• hydroxycotton@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    I’ve trained a lot of 18-22 y/os in the last 10 years and they are fine. Let’s not become the boomers please…

  • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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    4 hours ago

    The only reason we have to rotate the PDFs is because they can’t figure out how to use the sheet-feed scanner. Theres a picture embossed in the thing! And a sign that we put next to the button!

      • TVA@thebrainbin.org
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        4 hours ago

        They won’t fucking read it though, “I’m just not a computer person! tee-hee!”

        For me, that’s been the major differentiator. The Boomers that don’t know basic shit in 2025 are proud of it; the Zoomers that don’t know have at least been willing to be shown. The Boomers that ASK to be shown though, ::chefs kiss::, now there is a passion to learn

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Just helped build my 12 year old cousin his first computer and was forced into putting Windows on it. Now, I get that it’s important that he at least understand what the “normal OS” is, but I did want to put at least Mint or something on there. Zoomers and Alpha really don’t know how to navigate even the basics, though, and this kid was no exception.

    Well, technically I wanted to put something based on Arch but even I know that’s a bad idea for a sink or swim computer moment.

  • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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    6 hours ago

    it depends on the person. some zoomers are great with tech, hardware and software. others aren’t. same goes for every generation. this reeks of the “haha let’s shit on the younger generations” millennials have been mad about for years

    • irelephant [he/him]🍭@lemm.eeOPM
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      6 hours ago

      Sorry, but its different this time. A much smaller chunk of gen z is good with tech, and most of them struggle with basic concepts (like filesystems). Saying this as a gen z person.

      • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        I disagree. I work IT for a living. I fix a lot of devices for gen z but don’t often have to educate them on software. the amount of people 30+ who don’t realize I as a random IT worker can’t magically reset their yahoo password is insane.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      6 hours ago

      And I’ve worked with some boomers who could use filezilla and other higher level than typical tech. There are some that are talented, but the average is noticeably lower.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      6 hours ago

      And I’ve worked with some boomers who could use filezilla and other higher level than typical tech. There are some that are talented, but the average is noticeably lower.

    • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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      8 hours ago

      To put a finer point on it, it specifically the younger Gen Xers and older Millennials. That’s the “one” generation this post describes.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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        3 hours ago

        It’s not just younger Gen X. I’m oldish Gen X and loads of us were programming computers for fun from the late 1970s on. By the early 1990s you couldn’t really avoid computers, and you couldn’t use them without at least a basic level of understanding. By that time many of us had been using them for a decade or more. It’s those who grew up without computers and those who grew up with iPhones that have a problem with tech.

      • arrow74@lemm.ee
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        5 hours ago

        I know younger millennials and older gen Z and they both can use computers just fine. The oldest Gen Z are nearly 30 now.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        7 hours ago

        I’m on the older end of Gen Xers and at least the nerdier half of us not only know how to use computers, but we’ve seen the whole evolution of home computing since the Altair. We know in a way you never can why goto is considered harmful.

        • edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          And on the other end of that, my niece and nephew are just on the cusp between millennial and gen z and they grew up playing games on Windows 95, 98, and XP. I think both Gen X and Millennials in their entirety fit the bill.

        • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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          7 hours ago

          I’m on the younger end of X, and definitely agree about witnessing (most) of the evolution of personal computing.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Trying to explain to a GenXer what Cobol is and to a Millennial what a Ring Light is and its practically impossible.

      This meme is just ForwardsFromGeandma minus the 😂🤣😂🤣 emojis. If GenX/Millennials properly understood technology, they wouldn’t all be on Windows.

      • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        Pretty sure the only Cobol programmers left at this point are Gen X and older.

        People are still on Windows because of massive industry momentum, and as the developers shift from being mostly Gen X and older millennials, to younger millennials and Gen z, things are getting progressively shittier. And it’s not only due to c-suite driven enshitification.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Pretty sure the only Cobol programmers left at this point are Gen X and older.

          The funny thing is that we’ve got a ton of legacy hardware that still runs it, mostly in the public sector. But since GenX/Millennials avoided public jobs like the plague, what we’re seeing now are Boomers left to teach it to the incoming ranks of GenZs who can’t get a job in the dying Silicon Valley sector.

      • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 hours ago

        If GenX/Millennials properly understood technology, they wouldn’t all be on Windows.

        By that metric the only generations that properly understand technology are gen alpha and boomers, since they’re the most likely to just own a phone and/or tablet and no windows desktop or laptop.

      • NABDad@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        I’m in the middle of Gen X.

        I had a class in college that was centered on COBOL.

        I certainly wouldn’t need anyone to explain to what it is.

    • MsPenguinette@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Maybe it’s just me but I feel like PDFs are significantly a less common part of life nowadays. Especially when it comes to having to edit one

        • FizzyOrange@programming.dev
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          6 hours ago

          Well, at a low level they are still basically the same. x86 still starts in 16-bit real mode. Mice still use USB 1 from the 90s.

          Mostly it’s just a lot faster and covered with more layers of abstraction.

          • legion02@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            But you don’t know what I mean. Computers as most people know them now are tablets and cell phones. I blame X and the elder millennials for that.

            • samus12345@lemm.ee
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              4 hours ago

              Computers filled rooms back when the boomers (and earlier gens) were creating them, so even a desktop isn’t how they were known then. But it laid the groundwork.

              • legion02@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                Was Franklin laying the groundwork for computers as we know them when he discovered electricity? You have to cut things off somewhere for a statement like that.

                • samus12345@lemm.ee
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                  4 hours ago

                  It could be said so, but it’s a much, much more distant connection than working on things that are literally called “computers.”

      • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 hours ago

        That’s like saying that nerdy millenials invented mRNA vaccines. A very small percentage of the population worked on them while the rest weren’t even aware they existed for most of that time.

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          5 hours ago

          Regardless of how few, it was still people from that gen and computers wouldn’t exist today if they hadn’t laid the groundwork.

  • moakley@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    To be fair, I don’t actually know how to rotate a pdf. I re-learn it every few years, then immediately forget it again.

  • CallateCoyote@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Helped a Zoomer coworker build a PC for gaming and was then shocked watching him try to navigate Windows and being confused on basic things. Then I realized that, yeah, he probably never really used a desktop for much unlike us Millennials who grew up sitting at desks. He’s doing much better a couple years later so they are definitely able to adapt though!

  • Fleur_@aussie.zone
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    3 hours ago

    “Am I out of touch? No! It’s everyone else who is wrong” - millennials

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Correction: there are 10 generations that know technology inside and out. IYKYK.

  • SassyRamen@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    My son types with his pointers… he turns 14 this month, and has already learned how to type in school. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Types exactly like my dad, only minus the thick glasses.

  • twinnie@feddit.uk
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    8 hours ago

    I work with some guys much younger than me. They’re great at programming and stuff like that but none of them have ever built a computer. They seem to think it’ll be really hard.

    • BlueLineBae@midwest.social
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      7 hours ago

      The sad part about that is building a PC is easier than ever. I hadn’t built one in over a decade and was shocked to find out that everything is toolless and just snaps right into place! The only part that’s maybe intimidating for newbies is putting the thermal paste down without making a mess but even then, you just go slow and take your time and you’ll be fine.

    • zout@fedia.io
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      8 hours ago

      It is really hard, with al the soldering and print etching and what more.

        • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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          4 hours ago

          When I did my technician course, it was still using the old program and we had a wirewrap course (I did my course from 2007 to 2009)

          We had this big bread board that we could connect to an ISA slot in an old PC. A guy connected a capacitor wrong by mistake. When he plugged the ISA card in, the capacitor caught fire like it would in a cartoon.

          He was dumbfounded and it was funny as hell.

    • NABDad@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      none of them have ever built a computer. They seem to think it’ll be really hard.

      Depends on what you’re starting with. If you mean assembling a case, power supply, motherboard, processor, RAM, storage, video adapters, etc., the only difficult part of that is deciding you can do it.

      If you’re talking about assembling components on a breadboard, that’s going to be more challenging.

      I’ve done both. The breadboard computer was for an electronics class in college. It was both more fun and more pain.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        The part I find challenging about building a PC is shopping for components. Making sure the RAM is compatible with the motherboard and all that shit. Assembling the thing is like really expensive legos that take a disconcerting amount of force to click together.

        • NABDad@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          This is the fix for that:

          https://pcpartpicker.com/

          Edit:

          I had about 13 years between my current PC built in December of 2024 and my previous machine. Back when I built the previous PCs, I would rely on books to research what to get. It’s gotten a lot easier with pcpartpicker.com.