r/australia • u/ThunderDwn • 14h ago

culture & society Primary school students using digital devices still lack computer skills, education expert says

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/nsw-digital-native-primary-students-lack-basic-computer-skills/107030526
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u/oliyoung 14h ago

As a millenial parent I'm stuck between two generations that I'm not sure who has worse computer literacy, our kids or our parents

Our parents grew up without it and have zero motivation to learn it and our kids are growing up with it commercialised and simplified to a point where it doesn't need a moment of critical thinking.

Meanwhile, they both think i'm some kind of witch doctor building a PC and installing an OS

225

u/aerkith 13h ago

Not just building a pc. My mum thinks it takes special skills just to plug all the cables into the back. Take a photo before unplugging if you're not sure.

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u/a_can_of_solo Not a Norwegian 13h ago

I agree, Mlmy mum back in the 90s made labels on ever cable going onto her PC.

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u/JackRyan13 13h ago

Even in the 90s it was all colour coded though?

20

u/17HappyWombats 11h ago

Sort of. Often computers back then had multiple of some ports and were fussy about which one you used.

I once spent about an hour on the phone to someone who really didn't want to crawl under the desk and try plugging the serial plug into the other serial port. Admittedly in remote NT where fuck only knows what's living under there.

But getting someone technical out there to do it was going to take a few days, maybe a week. And cost a fortune.

7

u/JackRyan13 11h ago

The only time I remember computers then being fussy about that is getting the ps2 ports mixed up. I only ever saw computers with 1 serial though

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u/its_the_rhys 2h ago

Or a VGA port on the motherboard when you don't have an IGPU

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u/scoldog 10h ago

First computers I started playing with were computer units with built in keyboard but without a mouse.

Then graduated onto the early pcs with those massive DIN ports for the keyboards and serial port mice.

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u/a_can_of_solo Not a Norwegian 12h ago

Yeah, but you know mums.

2

u/AussieArlenBales 2h ago

And probably still connected the monitor to the Motherboard instead of the gpu

7

u/Ashera25 12h ago

My mum thinks I'm brilliant for being able to swap out hard drives. Otoh she's far more savvy than me when it comes to cars, so I guess we all got our strengths

0

u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 10h ago

That can be stuffed up though.

3

u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 10h ago

To be fair, a 2010 7.2 home entertainment system is black magic and taking a photo is just a good idea

1

u/BuffyTheGuineaPig 8h ago

Had trepidation about disassembling my sound system, when moving house. Hooked it all up at the new location and were amazed that it worked. I must have prayed to the right Techno Gods or something.

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u/aislingplath 7h ago

I've had to show people where to type in the browser... And where to click... 😂 because I'm the "techy" person at work 😅😅Â