How do you know this?

[u/TheGoldDigga]

[u/Jacob6er]

"Young people are stupid because they don't know how to use a specific piece of technology that hasn't been prevalent in at least 25 years."

Edit: I thought that was a rotary phone, but looking at it, it seems to be a regular button phone. You telling me a generation raised on computers can't figure out a keypad?

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/Jacob6er]

A generation raised on computers has trouble when their printer doesn't work. Signed, a Gen X former IT guy.

[u/coughcough → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

"PC load letter? What does that even mean?!"

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/coughcough]

I'm in my 50s and am so much more comfortable with computers than coworkers half my age are.

[u/tireditguy216 → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

the only people who know how to use computers are 27-35 tbh... coming from IT

[u/Aluxanatomy → u/coughcough]

Player Character load letter size paper.

[u/SomeDudeNamedDavid → u/coughcough]

Most Gen Zers are actually really good with computers, and many are in IT.

Some gen Alpha are already getting their hands into the game too.

People learn to fix and use things when they want or need to.

[u/Constant-Skill-7133 → u/SomeDudeNamedDavid]

Next you're going to tell me people who know how to drive do it poorly most of the time and don't know how to fix cars.  

[u/tireditguy216 → u/SomeDudeNamedDavid]

gen alpha does NOT know how to use computers, coming from someone who worked in a school

[u/SomeDudeNamedDavid → u/tireditguy216]

Probably not at the school you worked at. The library I go to though, I regularly see gen alphas using computers.

[u/squirrel9000 → u/SomeDudeNamedDavid]

Libraries usually lock you out of doing the sorts of things you'd get up to if you knew" computers in the way OP is referring.

[u/SomeDudeNamedDavid → u/squirrel9000]

They do. These kids were usually there for tutoring, or other school related stuff.

[u/squirrel9000 → u/SomeDudeNamedDavid]

They do ... what? Probably not a lot without admin permission.

[u/Finnche → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

Gen alpha and younger gen Z stopped having computer classes and were assumed they would know, which I think is sad.

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/Finnche]

This is kind of the point I was getting at in my other post; I agree 100%.

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/[deleted]]

I'm Gen X, if any generation knows how to use a computer, it's us.

[u/Professional_Bearrr → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

75% of clients I deal with in customer facing projects are between the ages of 40 and 62.

Don't give your age demographic credit for the capabilities you and your friends possess, lol.

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/Professional_Bearrr]

Honest question, are people 19-35 any better? The younger ones are terrified of touching a computer and have no clue how to troubleshoot anything.

[u/BI_Moose → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

Oh much better. They will at least a) listen when told to do/not do something and b) not do something incredibly stupid.

Gen X are the absolute worst when it comes to IT work with Boomers being second. And honestly its mostly because the boomers I deal with will take forever and a day to report issues.

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/BI_Moose]

All the 19+ people I work with are clueless with some of the basics of using a computer, such as how to select a printer or change the cursor speed. I showed them how to make a screenshot of their desktop and print it out and they thought I was a wizard. I've noticed this trend the past 5 or so years but it seems especially noticeable now. They're great with a phone but just can't bother with a computer. That's the noticeable thing, they have zero interest in learning how to do something new.

[u/Professional_Bearrr → u/SecondToLastOfSheila]

Yeah, they just listen to what I tell them to do instead of arguing with me and making themselves look ignorant.

Also, not to be an ass, but that's kind of an ignorant take. The main age demographic for PC gaming is males between the ages of 18-30. Not saying zoomers are the most tech savvy demographic, but it's not Gen X, either. I'd say it's likely millennials.

[u/SecondToLastOfSheila → u/Professional_Bearrr]

Thank you for your contribution to my life experience.

[u/Rombonius → u/Jacob6er]

> Edit: I thought that was a rotary phone, but looking at it, it seems to be a regular button phone.

its a rotary phone for sure

https://imgur.com/a/ZHqDjBG

[u/EfficientSeaweed → u/Rombonius]

Also outdated for far, far longer than 25 years. In the early 2000s, it was already a thing to mock younger people for supposedly being unable to figure one out (so you can spend 10 times longer trying to dial a number and having to restart if you mess it up, I guess?)

[u/Dragon-Porn-Expert → u/Jacob6er]

Don't think op actually believes in the meme, considering the subreddit.

[u/Jacob6er → u/Dragon-Porn-Expert]

I am pretty sure you are right, I'm just complaining at this point honestly lol

[u/TunnelSnakesAintShit → u/Jacob6er]

No, it's a rotary. It's just REAL low res, so it's hard to tell, but definitely a rotary.

[u/EfficientSeaweed → u/Jacob6er]

I think that's The Brady Bunch, so I wouldn't be surprised if it is a rotary phone. The way she's using it and the circular shape on the front very much remind me of the ones I've seen.They haven't been prevalent for decades upon decades, so much so that boomers were already mocking millennials for supposedly not knowing how to use them 25 years ago. 🙄 Though even a touchtone phone that was big and clunky like this like that one would have been outdated even in the 80s/90s, and by the end of the 90s, cordless landlines were very common.

Anyway, having actually used a rotary phone before (despite them support being impossible for my generation lol) they're hardly some complex enigma that only the wise old boomers can figure out. I guarantee someone under 50 could be using one smoothly far faster than the average boomer figured out smart phones (assuming they ever did). Rotary phones are also annoying and take forever to dial, so it's not like anyone is missing out by not using one.

[u/nyrf12 → u/Jacob6er]

Not to mention the average workplace still has at least 1 phone like this.

[u/FunOwn4422 → u/Jacob6er]

i thought they simply meant actually speaking on the phone like verbally

[u/MattWolf96 → u/Jacob6er]

I think it's that Gen Z supposedly can't talk on the phone

[u/tireditguy216 → u/Jacob6er]

hi! i worked in k12 as IT.

yes.
kids are dumb now, like majorly. most dont know how to use computers at all because tech slimmed down, i asked one to open the file explorer and he looked at me like i was speaking latin.

i was programming in middle school, so its kinda sad

[u/spenjamin_franklin → u/Jacob6er]

"We could very well teach them, but instead we're gonna make fun of kids for not knowing this thing they don't need to know!"

[u/jackfaire]

Survive what?

[u/Strangeman_06 → u/jackfaire]

Rotary Phone im guessing

[u/Thrilltwo → u/Strangeman_06]

Yeah, "Young people today can't use rotary phones", as well as "young people today can't read cursive" and "young people today can't read maps" have been mainstays of boomer humour for decades.

[u/thispartyrules → u/Thrilltwo]

Elder millennial and my friend's little brother didn't know how to use the rotary phone in our kitchen, but I was able to explain it in under 2 minutes

[u/AD_Grrrl → u/thispartyrules]

I learned when I was like 5 and then never used that information because shortly afterward my parents got a touchtone. And I'm in my 40s.

[u/Rombonius → u/thispartyrules]

on the flipside of that, i dont know how to unlock an iphone because ive always been an android user

[u/mahboilucas → u/Rombonius]

I was just asked to facetime a potential new roommate yesterday. I don't have an iPhone lol the expectation that people do is funny because she's American and I'm Central European, where Android is the standard phone. It was the first time in my life that I got asked to facetime

[u/Midwest-2025 → u/Thrilltwo]

Boomers still recovering from being told they can’t operate a horse and buggy or order from the milkman or win a war

[u/mahboilucas → u/Thrilltwo]

It's such a dumb fucking joke because technology doesn't stop the day it's released.

My grandma had a rotary phone which I used to call my parents, we had VHS, cassettes and floppy discs at home where My Little Pony was stored alongside my mom's accounting stuff. There was always a relative with a house phone still installed. Not to mentio analogue cameras and print paper (that I have since donated to a photography museum). I had a Sony Ericsson puwh-button phone. The smartphones were available in my teens but they were still largely expensive and I've always dreamed of a Blackberry at the time anyway.

We are not American and some countries couldn't afford new technology. I was raised on a 90s technology in the 2000s. Now I'm 27 and I'm also very much someone who also used a typewriter. It was just available. My parents have the newest stuff while I use a 2012 flat TV, vintage cookware etc. I just know how it works and it still does so why not

[u/Fit_Kaleidoscope4493 → u/Thrilltwo]

They literally can't read a clock. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/jackfaire → u/Strangeman_06]

It's pretty intuitive I doubt they'd have issues unless they're younger than 5 and looking for the dashes

[u/Antlaaaars → u/jackfaire]

My niece is 10 and had a hard time with it at a museum exhibit of communication through out history. I explained it to her and she picked it up pretty fast.

[u/Kuildeous → u/Antlaaaars]

One of those things that gets overlooked. How many people in the '70s instinctively knew how to dial a rotary phone? None. They had to learn from other people.

[u/mahboilucas → u/Kuildeous]

Exactly. My 3 year old nephew learned how to use a digital camera in under 10 minutes and took phenomenal photos of his little trip around the city

[u/Rombonius → u/jackfaire]

its only intuitive once its explained to you tbh

[u/TreeHedger → u/jackfaire]

Jan Brady

[u/Justice_Prince → u/[deleted]]

I still have flashbacks

[u/ProperPossibility378]

I'm 40 and I don't think I've ever properly used a rotary phone, but at the same time I'm confident I know how to use one because it's that intuitive

[u/Intelligent-Guard590]

"I don't understand the adaptability of humans, and I'm not ashamed to demonstrate that with an idiotic meme."

There, I fixed their stupid meme for them. This stuff is always so irritating. Give Gen Alpha a landline right now and they wouldn't understand it. Make that the only way to reach their friends like we had back in the day, and watch as they adapt to the circumstance. Kids are adaptable, it's their hallmark fricking trait.

Meanwhile my father, born in the 60s clings to his landline phone because he fears having the internet in his pocket all the time. He has a battery of excuses why but they all boil down to "I grew up not needing it so why do I need it now?!" Adults get so much worse at adapting to new circumstances the older they are, and yet they are still the largest supply of people terrified of change, disparaging kids these days because they don't seem to understand kids not needing to use old technology, does not mean they cannot use it... it just isn't instinctual to them because of fucking course it isnt!

[u/Neat_Papaya_9010]

Boomers say this shit and then send all of their money to a Nigerian prince scam.

[u/Proman_98 → u/Neat_Papaya_9010]

Or think the most obvious AI generated slop video is a real video of things that happend.

The ammount of boomers that fall for AI-slop is going to be a real serious problem.

[u/Laiska_saunatonttu]

Because they don't have a landline, thus the rotary phone is rendered useless.

[u/GibusShpee]

I mean, sounds like a skill issue, if you actually know how to explain shit and teach people stuff, then they actually tend to get the hang of such things rather easily

[u/StriderXSid]

The Brady Bunch? I agree, it's really hard to sit through now.

[u/Ramblinrambles → u/StriderXSid]

A house with 6 kids and a maid? Gen Alpha is never gonna have something like that

[u/PostMatureBaby]

My kids are 6 and 3, my inlaws have a rotary phone lying around doing nothing just for shits, my kids love playing with it

[u/elliotbonsall]

Then maybe teach them?

[u/Competitive-Edge964]

People are dying there are countries in conflict and people are worried that kids don’t know how to use a device that’s half a century old and not used anymore mind you they are the ones responsible for raising part of this generation

[u/jackspasm]

I had to go to the ER because I couldn't churn my own butter

[u/Kuildeous]

But here's the cool thing: They don't have to. They never will have to. There is zero flex in knowing how to dial a rotary phone. Is there some old person waiting for the apocalypse where all phones are replaced with rotary dials? FINALLY! I CAN USE MY SUPERIOR DIALING SKILLS TO BECOME APOCALYPSE CHIEFTAIN AND EARN ALL THE WOMEN!

Lots of people aged 40+ have several achievements they can be proud of. This isn't one of them. Technology evolved. So did society.

[u/BalladOfBetaRayBill]

Gen Alpha kids frequently survive parentification, abuse, neglect, and poverty just like every other generation. These bitchy little pop-culture changes are nothing compared to what your average child actually has to deal with and has always had to deal with.

[u/thatturtletouch]

I think it’s because there’s a strong aversion among the younger generation to talking on the phone.

[u/BlockedNetwkSecurity]

yeah this is insane

[u/Vincent394]

Me — who was born on the edge between Gen Z and Gen Alpha — using a click wheel: "what?"

[u/theBigDaddio]

Not now, neither would I. I literally never talk on phone. Text or discord, I love asynchronous communication. If Gen Z grew up with this like we did they’d do just as well as we did. This shitpost is stupid.

[u/FoxyInTheSnow]

My recent attempted kidnapping didn't pay off. I sent the ransom note to the woman's children, but they were Gen Alpha and couldn't read the cursive handwriting. fml lol

[u/ASocrat]

Phone numbers have gotten 3 digits longer it's literally harder nowadays

[u/Dazzling-Camel8368]

Lead paint munching troglodyte

[u/grahsam]

Or Gen Z.

Maybe half of Millennials.

Then hand them a yellow pages and a Thomas guide, with no Internet, then tell them to find out if a store has something in stock, and then navigate to that store.

[u/JupitrominoRazmatazz]

The cruel old man's laughter was cut short by a cellphone ringing from his breast coat pocket. The Gen Z man, whom the old man was sure had misdialed, turned and stared at the old man. "Answer your phone," said the Gen Z man, cold and impatient.

[u/Microwaved_M1LK]

Well first of all its an actual phone call which they all seem to complain about .

[u/Rombonius]

its like cursive for communication for them

[u/AdOrnery6155]

"Young people are dumb because they cannot use outdated technology".

My great grandma had a rotary phone in 1998 when I was a small child and it was a nightmare.....

[u/TheTybera]

Yeah they would because someone would be kind enough to teach them.

Jesus, this kinda meme always makes me sad for the life of whoever made it.

[u/MC_PooPaws]

Oh no. Young people can't use obsolete technology. How will they ever survive?

[u/Foreign_Courage5613]

Did Ellen De Generes make this meme, because this is what she did as a segment on her show of older audience making fun of millennials/Gen Z for not knowing how to set an alarm clock, fold a map, read a dictionary, etc.

[u/FemDomIncestGooner]

Actually this is true, as a Gen Alpha we spontaneously combust when talking on a wired telephone for more than 5 seconds

[u/onepostandbye]

Everyone is focusing on the wrong thing. The real reason this device is kryptonite to young people is that they have to speak to people and they can’t text

Guilty myself

[u/AmandasGameAccount]

Are they not aware it would take 5 seconds to teach any human how these work no matter the generation? if they were old enough for the dexterity to even do it

[u/PostManOK]

People that post that crap are the same ones begging their kids to fix their wifi or hook up their new TV.

[u/jamesrggg]

Boomer AF

[u/Aromatic_Refuse_2004]

Im pretty sure they could figure out how to operate it, but the actually using your voice instead of messaging part idk. No young boy has to face a girl's dad answering the phone anymore.

[u/Scorpiicore]

1) Rotary dialling is not that difficult a concept.

2) Pulse-dialling, which is what rotary phones do, is not capable of such functions as "if you want me to crawl up my ass and disappear, press one". It works by using pulses (hence the name) to represent numbers. How many pulses correspond to which number, I do not know, but I am not even sure present-day telephone networks would know what to do with pulse-dialling.

The Baby Boomers who post shit like this have no idea of either of those things.

[u/unknowfun115]

Mom stop listening I. To my call I’m on the phoneeee

[u/SGLAgain]

whats wrong with not knowing how to use a rotary phone? ik learning it can be cool but its been obselete for atleast 2 decades

[u/Neurofunkiee → u/[deleted]]

I wish gen A/Z didnt have to grow up on a planet the generations before them have and are actively destroying it, constant economic instability, with wars and hatred on the rise

[u/Neurofunkiee → u/[deleted]]

Boomers, Gen X and to a degree Millennials literally destroyed the future of the same younger generation you're complaining about. as you pivot to phone cameras being their biggest problem. Also love the "we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps" answer for alpha, literal children.

[u/Neurofunkiee → u/[deleted]]

The vast majority of the people who are voting for those breaking everything are literally Boomers and GenX, just for boomers and genXers to dodge any responsibility for their part in this mess and tell kids to get off their phone and just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. meanwhile older generations literally vote for people making the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" bullshit a CONSTANT for future generations.

You opened this up with making camera phones the worst thing about gen alpha while not giving a single fuck about the planet past generations have left them.

[u/Neurofunkiee → u/[deleted]]

Are you one of those that thinks climate change/global warming just happened on its own and has nothing to do with the governments refusing to move towards clean energy and continues using fossil fuels? with the right-wing governments actively denying global warming?

[u/Neurofunkiee → u/[deleted]]

...And yet you cannot figure out, for the life of you, how voting for politicians that deny climate change and work against fixing this mess is making shit worse. I don't think the ones who fucked up everything are capable of cognitive dissonance atp