Current Events > Is it true that Zoomers are technologically illiterate?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Millennials are da last technologically literate generation

I met like 3 zoomers for a college project a few months ago, I'm a millennial but was pleasantly surprised to learn they used discord.

Of course Challenger exploded, but that wasn't a special mission

I saw a thing about how they don't use windows files because they're use to everything just be jumbled up on their phones.

My friend is a teacher and she is regularly astonished by how not tech savvy her students are. She's had moments where she actually had to explain how to Google things.

Just seems like they don't know how the file system works on a PC. Which, idk, I know a lot of millennials that just save everything to desktop anyways. Most people I know around my age don't know shit about computers or technology in general outside of what is necessary for their work (just Office Suite most of the time).

When I was teaching a year ago it was like 50/50. I still remember a girl trying to swipe on her pc monitor with her finger

Yes, they are terrible with computers

Millennials grew up right as computers became a common thing
We had to trouble shoot everything if wanted stuff to work, and learned by it.

Now, everything is by apps, it either works or it doesn't, at which point you just switch to another app

And all of that sounded extremely like "old man yells at clouds" crap

some are, some aren't

just like virtually everyone lol

Trumpo posted...

Yes, they are terrible with computers

How though lol? I feel everything went full PC by now.

Haven't they learned how to do clever filming tricks on tiktok that completely cut out the middle man of programs? That's pretty savvy. But I guess that does mean you have to use less actual technology. Maybe they'll think around it in other ways too instead of just blindly using the tools they're given.

kinetika_ posted...

How though lol? I feel everything went full PC by now.

They're used to tablets and touchscreen technology.

They are computer illiterate but capable of using any other technology.

Compsognathus posted...

My friend is a teacher and she is regularly astonished by how not tech savvy her students are. She's had moments where she actually had to explain how to Google things.

That has nothing to do with the generation. I work with adults who can't grasp the concept of Google.

At least they don't go "tee hee I don't get technology" like so many older people. It's 2023! You weren't born in 1623! Maybe you should have learned "technology" some time in the last 50 years.

im not very good at navigating computers

The funny thing is that office centric baby boomers who stayed up to date constantly thru the years are absolutely dominant with computers. With millennials I would say any generalizations are very dependent on if they grew up middle/upper class or notthen you would have had a computer/internet at home as a kid.

Lol. I bet they dont even know DOS! How will they get by in the future?

FAQ-Checker posted...

Lol. I bet they dont even know DOS! How will they get by in the future?

What the fuck is DOS and how do I get it

They are tech illiterate. they are at least boomer level illiterate or maybe even worse than that. Boomers knew how to use Facebook so its not like zoomers knowing tik Tok makes them more skilled

I work with a few and they regularly blow my mind with how shitty they are with simple things like a web browser.

Ratchetrockon posted...

What the fuck is DOS and how do I get it

I dont know. I saw a video that said you have to poke your commodore or something.

My nephew literally made my computer for me. I think the younger generation is just going to be more tech savvy than the older ones in general.

Prestoff posted...

My nephew literally made my computer for me. I think the younger generation is just going to be more tech savvy than the older ones in general.

Theres obviously exceptions with every generation. But in general zoomers are tech illiterate, your nephew is not the norm

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Theres obviously exceptions with every generation. But in general zoomers are tech illiterate, your nephew is not the norm

All my niece and nephews know a shit ton about technology in general. Maybe it's the schools they go to or something, but I figure the younger generation will know more about tech than the older ones. It just makes more sense that way.

We had this guy (younger, was a Zoomer) who was working in IT department, who didn't know what "fdisk" was, so we Fdisked him outta the team.

Prestoff posted...

All my niece and nephews know a shit ton about technology in general. Maybe it's the schools they go to or something, but I figure the younger generation will know more about tech than the older ones. It just makes more sense that way.

Why? Because they are younger? That doesn't remotely mean anything.

So by all accounts does that mean PC master race will go extinct by 2040?

Jagr_68 posted...

So by all accounts does that mean PC master race will go extinct by 2040?

Yes. Same reason the smart guys at NASA who changed the magnetic tape reels went extinct.

sparky2658 posted...

Why? Because they are younger? That doesn't remotely mean anything.

The younger someone is in a certain generation means they're more exposed to said things in that generation. In the Zoomers case, most of them grew up with internet and all these gizmo's and gadgets, so it just makes more sense on average most of them are going to know how to use said things better than the older generation. It's why Millenials are more technology savy than the Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers when it comes to things like computers and smart phones. Like i said, a lot of my neice and nephews are being taught how to use computers and ipad at an early age, which means they're exposed to these things which gives a likely higher chance of them being technologically savy when it comes to the things they're exposed to at an early age.

Like I get it, it could very well be a case of anecdotal evidence and all my neices, nephews, and their friends of similar ages from the same school are all fucking geniuses when it comes to technological things. Just logically, it makes sense for them to be good at certain things but not others like setting up and using a VCR or hell a DVD player.

This seems appropriate

https://youtu.be/QO40MAH_WWg

Prestoff posted...

The younger someone is in a certain generation means they're more exposed to said things in that generation. In the Zoomers case, most of them grew up with internet and all these gizmo's and gadgets, so it just makes more

Except that's not true.

Zoomers didn't grow up on the same tech. The tech existed, but it wasn't used nearly as much. They've shown to be social media savvy, but social media savvy doesn't translate into everything else by default.

Simply growing up with internet, social media, and tablets is not the same thing as growing up with tech.

Sample size of one, but my niece has only the most surface level understanding of the technology she uses.

coolguyjimmy posted...

We had this guy (younger, was a Zoomer) who was working in IT department, who didn't know what "fdisk" was, so we Fdisked him outta the team.

Muahahahahahaha!!!
(that made me snort my espresso up my nose)

all zoomers know is how to touch screen and lie

coolguyjimmy posted...

We had this guy (younger, was a Zoomer) who was working in IT department, who didn't know what "fdisk" was, so we Fdisked him outta the team.

I know what fdisk is, but judging the entirety of his skill based on this is incredibly petty.

I hear they are more "unskilled" than "illiterate" but that's mostly anecdotal.

Depends on what technology youre referring to. Many of them were spoiled by Google Drive and have abysmal file management skills. Most dont know how to use most of the features in the programs they use; they have a cursory knowledge. Many got used to apps that do all the work for them so they never learned things like basic formatting tricks. They want to use the space bar to indent, for example, or dont know about section breaks.

I dont know any Zoomer who knows how to leverage Excel, or even its inferior cousin Google Sheets, both of which could make their lives easier.

But they know how to do some things I had never dreamed of, especially regarding multi-media.