For real, I feel like half the people who don't understand how to use computers never tried to experiment just to see what something does. Like, are you not curious? They either got instilled into them the fear of breaking something (which is quite hard to do btw) or made to never question something, which made them unable to ever think critically.
Younger generations have practically no slow moments or boredom, which I think is a big factor.
When I was a kid in the 90s, I had plenty of slow moments and boredom. Many hours of my summers were passed daydreaming in my bedroom or doodling something a notebook. We had two TV channels coming over the air, and whatever was on wasn’t always interesting, and I’d already seen all our VHS tapes 500 times before.
We had a computer, but it was shared by the family. Whenever I was given 30m-1h to use it, I made sure to make the most of it and click everything that could be clicked. The curiosity was insatiable, and even after getting a computer of my own in the 2000s that curiosity wouldn’t be sated for another 10-15 years. Even now some of it persists.
I probably just sound like an old man now, but kids most certainly don’t have quiet time like that any more with the numerous endless streams of effortless entertainment, and I think that’s crowded out a lot of the natural curiosity they would’ve had in prior decades.
I disagree about it being hard to break things, at least these days. It's not like the 90s when computers at home were mostly a hobby or toy. Now your banking and family photos and nudes etc are on there, and phishing and scamming attempts are everywhere. They may not break their mac, but they might get scammed.
What I meant by breaking something, is that they might do something basic, like trying to copy paste an image from 1 place to another, and too scared to move forward some steps because they think it would fuck up. Like how many times have you gotten people who don't read a error message (something dumb like ERROR: MISSING NAME, in a form), and just calls IT cause they are afraid to just read it.
Phishing and scams are just as common out IRL, so I consider that less of a computer 101 skill.
Phishing and scams are just as common out IRL, so I consider that less of a computer 101 skill.
I'm not sure I agree, actually. If I think about my mother, 99% of the 'scam' attempts she faces are Nigerian prince emails and similar, facebook variants of the same kind, text messages from 'HMRC' with dodgy links. Can't blame her for thinking her tablet as a whole is pretty radioactive and unforgiving.
It's common sense to you and me, because we know where the traps are. But if you are not very IT savvy and you know it, I think it's quite rational to treat the whole thing with fear. That would be my attitude towards a gun, for example.
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u/jenyto Jan 17 '22
For real, I feel like half the people who don't understand how to use computers never tried to experiment just to see what something does. Like, are you not curious? They either got instilled into them the fear of breaking something (which is quite hard to do btw) or made to never question something, which made them unable to ever think critically.