Boomer tech tips, nothing big and flashy.

[The_Dentist]

How many people on here have had family call and expect you to come over and put together a computer, or worse walk them through it over the phone?

 

Maybe I'm the only one, but I doubt it.

Wish LTT would make a boomer/basic tech tips.

A walk through for buying/setting up a computer, second monitor, printer, driver updates, windows updates, antiviruse, and basic app use(web browser, office suites).

 

It be nice to have a good quality video that can maybe put it in basic terms to save time for some of us.

 

If LS himself reads this please these are tech tips that could be pretty evergreen for users when it comes to views.

It could be LTT BasicTechTips.

[camieabz]

1. Reboot device / Restart app

2. Stop installing stuff.

 

[Zonal]

I think this is a good idea.

[Middcore]

You cannot make information basic enough for a person who just doesn't want to learn it.

 

Basically all of the tutorials for the technologically illiterate you're talking about already exist somewhere. Nevertheless there will be people who are lazy and will resort to asking for help from a friend or family member because it's easier, or who are so intimidated by these subjects they have unfortunately convinced themselves that grasping this stuff is impossible. This isn't the case for all older folks, of course. A former roommate of mine used to teach classes on stuff like this at senior centers as part of his IT business. But for the segment who have simply made up their minds they can't or won't learn, lack of access to suitably entry-level, spoon-fed information is not the barrier.

 

From Linus Media Group's standpoint, videos like the ones you're suggesting would do basically nothing for their current audience which is composed primarily of tech enthusiasts, and would probably be pretty dull to produce. It's a lot of effort for very little return and it's outside the wheelhouse of their content. Even if they would like to do something like this, as a business LMG can't really invest resources in content they can basically guarantee will under-perform. 

[LpoolTech]

2 minutes ago, Middcore said:

You cannot make information basic enough for a person who just doesn't want to learn it.

 

Basically all of the tutorials for the technologically illiterate you're talking about already exist somewhere. Nevertheless there will be people who are lazy and will resort to asking for help from a friend or family member because it's easier, or who have unfortunately convinced themselves that grasping these intimidating subjects is impossible. This isn't the case for all older folks, of course. A former roommate of mine used to teach classes on stuff like this at senior centers as part of his IT business. But for the segment who have simply made up their minds they can't or won't learn, lack of access to suitably entry-level, spoon-fed information is not the barrier.

 

From Linus Media Group's standpoint, videos like the ones you're suggesting would do basically nothing for their current audience which is composed primarily of tech enthusiasts, and would probably be pretty dull to produce. It's a lot of effort for very little return and it's outside the wheelhouse of their content. Even if they would like to do something like this, as a business LMG can't really invest resources in content they can basically guarantee will under-perform. 

I was just about to write something similar... to add my two cents why make video like that if most people aren't even bothered to open quick setup guide and wont research prior to asking you for help

[WereCatf]

32 minutes ago, The_Dentist said:

How many people on here have had family call and expect you to come over and put together a computer, or worse walk them through it over the phone?

There are two good rules when it comes to family:

• Don't provide tech-support for them. You'll end up regretting it.
• Don't do business with family. You'll end up regretting it.

[The_Dentist]

3 hours ago, Middcore said:

You cannot make information basic enough for a person who just doesn't want to learn it.

 

Basically all of the tutorials for the technologically illiterate you're talking about already exist somewhere. Nevertheless there will be people who are lazy and will resort to asking for help from a friend or family member because it's easier, or who are so intimidated by these subjects they have unfortunately convinced themselves that grasping this stuff is impossible. This isn't the case for all older folks, of course. A former roommate of mine used to teach classes on stuff like this at senior centers as part of his IT business. But for the segment who have simply made up their minds they can't or won't learn, lack of access to suitably entry-level, spoon-fed information is not the barrier.

 

From Linus Media Group's standpoint, videos like the ones you're suggesting would do basically nothing for their current audience which is composed primarily of tech enthusiasts, and would probably be pretty dull to produce. It's a lot of effort for very little return and it's outside the wheelhouse of their content. Even if they would like to do something like this, as a business LMG can't really invest resources in content they can basically guarantee will under-perform. 

That's the issue I think most people aren't thinking about.  You're right that there is enough videos out there for anyone to look up but having it all in one place by a competent person who can be easily understood can make things easier.

 

LTT isn't just for enthusiast, and making these videos arent something that would need to be updated very often. This could also help bring new enthusiast's. 

The main point a step by step guides could help struggling adults with helping their kids buying new computers, or save one person 3 hours of driving and/or dicking around to find out the system only needed a usb type b cable for the pri ter to work. 

 

I've watched several video tutorials and some times they imply or skip steps that people might not know. My argument for something like this is to that we could save time and trouble sending them a video that we trust to be of a high enough standard.

 

We need to help people around us but we tend to forget the we are used to this. 

These could be tools that could help save time and frustration. You're right they would under preform at the start but they would be more likely to keep generating over time, and not a flash in the pan.

[HP DeskJet2320]

5 hours ago, WereCatf said:

There are two good rules when it comes to family:

• Don't provide tech-support for them. You'll end up regretting it.
• Don't do business with family. You'll end up regretting it.

Can confirm on the tech-support part(and maybe other people too). Here's a little story that I can share:

I upgraded my GF's parents computer with some leftover parts that I had laying around my house with no use for me personally, and they were actually pretty good, especially for them because anything other than browsing the internet and printing some pages from time to time, . I basically upgraded the whole computer, without the SDD/HDD and the case. The computer ran waaay better than before(they had some old DDR2 system before that), and everything went well and everyone was happy. But of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and the computer suddenly didn't work at some point. I didn't know at the moment what caused the problem, but long story short I have reinstalled Windows and everything was ok, but this keeps happening in a span of a couple of days, so I started troubleshooting. Long story short: a SATA cable was bad and couldn't read all the files from Windows. 

OF COURSE they blamed it on ME, because I was the one who messed with their computer 'which was running fine before I touched it'(I repeat, they had a system with DDR2 memory in it, that's all I remember, you can imagine how slow that PC was). But little did they know, the bad part that had to be replaced it was the one THEY ALREADY HAD in the old system, and I just reused it. So yeah, I learned my lesson never to do tech support(besides my parents and my GF) unless I get paid to do so. (Don't worry, her parents are amazing people, but not so great with tech stuff).

 

TL;DR don't do tech support for family like WereCatf said.

[HP DeskJet2320]

5 hours ago, Middcore said:

You cannot make information basic enough for a person who just doesn't want to learn it.

 

Basically all of the tutorials for the technologically illiterate you're talking about already exist somewhere. Nevertheless there will be people who are lazy and will resort to asking for help from a friend or family member because it's easier, or who are so intimidated by these subjects they have unfortunately convinced themselves that grasping this stuff is impossible. This isn't the case for all older folks, of course. A former roommate of mine used to teach classes on stuff like this at senior centers as part of his IT business. But for the segment who have simply made up their minds they can't or won't learn, lack of access to suitably entry-level, spoon-fed information is not the barrier.

 

From Linus Media Group's standpoint, videos like the ones you're suggesting would do basically nothing for their current audience which is composed primarily of tech enthusiasts, and would probably be pretty dull to produce. It's a lot of effort for very little return and it's outside the wheelhouse of their content. Even if they would like to do something like this, as a business LMG can't really invest resources in content they can basically guarantee will under-perform. 

Agree. Basically, anything a non-techie person have trouble with, is something really basic, that we(LTT audience) don't even bother with those kind of things anymore, and a tutorial already exists on the internet so it's not worth LMG's time and money to do videos about it. Most LTT viewers are more advanced users than an average person, so in the end it'll be just a waste of time to do 'Boomer Tech Tips'.

[The_Dentist]

6 hours ago, WereCatf said:

There are two good rules when it comes to family:

• Don't provide tech-support for them. You'll end up regretting it.
• Don't do business with family. You'll end up regretting it.

I feel your pain and know what you're saying all to well but I also refuse to let my family and friends get extorted for money over a loose wire or driver. I know I built a tower for an ex's mom and she was charge $75 back in the olden times of 2006 for a loose floppy cable she didn't bring it up to me at all and felt I should have re paid her not only for the bill but her gas and hourly wage for time...

[The_Dentist]

I would bet money the vendors/SI's would be more than happy to sponsor this kind of content. 

 

You guys are missing the point this is meant to be introductory. Although LTT is watched by a lot of enthusiasts it would be an easy way for the average user to see this and become more well-informed giving them confidence to look into issues on their own first. 

 

I know that average users won't going out and do their own research, so give them this tool. It would be pointless to make these videos for enthusiasts, but you doing 5 minutes of research to look for these videos to send to that person to have them watch could save you a 30-minute phone call or an hour worth of driving and that's where something to me at least. 

 

I know that Linus cares for the average user, if he didn't he wouldn't do the secret shopper series' and point out the failures of SI's. Linus did sales and probably some tech support for his old job. 

 

Give a person a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a person how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 

You may not like helping family and friends, but do you want them to be taken advantage of for a driver update, loose cable, or a shady AF tech who tells granny Mill that her "SSD died because the bearings on the platter went out." 

 

We need to stop treating the average user like a plebeians.

[The_russian]

1 hour ago, The_Dentist said:

It would be pointless to make these videos for enthusiasts, but you doing 5 minutes of research to look for these videos to send to that person to have them watch could save you a 30-minute phone call or an hour worth of driving and that's where something to me at least. 

I'm sure there are already many videos on YouTube of setup tutorials, simple troubleshooting and such. People on the forum often suggest that LTT branch out to start making content on a different subject, or make a series of videos on a certain topic. LTT isn't the only tech channel on YouTube, they focus more on the PC gamer audience. There are tech channels that make content for other audiences, why not spend the 5 minutes of research you mentioned to find a video or content created that you can support?

[LogicalDrm]

This is pretty much what early Tech Quickie was intended to be. Short videos about basic stuff, be it installing, choosing or troubleshooting.

 

So for video suggestions, threads are:

 

I would personally avoid using terms like boomer. That has pretty demeaning tone.

 

I also would say that offering video content, by someone who can't answer their questions, is not optimal. From teaching multiple things to my parents, and while learning software and other things myself, the questions are most important part. They ask about things they notice, or they don't quite understand. They ask it using terms they know and can associate with. Someone answering them using same terms, sometimes showing by hand, gives much better result as they will remember the association.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

19 hours ago, The_Dentist said:

or worse walk them through it over the phone?

i did that for my brother. i had covid symptoms a day or 2 before so i couldn't go over to help as i had to quarantine. it took 3 hours, but that was like 8 months ago or something like that and the computer still happily runs, so in the end it was worth it.

[TetraSky]

19 hours ago, Middcore said:

You cannot make information basic enough for a person who just doesn't want to learn it.

This ^

I used to have to walkthrough my mom on the same thing over and over again... Even though it was clearly written on the screen what to do. She never bothered reading it. Never bothered learning it...

And I've met plenty of other people like that, young and old. No matter what you make available to them, if they aren't willing to put the smallest of efforts, it ain't gonna do any good.

[The_Dentist]

48 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

This is pretty much what early Tech Quickie was intended to be. Short videos about basic stuff, be it installing, choosing or troubleshooting.

 

So for video suggestions, threads are:

 

I would personally avoid using terms like boomer. That has pretty demeaning tone.

 

I also would say that offering video content, by someone who can't answer their questions, is not optimal. From teaching multiple things to my parents, and while learning software and other things myself, the questions are most important part. They ask about things they notice, or they don't quite understand. They ask it using terms they know and can associate with. Someone answering them using same terms, sometimes showing by hand, gives much better result as they will remember the association.

I know that was what techquickie was supposed to close to in it's early days but I do believe it's gone far more in-depth about very specific things.

It's funny because I used boomer because I know it sets the tone for who the video is intended but you're right. 

I know I have helped my own family with there tech needs for 20+years and I know it's never a great time when they need help I'd rather send a video or couple of videos to have someone watch and see if it answers their question in hopes of saving myself time.

 

I will always answer my family's tech questions and help with problems, but I'd rather try and save some time on my side of things for trivial things. Example my mom wanted to setup a 2nd monitor and asked if I had an extra power cable For an older monitor. Me being a concerned son doing my part to double check I asked for a picture of said "power cord port" to find out she meant hdmi, dvi, and or vga cable. Good thing I had grabbed ac power cord and was almost out the door when I got the picture.

Although I was going to send her a link to a video to help walk her through I was having trouble finding one that was easily understood or upto a quality I would expect and not look like it was shot on a potato. 

I

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, The_Dentist said:

I know I have helped my own family with there tech needs for 20+years and I know it's never a great time when they need help I'd rather send a video or couple of videos to have someone watch and see if it answers their question in hopes of saving myself time.

Nothing tells them more that you care than sending couple video links /s

[Giganthrax]

As the others have said already, it's not that there are no easy tutorials available (there are many), it's that these people simply don't give two shits about learning this stuff and want their tech to just work, right now.

 

You can lead a horse to the water all you want, but you can't make it drink.  

 

This is such an broad problem that you have countless IT companies that basically exploit these people because they'd rather waste money than bother learning this stuff. Unfortunately, I think the only solution to this problem is to buy them a decent laptop and be done with it. 

[Dillpickle23422]

yeah, honestly I told my grandparents to get a chromebook (yuck) as its cheap, it reads emails, and pretty hard to get a virus on 

[Meatball the man]

Honestly it wouldn’t just be for boomers I’m a idiot 

[Meatball the man]

Or maybe it’s just because it’s my first time

[The_Dentist]

On 2/2/2021 at 7:53 AM, Meatball the man said:

Or maybe it’s just because it’s my first time

I doubt your dumb and would rather say a first timer would be a good audience for something like this because most people who build any number of PC's forget how intimidating the act of building a PC can be.

 

This thread has kinda pointed out to me the elitist mind set of some pc builders and honestly I don't miss it.

[BetteBalterZen]

On 2/2/2021 at 12:53 AM, The_Dentist said:

... but I also refuse to let my family and friends get extorted for money over a loose wire or driver. 

Not to sound like a douche, but if you refuse, then I guess it's up to you and not Linus to help?

[Lord Bloobus]

It's $20 for the trip, $50 for knowing which cable to replace. Don't devalue your knowledge.

[tkitch]

So, I am permanently stuck in the role of family IT support.  

 

So that's a thing, and I'll have to deal.  (It doesn't mean I like it, but it means it's a thing.)

 

1) Remote connection software.  I pay for a basic license with Splashtop www.splashtop.com and it's worth it's weight in gold, and then some.  Asking family to do something over the phone is worse than pulling teeth.  This software lets me connect any time the PC is on directly (system service) and I can just do it remotely.

 

2) Don't be afraid to tell them they have to buy something new.  (Or send them something new.)  

I sent my grandparents a new laptop, router, and some other stuff.  (Before my dumbass uncle had a chance to sabotage shit.  It was going to happen.)  

 

3) Accept that you can't prevent stupid.  Like, say, when they decided that the power strip didn't need to be plugged into the wall anymore.  There's a limited about of stuff you can do to prevent that, and just roll with it.

 

4) Patience.  And possibly some alcohol.  But more patience.