Millenials and 'Tech Savvy'

[jinjuku]

I keep seeing headlines about how Millenials are 'Tech Savvy'.

I have an issue with this. Millenials use a lot more tech then my parents generation. I don't think that about my generation (growing up in the 8 bit era).

Knowing how to simply use technology is one thing. Understanding how it works, and the ramifications of the hyper-connectivity is quite the other.

That's where I believe it all falls down for them. They didn't cut their teeth on anything. It's all mostly polished and handed off. They didn't go through the pains of actually making something work.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.

Source: Idiocracy(2006) - Mike Judge was ahead of his time.

 

[slipperybidness]

If you never had to blow on an NES cartridge to get it to work correctly.....then you are not tech savvy

Remember the days when you actually had to set your land line phone on your modem and then hear all the static and beeps?

Our first computer was a TRS-80! The storage device was a tape recorder for cassette tapes!

 

[herbu]

Knowing how to simply use technology is one thing. Understanding how it works, and the ramifications of the hyper-connectivity is quite the other.

Interesting question. They are no doubt more inclined to tech. I suppose it's because they're exposed to it more and sooner. Because of this exposure, more of the "smart" kids may choose it as a field to pursue.

 

[rnatalli]

If you never had to blow on an NES cartridge to get it to work correctly.....then you are not tech savvy

Or having to shove another cartridge on top of it so the connectors touch just right when it's in the console.

 

[slipperybidness]

Or having to shove another cartridge on top of it so the connectors touch just right when it's in the console.

Haha. Yup! That was "plan B"

 

[markw]

I keep seeing headlines about how Millenials are 'Tech Savvy'.

I have an issue with this. Millenials use a lot more tech then my parents generation. I don't think that about my generation (growing up in the 8 bit era).

Knowing how to simply use technology is one thing. Understanding how it works, and the ramifications of the hyper-connectivity is quite the other.

That's where I believe it all falls down for them. They didn't cut their teeth on anything. It's all mostly polished and handed off. They didn't go through the pains of actually making something work.

Somewhat true. they have a glancing knowledge of many things but an in-depth understanding is another matter entirely.

You are correct when you say we had to fight for our knowledge. Today, they are lazy. Rather than dig for an answer, they will just find a forum on the internet and ask end-result questions and get answers without any effort. Then, when they get the answer and don't understand the answer or it isn't what they wanted to hear, they argue with you.

If we had the internet when we were growing up, we would be geniuses.

 

[shadyJ]

I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking one generation is better than the next. That is the daft griping of old people who look at the past with rose-colored glasses. In truth many of the older generations are quite foolish and have handed down almost insurmountable problems to future generations. Younger generations will have to try really hard to be as dumb and reckless and destructive as their forebearers.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I think judging a generation is silly. I know some very technical people from every generation, and just as many clueless fools. I've worked in the large-scale computer systems, networking, system software, and ASIC development industries for going on 35 years now, and I haven't noticed any generalizations that can be made about one generation or another. The only thing I have noticed is the people in these industries are mostly men, and that's changing very slowly. Too slowly.

 

[jinjuku]

Remember I'm saying the paint brush of tech savvy is being used too widely. It's not a knock on the Millennial generation per se.

There is one knock on effect that I think the #'s point out that Millennials do tend to have more information about them out there and seem a bit more of a target or victim of ID related crimes.

 

[Chu Gai]

I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking one generation is better than the next. That is the daft griping of old people who look at the past with rose-colored glasses. In truth many of the older generations are quite foolish and have handed down almost insurmountable problems to future generations. Younger generations will have to try really hard to be as dumb and reckless and destructive as their forebearers.

Where can I report these micro-aggressions?

 

[Irvrobinson]

Where can I report these micro-aggressions?

Send them to whining@oldandcranky.org

 

[Seth=L]

The Millenials should be considered "User Interface Savvy".

 

[Rickster71]

I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking one generation is better than the next. That is the daft griping of old people who look at the past with rose-colored glasses. In truth many of the older generations are quite foolish and have handed down almost insurmountable problems to future generations. Younger generations will have to try really hard to be as dumb and reckless and destructive as their forebearers.

I know, those stupid old people... amirite?

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
- Attributed to Socrates by Plato

I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting
The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare


They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things -- and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning -- all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They overdo everything -- they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else.
- Aristotle

 

[Hobbit]

When I was growing up in Santa Barbara our school was lucky enough to have 2 computers! I was one of the few chosen to learn to operate them. In college the microprocessor class I took used an 8088 in a wood veneer box with switches. Back then so few of us were exposed to any technology and even fewer knew anything about how they worked. I actually remember having to learn to use a microwave! I had no idea how the microwaves heated the food... Similarly, today I have no problem handing my smartphone to my kids to show me how to do something. It doesn't bother me that they don't know how the LCD actually works (yet).

I don't know how you can make a comparison to young folks today? They're way ahead of the curve from where we were at their age in many facets. I don't find it to be a badge of honor that I had to cut my teeth to keep up or learn to do something that they intuitively know from exposure.

I suppose in twenty-some-odd-years we will be a bunch of grumpy old men complaining about the kids of the day. Just as my parents generation thought we were doomed too...

 

[Chu Gai]

Many, many years ago I read a science fiction short story. A crew was out in space and looking to return home. Unfortunately, the computer was malfunctioning and as a result, they didn't know how to make the various required settings and calculations. None of the people on the bridge remembered what logs were or how to multiply and add. They'd long relegated such basics to ancient history - quaint but unimportant with the advent of computers.

All seemed lost and the word gradually spread of their dire predicament throughout the ship. After a while, a person came forward and said he could do it without a computer. From his pocket he took out a long, strange device with various numbers on it. When asked what the device was that was capable of such magical calculations he replied that it was a slide rule.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I am nearing my big four-o, yet I know I am yet a spring chicken compared to many esteemed member probably with double that
But I also have small story to share - back in my elementary school our teacher used to tell us that we must learn basic calculus since no-one walks around with calculator in the pocket...
It seems she was proven wrong and it only took two decades

Nowadays only time we go out and split the bill - it's only with company of mostly asians is then tip is calculated almost instantaneously correctly and without using cellphones

 

[herbu]

... - Attributed to Socrates by Plato
... The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
... - Aristotle

Exactly!!! It was true then and it's still true today!!!