Memes

Don't blame the people, they often cant get a mobile and tablet and computer... blame the awful corporations who made everything an app and pushed locked down mobile and tablets environments

The key concept they're missing a lot of the time is that software sits within the file system and not the other way around.

This is largely because apps hide this and data is generally stored in one place on your phone (the downloads folder).

Best way to fix it - have 1--2 lessons entirely devoted to finding shit on their computer. My favourite activity is "ok, save your word file, close word, you now have 10 mins to find that file without opening word".

I'm an older zoomer but still a zoomer. Its a crazy dynamic seeing people my age and younger just not getting IT stuff. There's a high ratio of older to younger people where I've worked in IT too.

The challenges thst existed to use technology no longer exist, so there is no longer a reason to look under the hood for most people. It's like how a lot of generations after boomers don't know about how to change a tyre or spark plugs etc, cars got more reliable and industries created services to stop you needing to worry about that stuff.

As a kid I remember WANTING to play games with a friend on PC, he knew we needed a null modem cable and we went to pc shop 2 towns over got one and tried to figure out how to play together using it. Then when the Internet came out and we had to fight against Internet connection sharing so one computer could share Internet with friends pc. Trying to use no-cd patches just so we didn't need to keep grabbing cds to play games etc.

There were so many things you learnt back then but it was because we had no alternative, I get why tech knowledge has vanished and I don't blame them, they have had no need to solve the same problems and haven't grown with technology, it's been already established and they have had no need to concern themselves with it.

Problem is the working world still heavily needs PC skills and basic analytical ability so there needs to be more focus on those old "computer driving license" style courses so people can certify they know how to find a file and end task when something hangs.

The paradigm has changed. The rift between PC and smart phone. Is it really a surprise? My 18yr step kid can at least type on a keyboard with proficiency. Beyond that and installing games in steam, he's lost outside of that. Both I and his mom work in IT. We try to shore up the gaps, but it seems the 'kid' actively refuses to learn.

My favorite:

"Where did you save the file?"

"I saved it in Excel"

People are going to start asking AI to rotate PDFs for them, just like people started asking ChatGPT to do math; it’s a terrible idea but will probably work 80% of the time, and that’ll be good enough for most people.

Yep I've noticed that too. I get questions like "what is the difference between downloading and installing" from people that are over 18 years old and under 30.

just want to add, it's not the zoomer's fault. they were intentionally raised in ignorance because its apparently profitable

fuck the corporations who've deliberately turned our living computers into soulless commercial brainwashing surveillance machines

Messing around with your old WinXP/95 computer and then fixing that mess before your parents come home and scold you does wonders to one's troubleshooting skills. People of this generation never got to hear that scary XP error sound, and it shows.

An unfortunate consequence of developers playing to the lowest common denominator of users for the last twenty years. Everything has been designed to be as easy and intuitive as possible for mobile, and troubleshooting skills have suffered as a result.

Not to mention that phones are crazy powerful and can do virtually everything these days, so fewer and fewer people are buying PCs.

If the general population is indeed "going backwards" in regards to tech literacy, it seems like demand for IT services is going to spike in the coming years. Good thing to keep in mind for young people choosing a career path!

I'm a zoomer and ngl I cannot relate to this

We are all working class.

I'm not a kid (see my other replies in this thread lol), but I've never had to use PDFs for much at all. The closest I've ever been to editing one is clicking a box to draw a signature or check a checkbox.

So I've gotta ask. Why would one need to rotate a PDF? They would be made on a computer, and naturally default to the correct orientation, no? I can't imagine why one would ever be sideways.

Gen Z here, in college.

Some of these people are braindead when it comes to tech.

Like, I get if you're not used to technology because you're poor/had a lack of access to it, as many people might not have a home computer. So there were kids who were absolutely hopeless when it came to using windows at my tech school because they were broke, and the school only gives out Chromebooks (cause they're shitty and cheap).

But outside of not knowing a UI and different file formats, you should absolutely know how to use anything on the web, unless you literally lived in an area with absolutely no internet and electricity.

Some people at my college STILL don't know how to share Google documents correctly, and it's the most insane and frustrating thing to me. Literally any device with an Internet connection can use it. Windows, apple, Chromebook, Linux, you name it. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO WORK GOOGLE DRIVE?!?!?!

Like many comments have said, devs have dumbed down a lot of shit in the name of protecting users, and people expect stuff to just work without any issues/effort, which I get, but damn, you've never simply done a 5 mins search on Google or YouTube for a quick fix?

My hand-me-down phone journey started with a Samsung G Note 4 as a kid, then a old iPhone (don't remember which), moved to a Moto G Play 7 (I adore that thing today), moved to iPhone X, and now I'm at a Pixel 8a cause I put GrapheneOS on it. My mom got me it as a grad gift cause I hated my iPhone so much for all the shit I couldn't do while I was on it. I've always just liked Android and Windows more for the freedom to fuck up (which I never did), instead of Apple's shitty walled garden. And now I'm on Fedora, because I know I don't have to subject myself to a shit user experience on Windows just for simplicity.

But other people my gen who aren't willing to be adventurous for a bit and even try will never do that. Hell, you get shamed in school for not loving the Apple overlords and wanting Apple deciding everything in your life (green bubble shaming is real, I hated middle and early high school...). We want quick and easy, and we got it, but at what cost?

True, and Alpha are even worst, most of them never touched a real keyboard, only use 2 thumbs on a phone. Don't tell them about windows (or/mac/linux) or what is a UI or how to use a mouse and navigate in a OS, they don't get double click or right click, resize a window, minimize a window (OMG THE WINDOW IS GONE!!!!) it's impressive.

I have seen a lot of late Z/early Alpha who cannot make some special characters on a keyboard like " or $ or even worst using AltCar. Using Word to write a letter, using keyboard shortcuts, etc. they are completely clueless with computers.

Training some younger people at work: "click the cog in the corner to pull up the settings". "What's a 'cog'?" Some things people miss out on life when you've never seen a Jetsons episode.

Xennials are fascinating to watch navigate through tech hurdles. They have a custom built toolbox built purely through trial and error.