I think the article is wrong about two things. The iPad generation is less tech savvy. They grew up with tech that just worked. They don't know of IRQ conflicts or SCSI termination.
Also, I laugh at that quote from the 21 year old. Ah the arrogance of youth. They act like their generation invented social justice. They only know of social justice because they've been brainwashed into it. Which of course requires it to have been invented more than 21 years ago.
The word iToddler /g/ likes to use a lot is pretty apt. They just don't know how to troubleshoot any issue, they don't know that some stuff can be sketchy. I've seen this with a family member who thankfully always asks me about those things otherwise he'd have fucked up stuff more than I can count on one hand.
I don't think anyone born past the early to mid 90's seriously struggled with any kind of tech, so they can't troubleshoot. I feel like an old man preferring PCs to mobile crap, but at least I'm able to figure shit out if either malfunctions. I just don't understand how anyone can prefer a mobile interface over a good old point and click GUI. Mobile is fine when I don't have access to my laptop, but the laptop is far more useful.
I'm obviously bragging here, but I feel like us Millennials who aren't retards use PCs for way more stuff than other generations do. We're the types of autists who are programming or rendering or we do all kinds of other weird shit people don't even think about on a day to day basis.
Every now and then even as part of my work I try to put myself in the mind of a normie to understand the type of consumer they are:
. They hate complexity, they'll either ditch it and complain or hand it over to a techie if they find it too hard instead of learn it themselves
. They make phone calls/text
. They email
. They browse the internet and look at youtube videos or TikTok all day
. They may MAY occasionally look at a mobile game if they're really bored or are one of those people with a personal addiction problem
I'm pretty sure that's accurate, but when you understand that's the most they do it's easy to see why they're always on their phones and don't even really use a desktop PC. They probably don't even realise the amazing and fun shit you can do with even a standard desktop PC these days because of how powerful they are.
The dedicated normie 'gamers' seem to be primarily console users which would partly explain why the steam deck is so massively popular but the new generation consoles are getting lots of sales still too. Consoles go back to my point about complexity, normies just want to be able to go click, click, install at most and they don't want to have to think about anything else.
If I wanted to make a game for example that I could market to normies, my primary target would probably be steam deck users, since I can't access console publishers really as an indie dev.
There's also a portion of doing that sort of activity and getting it formated and working that doesn't seem to be part of the "common Z experience"
What I mean to say is the last time I was sick and stayed home from work I spent 8 hours straight trying to get a stupid Candyland cereal box game from when i was a kid to work on my computer. The process included installing Windows 3 in dos-box, before eventually giving up and running a virtual windows 98 machine in PCem, which I had never used before.
Last night I spent 3 hours getting Marvel Ultimate Alliance to work on my computer with mods and all from scratch. Even though I HAVE a fully set up copy in my backpack on a hard drive.
Millennials grew up having to use MS-DOS, zoomers grew up with touch screens even boomers can use, it's that simple and why they're on the same level as boomers.
I don't think this is even tech illiteracy now, it's just that Gen Z is so terminally online that it's almost inevitable for the dumb percentage of them.
It sounds like the former from the wording. I also wonder if they're going all the way to 1964 for Boomers. The younger portion of that generation a) is still working and b) made use of computers 20 years ago depending on the field they worked in. There are people in their 60s who are at least functional with a computer.
they're unfit to govern anything beyond their own nose.
And sometimes not even that. Having written instructions for simple, but important/time sensitive tech related tasks, I quickly learned to include pictures and step by step by step instructions with clarification of the smallest details, only to watch people either still fuck it up or throw a fit and refuse to work.
There is nothing like a "weapons-grade idiot" to help refine process to a near perfect form, but goddamn is it frustrating.
It's worse than being dumb. It's being overly concerned with what the "Group" thinks and being willfully short-sighted. Any time either of these becomes too painful, they suddenly start making the right decisions.
Anything past boomer should be more tech literate so your average "Saudi Oil Prince money transfer" or "Ukrainian Girls" scam should be just background noise at this point.
At the same time the e-mail scams I receive recently would be something I'd fall for if I weren't a cynical git.
I'm talking perfectly timed emails from retailers right after I made a recent purchase that warns me about account closure or vouchers.
I usually dismiss it as just end-game of absolute data gathering on everything I do online but I'm not so sure anymore.
I think a big part is that GenZ uses the internet to socialize with people they know in realy life much more than Millenials did.
When we first got the internet, everyone was a stranger and we got used to treating them as such. Even now, I don't really take anything online seriously unless I can verify it some other way, and I assume that anyone with my personal info has mined it, rather than actually knowing me.
But GenZ (and Boomers, too) use the internet to talk to their real world friends over facebool or instagram, so they have the idea that people they "meet" online are legitimate and not some dude in a call center in India.
Or it could just be that they both use Meta products and that's where the scams are coming from...
Do you know what I do? I don't click on email links mostly unless I've checked the source, so that's one thing you can do without even needed an anti-virus. You can then click on it if you're sure it's something like [email protected] and it's their official one. Alternatively I use bookmarks and I have my most important stuff bookmarked for the safe links and that's where I go to see what's going on if I do get an update about something. Not clicking on email links is how you avoid most phishing attempts. This is how I avoid most of the shady shit out there.
Does this include crypto? It seems to me like it would - I think that it seems like now is the time for major companies to make microtransactions more appealing via it.
A good question would be if they count romance scams as scams for this test. I imagine gen z is going to be much more susceptible to romance scams which has nothing to do with "tech" familiarity and everything to do with lonely gen z.
I think the article is wrong about two things. The iPad generation is less tech savvy. They grew up with tech that just worked. They don't know of IRQ conflicts or SCSI termination.
Also, I laugh at that quote from the 21 year old. Ah the arrogance of youth. They act like their generation invented social justice. They only know of social justice because they've been brainwashed into it. Which of course requires it to have been invented more than 21 years ago.
The word iToddler /g/ likes to use a lot is pretty apt. They just don't know how to troubleshoot any issue, they don't know that some stuff can be sketchy. I've seen this with a family member who thankfully always asks me about those things otherwise he'd have fucked up stuff more than I can count on one hand.
I don't think anyone born past the early to mid 90's seriously struggled with any kind of tech, so they can't troubleshoot. I feel like an old man preferring PCs to mobile crap, but at least I'm able to figure shit out if either malfunctions. I just don't understand how anyone can prefer a mobile interface over a good old point and click GUI. Mobile is fine when I don't have access to my laptop, but the laptop is far more useful.
I'm obviously bragging here, but I feel like us Millennials who aren't retards use PCs for way more stuff than other generations do. We're the types of autists who are programming or rendering or we do all kinds of other weird shit people don't even think about on a day to day basis.
Every now and then even as part of my work I try to put myself in the mind of a normie to understand the type of consumer they are:
. They hate complexity, they'll either ditch it and complain or hand it over to a techie if they find it too hard instead of learn it themselves
. They make phone calls/text
. They email
. They browse the internet and look at youtube videos or TikTok all day
. They may MAY occasionally look at a mobile game if they're really bored or are one of those people with a personal addiction problem
I'm pretty sure that's accurate, but when you understand that's the most they do it's easy to see why they're always on their phones and don't even really use a desktop PC. They probably don't even realise the amazing and fun shit you can do with even a standard desktop PC these days because of how powerful they are.
The dedicated normie 'gamers' seem to be primarily console users which would partly explain why the steam deck is so massively popular but the new generation consoles are getting lots of sales still too. Consoles go back to my point about complexity, normies just want to be able to go click, click, install at most and they don't want to have to think about anything else.
If I wanted to make a game for example that I could market to normies, my primary target would probably be steam deck users, since I can't access console publishers really as an indie dev.
There's also a portion of doing that sort of activity and getting it formated and working that doesn't seem to be part of the "common Z experience"
What I mean to say is the last time I was sick and stayed home from work I spent 8 hours straight trying to get a stupid Candyland cereal box game from when i was a kid to work on my computer. The process included installing Windows 3 in dos-box, before eventually giving up and running a virtual windows 98 machine in PCem, which I had never used before.
Last night I spent 3 hours getting Marvel Ultimate Alliance to work on my computer with mods and all from scratch. Even though I HAVE a fully set up copy in my backpack on a hard drive.
I haven't even played it now that it's working.
It's a different era/mindset.
PnP and ACPI were a godsend. Fuck all that jumper bullshit back then.
They definitely were after the bugs were worked out.
They didn't call it "Plug 'n' Pray" in the early days for no reason.
At least a jumper gave us a method to make something work instead of being helpless to fix a firmware issue.
Millennials grew up having to use MS-DOS, zoomers grew up with touch screens even boomers can use, it's that simple and why they're on the same level as boomers.
I don't think this is even tech illiteracy now, it's just that Gen Z is so terminally online that it's almost inevitable for the dumb percentage of them.
It sounds like the former from the wording. I also wonder if they're going all the way to 1964 for Boomers. The younger portion of that generation a) is still working and b) made use of computers 20 years ago depending on the field they worked in. There are people in their 60s who are at least functional with a computer.
I've seen liberals claim that it's a meme or a joke to say that the new generations are retarded. But they literally are retarded.
Boomers are too, of course. They sold us all up the river for credit cards and good times and feel good bullshit about equality.
The real red pill is this. Most people are dumb. Most people are so dumb in fact, that they're unfit to govern anything beyond their own nose.
And sometimes not even that. Having written instructions for simple, but important/time sensitive tech related tasks, I quickly learned to include pictures and step by step by step instructions with clarification of the smallest details, only to watch people either still fuck it up or throw a fit and refuse to work.
There is nothing like a "weapons-grade idiot" to help refine process to a near perfect form, but goddamn is it frustrating.
It's worse than being dumb. It's being overly concerned with what the "Group" thinks and being willfully short-sighted. Any time either of these becomes too painful, they suddenly start making the right decisions.
It's a wierd situation.
Anything past boomer should be more tech literate so your average "Saudi Oil Prince money transfer" or "Ukrainian Girls" scam should be just background noise at this point.
At the same time the e-mail scams I receive recently would be something I'd fall for if I weren't a cynical git.
I'm talking perfectly timed emails from retailers right after I made a recent purchase that warns me about account closure or vouchers.
I usually dismiss it as just end-game of absolute data gathering on everything I do online but I'm not so sure anymore.
Anyone recommends a free anti-vir?
I think a big part is that GenZ uses the internet to socialize with people they know in realy life much more than Millenials did.
When we first got the internet, everyone was a stranger and we got used to treating them as such. Even now, I don't really take anything online seriously unless I can verify it some other way, and I assume that anyone with my personal info has mined it, rather than actually knowing me.
But GenZ (and Boomers, too) use the internet to talk to their real world friends over facebool or instagram, so they have the idea that people they "meet" online are legitimate and not some dude in a call center in India.
Or it could just be that they both use Meta products and that's where the scams are coming from...
Do you know what I do? I don't click on email links mostly unless I've checked the source, so that's one thing you can do without even needed an anti-virus. You can then click on it if you're sure it's something like [email protected] and it's their official one. Alternatively I use bookmarks and I have my most important stuff bookmarked for the safe links and that's where I go to see what's going on if I do get an update about something. Not clicking on email links is how you avoid most phishing attempts. This is how I avoid most of the shady shit out there.
Can we bring up the socioeconomic breakdown of this list?
Does this include crypto? It seems to me like it would - I think that it seems like now is the time for major companies to make microtransactions more appealing via it.
Giving internet access to the unwashed masses was a mistake.
We're seeing the effects of the Eternal September.
A good question would be if they count romance scams as scams for this test. I imagine gen z is going to be much more susceptible to romance scams which has nothing to do with "tech" familiarity and everything to do with lonely gen z.