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.
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.
Maybe it’s just me but I feel like PDFs are significantly a less common part of life nowadays. Especially when it comes to having to edit one
Ah. You’re likely in the wrong job for it then. They are incredibly popular in any sort of digital paperwork job.
Just about every financial institution will use PDFs. Now editing PDFs, that’s slightly different (but only so slightly). Used to be you had to use a certain tech giant’s monolithic and expensive software to create/edit PDFs, but these days it’s second nature; maybe to the point that you’ve stopped noticing?
Trying to explain to a GenXer what Cobol is and to a Millennial what a Ring Light is and its practically impossible.
This meme is just ForwardsFromGeandma minus the 😂🤣😂🤣 emojis. If GenX/Millennials properly understood technology, they wouldn’t all be on Windows.
Pretty sure the only Cobol programmers left at this point are Gen X and older.
People are still on Windows because of massive industry momentum, and as the developers shift from being mostly Gen X and older millennials, to younger millennials and Gen z, things are getting progressively shittier. And it’s not only due to c-suite driven enshitification.
Pretty sure the only Cobol programmers left at this point are Gen X and older.
The funny thing is that we’ve got a ton of legacy hardware that still runs it, mostly in the public sector. But since GenX/Millennials avoided public jobs like the plague, what we’re seeing now are Boomers left to teach it to the incoming ranks of GenZs who can’t get a job in the dying Silicon Valley sector.
Millennial what a Ring Light is
Ain’t nobody don’t know what a fuckin’ ring light is.
The Xbox would give red ones of death. 😤
If GenX/Millennials properly understood technology, they wouldn’t all be on Windows.
By that metric the only generations that properly understand technology are gen alpha and boomers, since they’re the most likely to just own a phone and/or tablet and no windows desktop or laptop.
Maybe not understand it, but at least they’re able to use it competantly.
That being said, the main reason most millenials I know havn’t hopped to linux is because they don’t know about it, they have software that prevents them from using it or don’t have the time to set it up (I get its quick and easier now, but it still takes time(.
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?”
Well, at a low level they are still basically the same. x86 still starts in 16-bit real mode. Mice still use USB 1 from the 90s.
Mostly it’s just a lot faster and covered with more layers of abstraction.
That’s like saying that nerdy millenials invented mRNA vaccines. A very small percentage of the population worked on them while the rest weren’t even aware they existed for most of that time.
Really depends early GenZ was born in the late 90s/early 00s, and I can Attest that there’s quite a few who’re pretty good with computers. Mostly depends on what you got in touch with at home.
Now, Gen Alpha, I’d say, is on average proper fucked regarding computer knowledge.
Or, more to the point, the generational blocks don’t really matter much for this, but there’s certainly a declining aclemation with basic OS concepts.
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.
Idk, most likely its region/class dependant because I had dumb phones, some very early androids, and an Athlon 64 3000+ pc and I’d call myself a zoomer
edit: before that I had some ancient family pc but it’s only relevance is getting me entertained, didn’t tinker with it or anything. Also my old phone’s 4.4 android was my favorite because it was polished enough while still letting you do dumb shit with it
I am a 30 yr old boomer in uni with 18 year olds and they are mostly fine. We are learning programming so the base qualification is to not dumb with computers. BUT My teacher friends are supporting OPs screencap where children do not understand computers at all. Theres plenty of tales of students being asked to log into a 15 minute online test and entire lesson is spent teaching them how to log in one by one. The issue is they click the biggest and flashiest button and quit once they discover it does not lead them where they want to go.
There is plenty more evidence that the next generation is unable to handle anything more complex than most popular apps on phone. Is it really surprising when everything has been designed to just work and be streamlined so you don’t have to troubleshoot anymore.
The issue is they click the biggest and flashiest button and quit once they discover it does not lead them where they want to go.
Anyone that ever pirated anything learns real quick that those are the buttons you avoid like the plague
I hope anyone who uses Google without an adblocker learns that very quick too.
Bait ads is the biggest attack vector to bring users to install malware.
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.
It’s always “different this time.” Every generation.
Spoken as another gen Z person, I know exactly one other gen Z person who’s bad with tech. The rest are great with it. It’s entirely Dependant on who you surround yourself with.
Yeah I suspect what’s happening is that plenty of boomers were actually just bad at tech but they got to use the excuse that they didn’t grow up with it. Any gen z people that are bad at tech don’t have that excuse so it seems like they’re stupid, when in reality there have always been stupid people or people who just aren’t interested.
No, there is a good basis for this. It’s not their fault, the technology they learned to use didn’t involve troubleshooting or managing the system. There will always be some who understand, but most Gen X and Y are competent on computers. The same cannot be said for Zoomers.
It’s the 1% vs the working class, not generation vs generation.
I am a zoomer, and this generation as a whole is a lot worse at technology.
Its not something that’s happened for no reason, smartphones become more popular and simple to use technology, and older people assuming these people will be good with tech as they grew up with it are big factors.
The 1% is causing a lot of problems, but this largely isn’t by them.
Don’t feel bad. Every generation thinks their tech is the peak of technology, older tech is slow and useless, new tech is fancy, dumbed down, and unnecessary.
Heck, I already got called ancient because I ran NSLOOKUP from the command line instead of going to a website and having their page run the command from a GUI.
I never blame kids for the young adults they become. When zoomers don’t understand tech, it’s because the adults have a) dumbed down all the tech in their lives to the point of designing and selling purely passive consumption machines, and b) sucked all the inquisitiveness out of kids ability to learn. If you put real computers around kids, and share genuine excitement at learning things and making stuff, they absorb it like a sponge.
