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Comment by mfer | Hacker News Reader

> That generation has nothing but problems with their devices, it's like a mini game for them.

This isn't a generational thing. I know folks from all generations who have trouble with technology. Sometimes this is because things really are broken. It's not like a lot of things are high quality. Sometimes it's because stuff is hard to use. For those of us in tech we have a higher tolerance for learning pain and have enough understanding stuff is easier to pickup. For many others the UX is just painful to learn.

Poking at this as a generational thing can cause us to miss some other underlying issues worth paying attention to.

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agreed. MOST people don't know much about technology. I'm 44 and teach at a community college. I have 17 year olds (taking dual credit classes for high school) and 60 year olds. Most of them don't know how to use computers well and I can't assume that someone will or won't because of age. The problems they have do tend to be generational - younger people tend to do most things on phones and don't know how to use a mouse and keyboard-based computer efficiently (so few of them ever maximize the browser window. I don't know how they work that way) while older people tend to have problems with things like getting connected to the school wifi.

I cringe at the tech issues I see daily regardless of age. They are mostly small things and not earth shattering but it proves that "digital natives" are not computer experts.

Example:I give them a link to something and I've gotten in the habit of making sure to just post news.ycombinator.com and not https://news.ycombinator.com because so many of them don't know you normally don't need to type https:// or a www.

I'm 44 too and hate people that maximize their window, as they are so many things running at the same time, don't you tile your applications, ah interesting there is more than one way to do it I guess.

that is valid if you do have multiple things going at a time. I do it frequently. These students don't have multiple things going. All they have is the browser and I see them having to scroll left and right because the site doesn't fit inside the browser window. The rest of the monitor is just the desktop.

interesting. the 'digital natives' are definitely not computer experts. They are 100% users and know how to work a phone/tablet , connect to app store, download apps and play them. They don't know too much about what is actually happening.

I've said it to my wife so many times now it is engrained in her... we are driving somewhere (live in midwest). she pulls up phone and tries to do something on internet. when it takes more then 3 seconds she is like ugh what is going on. I have to say, honey let me tell you what is happening. Your phone is sending signals up to outerspace, bouncing around and eventually some data makes it's way back to your phone. Patience young padawan learner!

Does her satellite phone connect to the local cell network when she's in a city? What phone is that?

This is an interesting point. Is it more that the younger generation prefers to figure out the problem themselves, possibly due to fear of social embarrassment, whereas the older generation doesn't share those fears, and thus are more willing to engage in public conversation about their technological shortcomings?

Or maybe it's willful ignorance? They "don't have the time" to figure it out so they just want someone to give them the answer. It's like asking them for their password, they don't know it, but it's written down on a post it note somewhere. Vs the younger generation has it memorized.

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