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I feel like the people I interact with irl don't even know how to boot from a USB. People here probably know how to do some form of coding or at least navigate a directory through the command line. Stg I would bet money on the average person not even being able to create a Lemmy account without assistance.

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[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 34 points 2 days ago

Don't worry, my fair tech-literate maiden. I, a tech-dyslexic, am here to bring down the collective IQ and make the chamber echo less. You can thank me later, for adding some much needed intellectual diversity to the mix.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 13 points 1 day ago

I lived in a tech echo chamber until I was in my 30s. This is because my dad is a baby boomer computer engineer who was working with computers since the 70s and we always had a computer at home (no consoles, just computers). First was a c64, we even briefly had a c128 (that didn't work) and then we got a 386 followed by pentium machines and we first hooked up to the internet in the 90s... and before the internet we went on dial up BBSes run by ultra nerds.

My dad still keeps up with tech and is probably better with computers than many recent CS graduates. It wasn't until I worked in tech support that I realized... Holy shit! There are people who have no idea their computers have directories! As in, if the shortcut isn't on their desktop, then their program might as well not exist.

Also one thing I learned that if you tell someone to go to a site and you spell the URL to them, then 99.9% of the time they will Google it, because they don't know what an address bar is.

I used to think those 'how to use a computer' courses in college were a giant waste of time (and an easy A for people like us) but I realize that these people could absolutely benefit from something like that.

And that is when I was working with people who had laptops mostly. When I worked in mobile tech support... fuck me! Do you realize that for a sizable chunk of the population the only computer they have is their smart phone? Those people are far, far worse. When I worked in mobility we were not allowed to hang up on clients for any reason (it was grounds for immediate termination) but at least a few times a week I had to deal with a client who did not know how to hang up their phone! No joke. They were accustomed to the other person hanging up and they didn't know how to do it!

This is doubly frustrating when those people are using flip phones rhat have a clear hang up button on them.

So yeah, acknowledging we are in a bubble is a good thing. But it isn't a bad thing to hang out with fellow tech nerds either.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This is true but I ultimately don't care.

Is there any social media site that isn't an echo chamber? They're designed that way on purpose in most cases.

There are enough forums catering to idiots. I appreciate the better moderation, tech savviness, and lack of tolerance for right wing BS on Lemmy.

[-] Reachtea@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Lemmy users actively like echo chambers

Oh my God lmao

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Link me to your wonderful social media utopia that isn't an echo chamber.

Facebook - Echo chamber, actively manipulated to make you be the most pissed off and spend the most time on it as possible and click on customized ads

Instagram - Echo chamber, specifically tuned to make you feel jealous of others and buy shit covered in the ads

Nextdoor - Basically Facebook but with a "locals only" aesthetic

LinkedIn - An echo chamber tuned for people who nod vigorously to everything the CEO says in the "all-hands" meeting

Threads - Echo chamber, tuned toward people to click on ads just like other Meta properties

YouTube - Practically a right-wing echo chamber, you can watch a video about cute puppies and with no watch history turned on you'll be on Infowars-like content within 2 degrees of Kevin Bacon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon)

Twitter (I'll continue to have this as my only deadname) - A right-wing echo chamber full of bots including "MechaHitler"

Bluesky - An echo chamber similar to Twitter before it was musked up

Mastodon - A left-wing echo chamber (similarly to Lemmy it's decentralized, and similarly to Lemmy it is somewhat moderated in a way that rids you of most right-wing / hitler-focused media)

Truth social - I mean, obviously a right-wing echo chamber

Reddit - An algorithmically tweaked astroturf echo chamber full of bots and serving up a daily AI training ground that gets more right-wing as time passes

Hacker news - A libertarian-leaning tech-literate echo chamber

TikTok - An algorithmically tweaked, purposefully addictive echo chamber that shows you what you want to see so you volunteer your money and your data

Shall I go on?

I don't just allow "both sides" to come into my living room and have a debate with me about whether or not trans people should be able to exist in peace or whether or not minorities should be exterminated. I similarly don't waste time "debating" them on social media or reading their posts. Tolerance of intolerant people just so we can "cover both sides" isn't a high priority of mine on social media, and it's also not available anywhere anyway.

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[-] Alloi@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

you are 100% correct, however, the longer im here, the more tech literate i become, the easier it becomes for me to explain it to others, and thus, the fediverse grows. word of mouth to those willing to take the plunge.

you cant force people to learn something, but being able to sell it convincingly helps, especially if you know what you are talking about, and arent abbrasive or judgemental.

linux community / privacy communities rock here.

also general conversation feels more honest and constructive. instead of the whole "WeLl AcTuAlLy!" type of shit you get on reddit. it happens, but nowhere nearly as much.

also, way less censorship. comparing feeds from lemmy to reddit, is like apples to oranges.

this feels like a much more human space to me.

The way I look at it is, the more echo chambers you are in and out of, the more complete of a picture you can get as a whole.

Yes, Lemmy is a certain kind of echo chamber. But you can't really be part of an online community these days that doesn't tend toward becoming one.

You just have to diversify to keep the thread. And Lemmy is a very important part of that diversification for me.

[-] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 days ago

Better than the generally illiterate echo chambers in other parts of my daily life.

[-] iridebikes@lemmy.world 46 points 2 days ago

The average person can't even download the right authenticator app when prompted. The average person can't type their password the same way two times in a password change field. The average person does not know how to plug monitors and peripherals into a docking station.

Whatever you think the average skill level is? It's lower than that. By a lot.

[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago

I work electronics in walmart and you would be shocked at the questions I get on things like laptops from collage age kids. A very frequent one is 'if it isn't touchscreen then how do you work it'. One of my favorite ever was a girl who went down the line asking can you type on them because i need to be able to type. Every time I told her you can type on all laptops but she just kept asking.

I know a huge part of it is some kind of 'location bias' because the kids who know something about computers are shopping online or at microcenter or something.

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 15 points 2 days ago

We're also two generations into those trained to use tablets and phones over all. Locked down, locked out, one USB port and that's for charging

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[-] AeroGlen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Once upon a time I worked for a company where I would be called with requests like "I can't work because my computer is broken". I would go and ask "Where is your computer" and the employee would point to her monitor. I would then press the power button on the monitor and they looked at me like I was a magician. I would point to the actually PC under the desk and say "btw THIS is your computer" and they would stare with confusion and disbelief.

[-] iridebikes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Ha! That's funny because I have a department here with some real... Non thinkers who do the same stuff. They'll come in, one monitor doesn't come on. Normal computer stuff. Especially with docking stations. I power cycle the monitor and it comes right on. They swear they did that and that I must just have the magic touch. I even ask them before I walk over whether theyve done that and they are adamant that they did.

I just dont get it. Surely my value in this world is not limited to making sure people get the right authenticator app and pressing monitor power buttons. Smdh.

[-] rustyricotta@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 2 days ago

About the app thing. The other day I had to download from the Google play store. The app you search for is NEVER the first app in the resulting list. The first slot is always sponsor slot. I consider myself quite tech literate and I have accidentally installed that sponsored app because I searched for an app (with very specific search terms) and without thought selected the first. Google is one step away from that trope of the moving X button to close the ad. It's infuriating. Now imagine a tech illiterate trying to get an app.

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[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago
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[-] SektorC@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago

I am not a programmer, not a geek, but just the ability to recognize problems and then find and implement the solution gives me the aura of an omniscient wizard. Simple things like: We have an automatic drying machine for work clothes here, but we haven't been able to use it for YEARS! A Google search, manual found. We now have the third coffee machine. They always break because of the chalky water. When we descale, the display still lights up: If I really go through the instructions in the manual step by step, it suddenly works. And that's before we get to any multiple screens or Excel problems with the sum function.

If you can interpret your car's manual, you're a hero. If you can also get hold of the vehicle's repair manual, then you're a wizard. And if you understand the sum function in Excel, then you are a danger to your supervisor.

[-] Fleur_@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago
[-] lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de 54 points 3 days ago

Relevant xkcd: Average familiarity

You severly overestimate the average persons tech literacy even when you try to correct for it. Booting from USB is already a really advanced topic.

Though creating a lemmy account is not that complex. Typically all you have to do is fill out a form on the websiten instructions included. The problem there is not the tech literacyn but the willingness of the people to even interact with systems they don't know, like finding a home instance or understanding the concept of the fediverse. Most people could create a lemmy account, though also most people wouldn't.

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[-] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 336 points 3 days ago

The average person is becoming MORE technologically illiterate, not less. The era of growing up with a home computer that required fiddling and dial up, etc is over. People grow up with phones and iPads and kids come to school not knowing how to use a mouse.

[-] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 102 points 3 days ago

And for that reason alone I built a Linux PC for my 11 year old and told him to go to town figuring things out. (I supervise everything of course). Dude has been doing fantastic so far.

[-] Windex007@lemmy.world 67 points 3 days ago

If he doesn't solve problems with chmod 777 then he's already more competent than the ops teams at my fortune 500 company

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[-] haloduder@thelemmy.club 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This is where everyone from the old internet retreated to.

All we need now are instances that allow freedom of speech.

[-] DrivebyHaiku@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

Eh, I have seen enough of what happens to places that favour so called "freedom of speech" or no moderation over valuing comfort of vulnerable users. There's plenty of places that exist that have "freedom of speech". Rather than making this place just like those places why not just go to a pre-existing one or start your own?

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[-] DrivebyHaiku@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

On the topic of echo chambers - At what point did we decide that a bunch of people over a wide geographical area with similar interests and a common code of standards/preferences of civility... Is a bad thing?

It's kind of how social clubs exist irl.

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[-] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Probably true but the amount of tech posts fade into insignificance compared to the 60 - 70% Trump/Musk did/says this stupid thing posts.
I know, and it's been going on for years.
Not everyone is american or wants to read about them 20 times per day.

[-] nuachtan@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

not everyone who IS American wants to read it all the tome either.

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[-] JandroDelSol@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

i don't claim to have much computer knowledge, but people look at me like I have two heads when I suggest using a YouTube client without ads or download Blokada. Hell, the amount of people who don't use Firefox (or a fork of it) and uBlock Origing are insane

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[-] glitchdx@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

Why would normal people know how to boot from usb? Shit, if you clean the ads out of a windows start menu, a normie will think you're a wizard for doing the inconceivable.

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[-] volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

Me being like "what does it mean to boot from a USB 👁️👄👁️"

Fr though, the account thing is not too far off. When I made my first account (when the Reddit thing happened, it was on lemm.ee) I absolutely didn't understand jack shit and what I was doing. I was very ready to throw in the towel. I didn't understand how to add communities, how to search for communities, anything. I still have problems grasping the whole server thing. (Or what a server is.)

So a lot of times I feel excluded here, or at least like an unallowed invader, or a feral maniac just running around, throwing stuff at a wall and looking for what sticks. But that's ok. I'm happy I'm still here and one day I might even know what a command line is.

[-] m3t00@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

not sure how most do anything. echo? most need a button says 'click here'. can drag a horse to water...

[-] waitaminute@midwest.social 76 points 3 days ago

Not me. I am so out of the loop here. But I loved the social aspect of reddit and was on it long enough to know how great it was when it was young. Hoping to find that here.

[-] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 55 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Honestly, Lemmy does have a lot of the early Reddit vibes. Reddit was largely started as a programming forum, and this user base definitely has a lot of similar traits.

And if you start using user tags, (not native to Lemmy, but most clients have the functionality added,) you’ll realize just how active users are, and how tight-knit the comments sections really are. I often end up finding myself responding to the same 10-20 users.

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[-] RedIce25@lemmy.world 122 points 3 days ago

Something that amazes me that I often see is tech literate people wastly over estimating the tech literacy of an average person. Any amount of tech support would tell you that most people barley know the basics and doesn't care for anything else.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago

The average person probably couldn't figure it out because they don't care to. If you tell someone "Make a Lemmy account"ntheyll be confused. If you tell someone "Make an account at https://lemmy.world/" they'll figure it out. It's like if you give someone a puzzle but it's boring and they don't care to solve it, they're probably not gonna take the time to solve it.

[-] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 days ago

Yes. And everyone thinks they are the smartest human ever because of it. As you can tell by the responses here lol

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[-] ConstantPain@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago

Not my fault. Reddit pushed me here!

[-] GrackleBirb@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

It's been like this in some online communities since mIRC was popular. mIRC was not user friendly and people had to know how to access it, change servers, use commands. This seemed simple to me back then but most of my friends could not be bothered.

With Meta's slop, TikTok, and Reddit being so easy people rarely step outside those bubbles anymore.

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[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Where's the meme of the wojack at the party standing in the corner saying "They don't even know how to boot from USB"

[-] CtrlAltDefeat@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 days ago

Anonymity and the general public do not mix. Barrier to entry is all we have left.

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[-] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 19 points 3 days ago

I don't think it's an echo chamber, I think you are wrong about that. The proof is that I am disagreeing with you right now. Therefore, not an echo chamber.

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[-] Zozano@aussie.zone 18 points 3 days ago

For the past month I've been developing a NixOS platform for local businesses.

I keep overestimating how much people know. It's infuriating trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I don't need to explain why it's amazing, just that it is, and it works. I feel like I'm Mugatu talking to Zoolander at times.

Even if I could perfectly analogise what a declarative operating system is, it wouldn't matter to a client because they don't understand how a non NixOS machine works.

Though, the worst part is trying to explain to someone, who is "happy with Windows" why they should not be.

How the fuck do people in 2025 not fucking loathe Windows? There's fucking ads in the start menu. There's like 4 different places to change settings. The systems bloat and slow to a crawl as the OS ages.

It's fucked.

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[-] webpack@ani.social 27 points 3 days ago

makes sense, since Linux users (me) are drawn to foss projects like moths to a light

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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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Showerthoughts

36316 readers
821 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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