Memes

I'm an older zoomer but still a zoomer. Its a crazy dynamic seeing people my age and younger just not getting IT stuff. There's a high ratio of older to younger people where I've worked in IT too.

The challenges thst existed to use technology no longer exist, so there is no longer a reason to look under the hood for most people. It's like how a lot of generations after boomers don't know about how to change a tyre or spark plugs etc, cars got more reliable and industries created services to stop you needing to worry about that stuff.

As a kid I remember WANTING to play games with a friend on PC, he knew we needed a null modem cable and we went to pc shop 2 towns over got one and tried to figure out how to play together using it. Then when the Internet came out and we had to fight against Internet connection sharing so one computer could share Internet with friends pc. Trying to use no-cd patches just so we didn't need to keep grabbing cds to play games etc.

There were so many things you learnt back then but it was because we had no alternative, I get why tech knowledge has vanished and I don't blame them, they have had no need to solve the same problems and haven't grown with technology, it's been already established and they have had no need to concern themselves with it.

Problem is the working world still heavily needs PC skills and basic analytical ability so there needs to be more focus on those old "computer driving license" style courses so people can certify they know how to find a file and end task when something hangs.

The paradigm has changed. The rift between PC and smart phone. Is it really a surprise? My 18yr step kid can at least type on a keyboard with proficiency. Beyond that and installing games in steam, he's lost outside of that. Both I and his mom work in IT. We try to shore up the gaps, but it seems the 'kid' actively refuses to learn.

People are going to start asking AI to rotate PDFs for them, just like people started asking ChatGPT to do math; it’s a terrible idea but will probably work 80% of the time, and that’ll be good enough for most people.

I'm a zoomer and ngl I cannot relate to this

Don't blame the people, they often cant get a mobile and tablet and computer... blame the awful corporations who made everything an app and pushed locked down mobile and tablets environments

The key concept they're missing a lot of the time is that software sits within the file system and not the other way around.

This is largely because apps hide this and data is generally stored in one place on your phone (the downloads folder).

Best way to fix it - have 1--2 lessons entirely devoted to finding shit on their computer. My favourite activity is "ok, save your word file, close word, you now have 10 mins to find that file without opening word".

Yep I've noticed that too. I get questions like "what is the difference between downloading and installing" from people that are over 18 years old and under 30.

My favorite:

"Where did you save the file?"

"I saved it in Excel"

I'm not a kid (see my other replies in this thread lol), but I've never had to use PDFs for much at all. The closest I've ever been to editing one is clicking a box to draw a signature or check a checkbox.

So I've gotta ask. Why would one need to rotate a PDF? They would be made on a computer, and naturally default to the correct orientation, no? I can't imagine why one would ever be sideways.