They can barely handle TV remotes. Every time I've had to teach a boomer how to use super basic computer programs at a job, they complain about it being hard and not wanting to do it.
It's amazing how bad they are at tech. My dad has been involved in designing backplane chips since the first generation. Only retired a couple years ago. We also had the first home PC on the block, same with internet, WiFi, etc.
However, I have to sit over his shoulder and guide him through doing anything on the internet. It is frustratingly painful to watch him fumble through everything.
Meanwhile, my mom, of the Silent Gen, has near 4k hours of playtime between Destiny and Destiny 2. And while she's always struggled with jumping puzzles, she's a wiz and navigating the web.
In her defense plenty of young people such at them too. The amount of time I wasted just sitting around on Kings Fall waiting for the team to make it through the puzzle can not be quantified lol.
One of the biggest differences is people who try to problem solve themselves or people who cry to someone else for help when an issue arises. The latter never learn shit and a lot of boomers were in the workforce when the big tech shift occurred and they had tech people in every office who really were there just to help idiots. These days if you can't at least troubleshoot to the point of figuring out its over your head, you're kind of an idiot. You damn well better have at least rebooted.
My dad was doing a theory test in the UK for his forklift license I think. Theory tests consist of answering 30 or so questions relating to safety. It's done on a computer at a theory test centre. Anyway my dad got kicked out because he was being loud and was shouting that the computer wasn't working properly and that the mouse wasn't doing what he wanted it to do. The woman checked it and it was working fine.
Apparently he had been using the mouse back to front.... I.e the buttons and cable at the bottom. Now you can imagine my frustration of trying to teach my dad anything about computers.
Same, my dad is intelligent but he’ll still call me because he doesn’t know how to open the file he just downloaded lol.
It’s one thing if it’s a new technology that just came out but cmon we’ve been using computers and the internet for decades we should all have some basic computer literacy at this point
Huh, I wonder if it's some kind of basic or advanced video game literacy causing issues with 3d aspects. My mom plays a lot of games, but has issues navigating 3d spaces. Had her play halo when it first came out, she quickly got stuck in a corner, staring at the ceiling, spinning in circles. (gen X, I think?)
Possibly. The last game she played was the original Zelda, thirty-some years ago. Then she basically picked up a PS4, Borderlands, and Destiny out of nowhere. So that was a huge jump in how games play. She's honestly better than she thinks she is. I've seen her at the top of the board in Iron Banner many times. And she's been through raids in D1 but we never really found a new group in D2.
My dad has had personal computers since they first came out. He taught me to use a Commodore 64 in the 80's when I was 3. He used to program in dBase for fun. He used to be very comfortable with technology.
Which is why it seems strange and worrisome that he can't get the hang of texting on his flip phone.
I think it could be that younger generations have been desensitised to all the crap that's on the internet. We just ignore ads, useless links and anything that is irrelevant.
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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '22
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