Computer Illiterate: Venting Frustration for Tech-Savvy People

Thread starter ideasrule
Start date Apr 13, 2011
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Computer

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The discussion centers around frustrations with the lack of basic computer skills among younger generations, particularly high school and college students. Key points include the inability to perform simple tasks like using hotkeys for cut and paste, creating graphs in Excel, finding printer drivers, and understanding their operating system. There is a strong sentiment that many students lack essential knowledge that should be common, especially given their access to technology. The conversation also touches on the responsibility of users to maintain their computers and the expectation that they should have a basic understanding of software and hardware interactions. Additionally, there is a debate about whether the average user should be expected to possess more technical knowledge, with some arguing that modern software complexity requires more maintenance than is reasonable for typical users. Overall, the thread expresses a mix of exasperation and concern over the digital literacy of today's youth and the implications for their future interactions with technology.

Apr 13, 2011

DaveC426913

Gold Member

ideasrule said:

I was never taught how to find Europe on a world map

Europe and maps have been around for several orders of magnitude longer than computers. They pervade not only our daily lives, but our history, our lore, our fairy tales.

As someone who has spent more than a decade in usability, I can tell you that
1] computer-use is waaaay less common knowledge than you think, and
2] unlike the rest of the real world, computers have the ability to break away rapidly and dramatically from usage models that preceded them (affordance: the ability of an object to show how it is to be operated - doorknobs have high affordance. Floppy disks have low affordance.)