Kids Can't Use Computers... And This Is Why It Should Worry You

[Whiskers]

Once I was showing a friend some very basic HTML and the teacher told me to get off the computer because it's not allowed at school.

 

Haha. Wonder how they would have reacted to seeing one of those Matrix Code screensavers...

[constanrine5d]

Well.. i read most of it. Im 16 i bet you maybe 2% of my highschool 9-12 know how to format a OS and if you really think about it they're the ones who are going to get us 25 screwed over with hidden software like a iphone. So how do we fix this?Id say the school will have to show the kids some how to format a computer restall a os and if you fail that class you fail the grade .THIS HAS TO HAPPEN OR ELSE!!@%^$%yu^t  ^$%bvtr

Going to my school:

What I think it will be like: OK guys today we'll learn html,C++,Java... then you'll have a chalenge to disasemble the whole computer, reasemble it and install 10 copies of linux in 40 mins,

What it is like: Ok now we'll learn how to move this thing called a mouse!!!! YAY!!!

       

[Whiskers]

Going to my school:

What I think it will be like: OK guys today we'll learn html,C++,Java... then you'll have a chalenge to disasemble the whole computer, reasemble it and install 10 copies of linux in 40 mins,

What it is like: Ok now we'll learn how to move this thing called a mouse!!!! YAY!!!

 

My first computing teacher knew literally nothing beyond the most basic parts of how to make a PowerPoint Presentation. My second teacher failed to give us the right coursework for the exams we ended up studying (resulting in only myself and 1 other passing) and the third teacher had us focusing exclusively on learning how to use Microsoft Office. Particularly, spreadsheet.

 

Because yaaaaaaay it's not like we had a seperate and optional Administration class to cover all that.

 

Thank god for college. My lecturers are awesome people and actually know what the hell they're talking about. :D

[tobben]

He's right but I have a feeling he's kind of being a dick about it.

It's the same about other professions. I'm an electrician and there are lots of people who don't know the first thing about it.

Then there are also lots of people who know a little about electricity, try to fix something them self and then screw up everything even more.

exactly .. when someone has a certain ammount of respect or knowledge about something "professionals" they seem to often expect/demand of other people to think the same to some degree, which ofcourse .. everyone is different, and everyone view things from a different angle, we can't all think the same and everyone certainly can't appreciate EVERYTHING, and with all due respect i think electricity/energy is even more fundamental than computers to be entierly honest.

[DeViLzzz]

The world would be fine without technology but whatever and honestly if my son could not use a computer he would not have shut down my downloads on Steam that were running for a reason til 8 am.  FFS

[Nertballs]

that article is probably the most correct thing i have EVER read on the internet! It's massively true, i know a guy studying third level Computer Science, and i know more about computers than him!

[Cad6500]

This reminds me of a story my Dad always tells me. Back when I was 2 years old, my parents used to buy me games for my computer, and when we got home, while they were unloading the groceries, I would take the games and install them myself, and when my parents checked, they would be shocked that I had everything installed and working, this was in the U.S. BTW. When we got to the Philippines, my Dad used to buy some hardware and stuff at a local retailer, and whenever he bought something they insisted on having their engineer install the software, my Dad usually declined and told them that "He can do it. Installing software is so simple that even my son can do it" the sales lady would ask "is your son an engineer?" then my Dad would say "no, he's 3 years old" then the lady would be shocked... LOL XD

[bradscoolio]

I'm gonna try that WPA-2 trick on my kid when I have one

[mozoa]

The fun part is, people are saying coding skill immediately means computer skill

While most IT and network managers can not code for shit, because it is not important.

 

For example, I can use most programs someone coded with some clicking around, but i can not write my own programs

because coding simply bores me to look at a screen and several hundred lines of code.

 

And it works the other way around to, knowing how to code does not mean you can set up a system or a network.

They are two very different lines of expertise

[Ruostunut kokis]

Going to my school:

What I think it will be like: OK guys today we'll learn html,C++,Java... then you'll have a chalenge to disasemble the whole computer, reasemble it and install 10 copies of linux in 40 mins,

What it is like: Ok now we'll learn how to move this thing called a mouse!!!! YAY!!!

       

 

That's exactly what happened to me when I was in junior high school and to my friend in vocational school (introduced me to tech). Like teachers expect students/pupils to be complete idiots about tech. I wouldn't be surprised, though...

[MdX MaxX]

I didn't like the article at all. I felt that it was mostly sensationalism.

 

Kids can't use computers! Oh, but neither can adults. Oh and I can't fix up cars so I guess it's all good...

 

And his attitude in general was terrible. Many people are ignorant of technology and how to properly use it - mocking them and having absolutely zero patience with them certainly won't help fix that. He is a lecturer / teacher, and his job should be to educate and inform others. If I were in his shoes I would do my best to be a role model for those students, because if I make them look up to me I can captivate them enough to get them interested in tech. Achieve that and you'll be getting them building their own computers in no time!

 

Positive reinforcement + positive attitude + positive outlook = positive outcome. That way you can be part of the solution to the problem, not the cause of it.

I don't feel his goal was to mock those people.  He mainly wanted to debunk the common notion that all young people these days are tech-savvy, and used personal examples to support his argument.

 

And there's only so much you can teach people.  The girl with the Mac, would you have started trying to explain proxy servers to her?  The guy who couldn't log on because the Ethernet was disconnected, would you have started explaining the school's networking system?  The guy who "had no Internet" because the blue 'e' was misplaced, would you start explaining Internet browsers and recommending alternatives to IE?  You could, but I feel like people like this would just give you blank stares as though you were speaking another language.

 

A lot of people can learn, but let's be honest, some people are a lost cause.  Especially people with the "hey nerd boy, fix my computer" attitude.  I don't mean that in a condescending way, it's just a fact of life that some people won't get it.

[rashdanml]

I didn't like the article at all. I felt that it was mostly sensationalism.

 

 

 

 

 

And his attitude in general was terrible. Many people are ignorant of technology and how to properly use it - mocking them and having absolutely zero patience with them certainly won't help fix that. He is a lecturer / teacher, and his job should be to educate and inform others. If I were in his shoes I would do my best to be a role model for those students, because if I make them look up to me I can captivate them enough to get them interested in tech. Achieve that and you'll be getting them building their own computers in no time!

 

Positive reinforcement + positive attitude + positive outlook = positive outcome. That way you can be part of the solution to the problem, not the cause of it.

If you read the article, he WAS being patient at the start. The examples he pulled up were the start of a scenario, not what happened next (for all we know, he could have explained it to them properly). I've been in similar situations too, explaining tech related things thoroughly and patiently, but the common trend I've noticed is that people never listen. You can have infinite patience, but if they don't listen, there's little you can do. 

[wkronbaek]

Sad but true.

I'm a kid, and the two times I've ever encountered our school technician was the first day to ask him for the wifi password, and about a month later to make him start giving codes to linux versions of school programs (Activinspire etc) which he never did. Although I must admit it's kinda funny seeing the teacher not knowing what's going on when his/her pc booted from the Usb stick he/her placed before booting.

[GrievingJosh]

It's amazing to think, because Computers are really not difficult things to do, I think everyone here could agree on this ... A modern PC with a modern OS is not a hard thing to use, and it's insane how many people get baffled by such a simple thing. For example, a guy in my class was playing games, and his Computer froze, his solution to the problem was to hit the Computer repeatedly as if it was supposed to make it all better again. Even building a PC is not the most insane/stupid/ridiculously hard thing ever. The people who think this generation is amazingly smart because we all have Phone's and Laptop's and Tablet's ect, are silly, because 90% of people don't even know how to use them properly.

[Henry]

The author is absolutely right. Tho I am one of the actual tech geeks. I am 15.

 

And 90% of my peers are like this...(they know how to do basic stuff, like the author said, tell them to reinstall the operating system and they wont understand)

[Overl0rd]

Now that I do have some I've finally read it. I have to say that it is an excellent article! I help my sysadmin at school quite often and the things you mention really are true.

 

I once was cleaning the dust out of the computers (which was of course an extravagant amount) and one of the students started screaming that the computer was one fire since there was a small cloud of dust coming out the fan grill  -_-

 

One of my other friends was complaining that his gaming laptop ran too hot, which of course due to the fact that it was full of dust.

 

I also used to have a second monitor hooked up to my laptop at home, and my friends thought it was complete magic that you could move a window across the two screens o.o

[TheProfosist]

Idk how many of you know this but there are plenty of people who program for their job or are good with computers probably better than you or me that have never fully assembled or disasembled a pc.

[Guest]

You think this is bad? My friend in front of class couldn't tell that the most popular search engine today is google and they don't know how to send a email or check at someone's history of browser. It is just so stupid that people can use facebook and twitter but cannot fix things on their computers by themselves. LOL, that is where i became a techno.

[CornOnJacob]

did u just say its not possible to do much in command prompt? Cause that definitly shows what you know...

I'm talking about Windows command prompt, not the Linux terminal, and not even Windows Powershell. Are you thinking of something that I'm missing?

[Lamb]

My dad got me interested in computers at a young age. My parents divorced not long after, and I was living with my mom for a couple of years (She doesn't know anything about computers). I learned to figure out things by myself, and if it broke, change it back. Now I know so much more than other people my age around me. If it wasn't for my dad and my mom's old Compaq desktop, I would be nowhere. It is very crazy how young people do not take advantage of the resources they have at their fingertips...

 

EDIT: By resources, I mean websites such as this one or Google. Any problem you have with a computer can easily be fixed by asking someone knowledgeable.

[Nicolas]

I'm 15 years old, and I know more about computers than my computing teacher (BTW when I say computing, I don't mean anything that has anything to do with advanced applications it's like how to use word and power point, I live in south america and computing seems like the appropiate word for it, but I'm not sure) not saying that I'm a genius or anything like that, I'm saying that my teacher is stupid and if I showed her some of my code on one of my WIP games, she wouldn't understand any of it

[Henry]

Everyone has "omg HACKER!" in their mind here when they see a command prompt / terminal open. It's ridiculous. 

Right click, view source of a web page and BAM, people think u hacked the website...lmao

[TheProfosist]

I'm talking about Windows command prompt, not the Linux terminal, and not even Windows Powershell. Are you thinking of something that I'm missing?

 

Umm yea because though PowerShell is used now because its more robust and easier to use CMD had lost none of its power.

[Humbug]

And it works the other way around to, knowing how to code does not mean you can set up a system or a network.

They are two very different lines of expertise

Yes most people don't get that. And even a programmer familiar with one language may be a lost in a different environment. Tech fields are so vast now that You can't specialize in everything. I work in telecommunications engineering and in order to get something down it's crazy how many sub-specializations Come into the picture and have to work together. Some non tech people don't grasp just how wide and deep each specialization can get.

[Oseirus]

Finally got around to reading this article for myself, I'm really glad I did. Certainly highlighted some things that I guess I always knew were true, but never really thought about until now.

 

Kinda funny though, I noticed a few people mentioning that they were getting mad after reading the article. At first I couldn't really understand why, but then I started to think about it, and now I'm getting a little pissed off too.

 

It really just boils down to how aggravatingly stupid people are allowed to be these days. Everything is catered to the masses, everything is made accessible to point of being ridiculous. So many people expect things to just work for them without needing any real knowledge about the thing, and then suddenly whenever it breaks they're in a tizzy because they can't put their lunch on Instagram. And then to top it all off, when someone with just a little bit of tech knowledge and a modicum of common sense swoops in to save the day, they're [sometimes not so] secretly ridiculed and shoved into the "nerd" category simply because they can make the magic to get an "irreversibly broken" iPhone working again. The lucky ones might get a "thanks" muttered in their general direction before Captain Ineptitude returns to their stream of lolcats and inane Facebook status updates. 

 

And then kids! This is one of those things that I mentioned earlier, that I sorta knew but never really thought about before the article. So many people these days laud their two-year-old prodigy baby simply because they know how to play Angry Birds, claiming that they already know more about computers than someone who's been in the field for years. No, sorry, but your brat is just going to grow up being the same technologically crippled hipster prick that you are. It really is terrifying to think that this same generation, the one that's being raised electronically, is going to be the same one trying to manipulate computers for their job in 15 or so years. There's no escaping it either. Maybe 15-20 years ago it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but now that virtually everything is run on computers, it's almost a necessity now to be able to properly handle and work a machine. No amount of sepia filtering is going to help that kid when suddenly his cubicle computer flips out and decides to pull his raunchy internet history out of the Cloud while he's at work just because he had no clue how to set up his sharing preferences.

 

EDIT: Just to expand a little... I guess it is worth mentioning the car bit. Now, I'm not saying that everyone needs to be OMGSUPERGEEK and building all of their own computers and putting Dell out of business, they just need to have working knowledge. At least attempt to fix the problem on their own. If it's outside of their expertise or talent, then so be it, but it's just like owning a car. You don't need to know the name of every last component under the hood, but for crying out loud at least know how to change a flat, and know what needs to be maintained and when. If you're going to use something on a daily basis, I think it's only fair to yourself and the people around you that you at least grasp the concept of the thing.