Stuck in the middle with you : whitepeopletwitter

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 21 points 1 hour ago

iOS is literally designed for toddlers to be able to use it. "iPad kids" aren't especially gifted, "iPad adults" are especially stupid.

But on the bright side, those same groups think they "know computers" because they can press large, brightly colored buttons - so they walk around with unearned confidence in their abilities and impatience/lack of appreciation for the people that actually have to fix things.

It's also why a large swatch of these same fucking idiot, drains on humanity loudly challenge the validity of voting tech infrastructure without any factual basis to their argument - they just "feel" like they get it.

[-] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 hour ago

My boss very confidently proclaimed that all serious IT professionals use a Mac. Said Linux "is for programmers and nerds"

[-] StuffYouFear@lemmy.world 6 points 38 minutes ago

I'm in IT, from my experience, most people who use Macs either use it for media, because it is easy to use for the common man, or it is the most expensive option.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 2 points 10 minutes ago

So, programmers != IT professionals, huh...

[-] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

”iPad adults” are especially stupid.

Does this mean a specific type of adult, or adults who use iPads? Cause…I consider myself pretty technically gifted, I’m a software developer, previously worked IT…and I love my iPad (for the things it’s good for).

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 55 points 2 hours ago

Kids don't even understand file structures because modern OSs obfuscate that stuff.

[-] MashedTech@lemmy.world 29 points 1 hour ago

That's my biggest gripe to be honest with modern OSs. My files in my folders are organized like I organize my house. I live in and around that. I hate the idea of a "Downloads" and other stuff with "automatically in the cloud backup for this app". Give me a file to save you stupid app.

[-] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Yeah ya stupid app!

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 6 minutes ago* (last edited 5 minutes ago)

Kids? Try being a manager trying to hire for entry level data work.

I got maybe one out of five people who even knew how to do basic things like opening windows explorer and navigating through folders. And from that slim margin, finding someone who actually knows how to use software like excel or outlook or word, it makes me want to reword the listing to say that we need people with 5 five years experience. For entry level.

I have become that which we hate. I am demanding experience for entry level work, simply because the entry-level work pool has zero knowledge how things work. You have spent all your time browsing and none of your time challenging yourselves to install software yourself, to copy and move files, or tried even opening your "settings" panel to adjust things. When I started working a lifetime ago, I took some free lessons in learning how to navigate excel and other popular programs. Using that TINY bit of training, I went on to make formulas and automated several of the systems at my first job. I went from counting screws in the warehouse to an eventual VP position.

You can get much, much further ahead of the curve if you actually try to learn a little more about the things you use every day, and you will grow your opportunities more than you can imagine.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 0 points 47 minutes ago

Other than iOS what computer OS hides file structures?

[-] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 4 points 44 minutes ago

What's a computer?

[-] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 31 minutes ago

Android is atrocious with this. Windows can be pretty annoying as well, saving things but you have no idea where it is.

[-] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 hours ago

I fix my parents’ computers. I fix the computers of the super old people in the neighborhood. I fix my kid’s computer. I fix my friends’ computers.

I don’t think it’s generational.

When your car breaks down, do you fix it? At what point do you take it to a mechanic?

At what point do you call an electrician or plumber? Who biopsies their own cysts?

It’s all the same shit. We live in a society of specialists because there’s simply too much potential knowledge for everyone to be able to do everything.

And if we start arguing about what things people “ought to be able to do themselves”, we turn into a bunch of old farts lamenting about the good old days.

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 17 points 1 hour ago

"DIY" is a thing because many strive to understand enough of multiple relevant basic disciplines needed as an adult to be able to cover the first 15% or so of common jobs before they see their limitations and call the specialists.

I believe the expressed frustration here is around the fact that acquiring that first 15% type skill is no longer seen as a responsibility/point of pride for folks to gain as they grow.

[-] xorollo@leminal.space 5 points 53 minutes ago

I fix my computers. I fix my car. I've done some electrical. No plumbing. And I recently biopsied a cyst that my doctor eyeballed and said was non cancerous and charged me $40 for nothing a year ago. It began annoying me a year later, and I'm stubborn and hate to go the doctor, and that guy was an ass. I'm ok with being called an old fart though. I'm also probably more optimistic about future generations. I don't think we're doomed, I remember being a collasal idiot, even as recently as last week, so I give other a little grace.

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 52 minutes ago

This actually what drives me nuts about the US. Its like everyone is expected to be a doctor, a lawyer, an investor, a mechanic, an electrician, plumber, IT, and just everything. I look at the old black and white shows where the tv repair man is called and im like. wtf happened to this country.

[-] criitz@reddthat.com 11 points 2 hours ago

It's like we just happened to grow up at the right time where everyone was raised to be a mechanic, and we wonder why our kids don't fix their own cars.

[-] Aceofspades@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

100% agree.

I'm 50 years old and I am the IT guy for people of all ages. Not because I am part of some gifted generation that understands computers, but because I have a genuine interest and took the time to learn these things.

My 16yo son also has a keen interest in computers and I am passing on my knowledge where I can.

I somewhat feel that attributing computer knowledge to a generational thing in some way diminishes the effort and time it took to get the knowledge and experience that I do have.

You don't have to have hung around with Henry Ford to be a car guy, or Nikola Tesla to be an electrician.

[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 21 points 2 hours ago

Not only that, but co-workers from my own generation also don’t know how to fix their own computers, so I’m just surrounded by people that have no idea how any of it works.

[-] ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 10 points 1 hour ago

I think that's the real crux of it. Most people don't know. There may have been a bump in literacy, but most people don't know, don't care, and don't need to. If we had better education, this kind of thing could be a core class. I had computer classes, but they mainly focused on typing and specific programs. Basically nothing about components, the command prompt, programming, different OS, etc. Granted this was many years ago, but I live in Florida. So, it's probably worse.

[-] leverage@lemdro.id 1 points 41 minutes ago

Counterpoint, most of the stuff I learned in my highschool A+ class (aimed at teaching you enough to pass a certification test that proves you can repair computers) was outdated already that year, and it's like 95% outdated now. Typing and business productivity app skills are still directly valuable for most modern people.

Most valuable skills are things like learning how to learn, critical thinking, judgement, understanding the value of time, humility, etc. I'll say that the A+ course was much better than most classes at growing those skills for me, but I could say the same thing about the construction course I took. American school system, at least when I was in it, is totally happy to output kids that only know math, science, english, and arts. It's hard to teach those life skills, harder to test for them, do we just don't.

[-] nicerdicer@feddit.org 12 points 2 hours ago

It seems that those aged roughly between 30 - 50 hit the sweet spot when it comes to computer literacy.

There is an interesting text about it, albeit it is 11 years old already: Kids can't use computers... and this is why it should worry you

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago

TL;DR? Why not just go watch another five second video of a kitten with its head in a toilet roll, or a 140 character description of a meal your friend just stuffed in their mouth. "nom nom". This blog post is not for you.

wow, this some next level obnoxious boomer shit.

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 5 points 28 minutes ago

Is it incorrect?

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 54 minutes ago

Im suspect about 50. Im just a bit older and it was thing for nerds back then.

[-] icosahedron@ttrpg.network 6 points 1 hour ago

gen z here, can confirm. most of my peers just do not care about learning how things actually work

[-] mizuki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 hours ago

in my experience, younger kids either don't know anything about computers or are obsessed with them. I don't see a lot of the middle

[-] Absolute_Axoltl@feddit.uk 13 points 2 hours ago

Try teaching them.

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago

"Try teaching an impatient person, who undervalues the subject matter, already missed several opportunities to learn about it in formal education settings and who you lack a teacher-student dynamic with..."

Or, in a way...

"It's one banana, Michael - what could it cost, $10?"

[-] Sarmyth@lemmy.world 10 points 1 hour ago

I refuse to fix anything for my inlaws without them watching me. I make them watch me Google the solutions and follow the instructions. It helps reinforce the "it's not magic and I'm not a wizard" reality I want to instill in everyone.

[-] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 hours ago

The weird bit is that our parent's generation is also the one that build the damn things in the first place!

[-] UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

Kind of. Those who were the first needed to know how computers did what they did... Because so often they didn't ...

Now your computers work without you needing to know how they do it Most are happy it simply works

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 214 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

We are the bridge generation.

We know and saw a world without the internet and we experienced it when it first came to be.

We saw the first mass produced computers and computer devices which broke often, didn't work the way we wanted them to, they weren't fast and they didn't have much memory in any way. We were the first generation to see all this. Our parents were too old and busy to figure it out but we were young enough to be curious about it all. We also kept wanting to have the newest fastest hardware and software so we had no choice but to either buy, beg or steal these things to get them. We learned to swap parts, add parts, remove parts, install an OS, uninstall the OS, run backups, store data and learn it all on our own because there was no easy internet social media community to help you. Software was constantly changing and we had to keep up by either buying expensive titles or we learned about Linux and open source software or we became digital pirates or both.

Now the digital landscape has changed. Younger generations prefer handheld devices so to them everything is solid state ... they never can imagine changing the RAM, HDD, SSD, CPU, GPU or the PSU or even bothering to learn what those things are. Because everything is built in and no one (or very few) people bother with fixing or tinkering with anything. There are fewer people who learn about software and about how or where to find it, install it, configure it and run it. To new generations who only know the digital world through locked devices, there was less incentive to learn or even have access to know how these things worked.

We are the bridge generation. We got to see the world without the internet and the world with one. No one before us got to see what we saw, no one after us will experience what we went through. Our civilization dramatically changed during our lifetime and we got a front row seat.

[-] jawa21 2 points 43 minutes ago

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Learning to edit config.sys to get some share ware game working without help was a rite of passage for many.

[-] Throw_away_migrator@lemmy.world 12 points 2 hours ago

The comp for an older generation is cars. Cars saw similar growth and adoption in the 50s-80s. And they had similar growing pains, reliability and maintenance issues were common place. So being able to perform maintenance and having an understanding of how they work was far more wide spread than just hobbyist and professionals.

As cars advanced the need to perform field maintenance and ad hoc repairs became less required so future generations (on average) became less knowledgeable and skilled at various car repair (and modification) activities, because cars just work now so there's really no need to worry about learning how to fix minor issues, because they're just not a common problem.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 minute ago

Case in point: I drive an EV and I don't think there's a damn thing I personally can do to fix it other than maybe change a tire. It doesn't even have a spare and I wouldn't even know how anyway.

My god, I'm the iPad kid of cars.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

You also can’t wrench on a car anymore in the way you used to. It’s all computerized and you need special software to access and configure parts.

I can’t replace my airbags without special pairing software that cost tens of thousands of dollars. It’s unlikely that I’ll learn by performing the repair because the tools are no longer available.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 41 points 4 hours ago

We got to live in the most interesting times in history, so far. Most of us are depressed for it.

load more comments (15 replies)

[-] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 18 points 3 hours ago

I'm glad that many kids are into PC gaming, at least. That's still a decent vector into computer proficiency and a little hardware knowledge.

[-] Zanz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I'm not sure how many kids will be into PC gaming when a low end Nvidia gpu is currently $550. I know that everything comes pre overclocked, and the 4070s still a good card even though it's got a low and die in it it's just depressing in the principle of it.

Maybe things like the steam deck will push kids into Linux since the mid-range gaming desktop is like two grand now.

[-] andxz@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

I built a decent rig at the time 2 years ago for a 10 year old for less than 600€. Sure, some parts were used and it's obviously no monster but he's still using it daily. He's learning how to upgrade it every time I have money for it, too.

You don't have to buy all new Nvidia GPUs for $550 a piece to play games, ya know?

load more comments (1 replies)

People Twitter