifmdn@lemmy.ca
2 generations. Gen X and Millennials are both of the right age to properly understand computers.
To put a finer point on it, it specifically the younger Gen Xers and older Millennials. That’s the “one” generation this post describes.
I'm on the older end of Gen Xers and at least the nerdier half of us not only know how to use computers, but we've seen the whole evolution of home computing since the Altair. We know in a way you never can why goto is considered harmful.
And on the other end of that, my niece and nephew are just on the cusp between millennial and gen z and they grew up playing games on Windows 95, 98, and XP. I think both Gen X and Millennials in their entirety fit the bill.
I know younger millennials and older gen Z and they both can use computers just fine. The oldest Gen Z are nearly 30 now.
It's not just younger Gen X. I'm oldish Gen X and loads of us were programming computers for fun from the late 1970s on. By the early 1990s you couldn't really avoid computers, and you couldn't use them without at least a basic level of understanding. By that time many of us had been using them for a decade or more. It's those who grew up without computers (before they became common) and those who grew up with iPhones that have a problem with tech.
Boomers: analogue phones and rolodexes. The nerdy ones knew Morse Code, though.
Gen X: grew up with picture books on assembly language programming
Millennials: know how to use Microsoft Word and Photoshop. Perhaps can unfuck Windows Registry keys if needed.
GenZ: “What’s a file?”
Saved that link. I'm about to end high school and i wanna do CS at uni next.
I've trained a lot of 18-22 y/os in the last 10 years and they are fine. Let's not become the boomers please...
Yeah, being dumb is hardware-agnostic. As some guy put it, "being stupid isn't a big deal anymore; some of my best friends are stupid".
It just stunlocks me a little bit as younger people have been around tech their whole life, unlike boomers, who were born before computers.
"been around tech their whole life" more like they have a locked down phone, locked down game console and MAYBE a desktop computer. It's too rounded out and consumer friendly now, you never have to peek under the hood.
it depends on the person. some zoomers are great with tech, hardware and software. others aren't. same goes for every generation. this reeks of the "haha let's shit on the younger generations" millennials have been mad about for years
Sorry, but its different this time. A much smaller chunk of gen z is good with tech, and most of them struggle with basic concepts (like filesystems). Saying this as a gen z person.
I disagree. I work IT for a living. I fix a lot of devices for gen z but don't often have to educate them on software. the amount of people 30+ who don't realize I as a random IT worker can't magically reset their yahoo password is insane.
Classic Lemmy Linux users forgetting that access to a PC and the knowledge to use it is a privilege not afforded to most unlike budget smartphones which cost less than the keyboard you own and are becoming more and more of a necessity than a trivial toy as it was when we first had them.
Lamenting generational failures is a pastime reserved for the old to soothe their egos. If you actually care, understand the systemic reasons why young people are less tech literate and take the steps to reach them.
To be fair, PDFs suck and the only software that handles them well is paid and proprietary
I've long said that I believe Millennials, as a generational cohort, are the best at typing that ever has been and ever will be. We were the first generation where adults really recognized that we'd be using computers our entire lives and took steps to teach typing. But, so much more importantly than that, we socialized through typing. I had typing classes in school, sure, but I learned to type quickly on AIM and in chat rooms.
Earlier generations only really typed for business or school. Later generations socialize over phones, so they, too, only use a physical keyboard for school and business.
I guess I should amend this theory to include all tech literacy in general.
There wasn't voice Chat in early games and you had to type fast to communicate and not die.
I teach high school and it's amazing to me how much these kids don't know how to use a computer. They can click a button and get to tik-tok. They read the first answer the AI gives them. That's it.
I keep telling them they should be better at computers than an old lady like me.
They read the first answer the AI gives them.
This is why Im terrified of my parents learning how to use ChatGPT.
My dad still falls for satire. It took us years to convince him the tabloids in supermarkets about Bigfoot weren't real.
He's not a smart guy. But He's still my dad though.
The only reason we have to rotate the PDFs is because they can't figure out how to use the sheet-feed scanner. Theres a picture embossed in the thing! And a sign that we put next to the button!
As an IT worker.. it's so depressing that our education systems don't really train people for work. At all.
"sure, they grew up with technology, they'll be fine"
They grew up in the age of the smartphone and apps. They never had to learn to understand technology.
I have to teach fresh college graduates how to navigate network folders. It's wild.
The thing is most of us cant even rotate a pdf, but we do know how to learn it.
My son types with his pointers.. he turns 14 this month, and has already learned how to type in school. 🤦🏼♂️ Types exactly like my dad, only minus the thick glasses.
Correction: there are 10 generations that know technology inside and out. IYKYK.
There's one generation between boomers and zoomers? I'm pretty confident I know who it is you're forgetting.
Yes you are a monolith block when born in a certain age group.
Nothing wrong with that statement apparently.
Divide and conquer.
Just helped build my 12 year old cousin his first computer and was forced into putting Windows on it. Now, I get that it's important that he at least understand what the "normal OS" is, but I did want to put at least Mint or something on there. Zoomers and Alpha really don't know how to navigate even the basics, though, and this kid was no exception.
Well, technically I wanted to put something based on Arch but even I know that's a bad idea for a sink or swim computer moment.
Yeah, schools do not have tech literacy classes and it's devastating, this is why
I was pretty worthless with computers at 16 too.
Now I’m almost 40 and I’m working In the industry and slowly getting worse again
you know the computer thing is it plugged in?
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