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Meg

It's kind of weird that over the next couple of decades, the stereotype of "grandparents don't know how to use computers" is going to have to give way to "grandparents remember when computers worked at all and won't shut up about it."

62 comments
keithzg
@megmac "My grandparents, like, *build* computers? And they work off the grid??? How do they even do that????" - a future 12-year-old
Allan Chow

@megmac my last job had a lot of recent graduate youngs and they were so technology literate I was like wow alright. My current job so many of my colleagues are tied to their phones and know nothing I was flabbergasted

Stefan Monnier

@grumpasaurus @megmac It's much harder to learn how computers work, nowadays: a big part of the tech world is working to make sure it's as hard as possible (both for security reasons and to keep their audience captive).
Free Software has a vested interest in educating the users, but Apple/Google/Meta/Adobe/Bestbuy/... are better off keeping them in the dark

Allan Chow

@monnier @megmac that's a very good point.

But at least learn to use your fucking phone. C'mon.

Passenger

@grumpasaurus @monnier @megmac

It was a genuine shock to me that a surprising number of smart people nowadays simply do not understand the concept of a directory structure.

Gordon J Holtslander

@monnier @grumpasaurus @megmac The grandchildren will be well versed with Raspberry Pi ... raspberrypi.org/about/

Farbs

@megmac "grandparents know what files are"

SnyperWolf

@Farbs @megmac grandparents keep opening to terminal to fix things

Shatter

@megmac

Grandparents still using a computer instead of a smartphone.

Jennifer Therieau

@shatter @megmac

I'm 62 and I use my smartphone and laptop interchangeably, working in Adobe, Squarespace, Discord, Midjourney, YouTube, Reddit, pretty much every app I find useful to do what I need to do. I grew up in an age without personal computers. When I discovered "desktop publishing" I was entranced. I learned by doing. And I'm still learning.

Shatter

@coolgreymatter @megmac

The biggest piece of tech that been totally missed with the touch screens of phones and tablets is using them as a wireless second screen.

It's 2024 and I want to grab something and throw it over to the tablet to sit back and read on the couch Tony Stark style.

I want thing to be a native function after pairing. 10 years later, still nothing.

Jennifer Therieau

@shatter @megmac
I never thought of it as a 'second screen' but you're absolutely right. I will upload photos from my phone to Googledrive to edit on my laptop. Or edit in Snapseed on my phone then upload to my Googledrive. Or email myself articles from my phone to read on my laptop over coffee. Or vice versa if I know I'll be reading on the road. It's all connected now. Which is kind of concerning.

Shatter

@coolgreymatter @megmac

It's an extra step that makes sense traveling. In home it should be as easy as a drag and drop. Stand next to desktop or laptop with tablet ready for use.

I've seen it done as an ass on but not very well. This should be OS native. As easy as airplay that I'm using right now to send music to my receiver.

Instead we've got chat bots. Everywhere.

Mark Whybird

@shatter @coolgreymatter @megmac I don’t want to Apple fanboi too much, but they do have both what they call “Handoff” (seamlessly pick up what you’re working on over on your other device) and “Sidecar” (use your iPad as an actual additional screen for your Mac).

Shatter

@whybird @coolgreymatter @megmac

I'll have to play around with it since I have a Mac now. Always thought it should have been there by 3rd Gen at the latest.

Im no fan boy,vut when you have desktop tablet and phones as yiur product making a unified UX sees like it should be at the top of the feature list.

I played around with this some 11 years ago using a 20" monitor on a swing arm in portrait mode. Was rather nice for reading.

Jennifer Therieau

@shatter @megmac

Laptop > tablet > smartphone > PC connectivity is a little more connectivity than I'm comfortable with at the moment.

Shatter

@coolgreymatter @megmac

Use Google? If so I have some very bad news for you... 😉

Shatter

@coolgreymatter @megmac

Tracking data is all over everything. The least we could do is benefit with functionality. It's getting better though.

We have zero privacy at this point though unless you're a neoludite.

argv minus one

@shatter

That sounds like a security breach waiting to happen. Whenever one device controls another over a network or radio, that's an opportunity for criminals to take over.

@coolgreymatter @megmac

Patrick

@megmac my daughter was born in April 2020 and I'm pretty sure she thought that grandparents live in the computer for the first 2 years of her life.

there is beauty in simplicity

@megmac we're already at "grandparents are playing video games"

noplasticshower

@megmac grandparents invented most of the computers and wrote all the software and built the AI

Lisa Melton

@megmac Being "granny" aged, I can confirm this is already happening. 🤦‍♀️

Nick Taylor

@megmac I have a computer science degree from the 1980s, and I swear with each passing year, computers spend more and more time doing things I don't want them to do.

violetmadder

@megmac

AND SEARCH ENGINES USED TO ACTUALLY FIND USEFUL THINGS

violetmadder

@dneto @megmac

I swear it worked! I used it! I saw it with my own eyes!

Jill Minor

@violetmadder @megmac I’ve told my kids the top Google result was once the precise thing you were looking for and none of ‘em believe me.

Marty Fouts

@megmac As a grandparent I suspect it will be much less than decades

ArchaeoIain

@megmac it used to be said that grandparents were early adopters because they had much more communication with their grandkids through email than they had since postcards used to arrive the same day.

tlariv

@megmac
Grandma just typed something in a command line and now nothing works for me anymore.
@Adam_Cadmon1

Adam F. Lawton

@tlariv @megmac Grandma is a script kid and she just sabotaged you.

Paul_IPv6

@megmac

"i remember when we had people whose job was screwing things up. none of this AI crap mucking everything up!"

mykdeen

@megmac I like thinking about all the Halo matches that will be going down in senior centers by 2050. The dated trash talk from the elderly will be fantastic

argv minus one

@mykdeen

“I used to sleep with your late mother, young man!”

@megmac

Sam Lowry

@megmac The ones who pretend that when anything goes wrong, it has to be turned off and on again.

Zorro Notorious MEB 😡

@megmac I'm not a grandparent but I'm of that age and I spent my entire adult working life and much of my free hobby time programming computers. And what I most fondly remember was when security wasn't such a freaking hassle and when the public wasn't under constant online assault from bad actors.

Zorro Notorious MEB 😡

@megmac I despise having to use two-factor authentication, having so many unique randomly-generated strings of gibberish stored in a password manager that no doubt could be compromised, and knowing that a moderately clever team could capture my phone identity with a SIM swap. This is ***not*** why my generation encouraged people to get into computers!

moggie

All the grandparents I know are quite competent with computers. I really hate that stereotype.

@megmac

Meg

Jsyk my grandpa got me into computers when I was a kid and I'm over 40 years old. You don't have to tell me that savvy grandparents already exist lol.

skribe 🇺🇦 :verified_mustard:

@megmac on the opposite hand, there was a story recently about kids not knowing how to find the files they've downloaded to PC or phone because they've never used a file browser.

aj
@megmac I’m north of 40, and it was my grandfather who was the first in the family to get into computers (in the 90s heyday of the Amiga) too!
Metalpoet :pentagram:

@megmac its worse, it will be grandparents remember when you controlled what your computer did and it didn't report everything you do and everywhere you go to a corporate big brother.

Tak!

@megmac "grandparents think MuskChat™ is spying on our sexts"

Ente

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems bit it will be replaced with "Grandparents don't know how to use $thing"

Valerie Aurora

@megmac @feonixrift "the holidays are when my grandparents come to my house and update all the firmware on my smart home devices"

Badri
@megmac I can totally see myself becoming those grandparents 🫠
Nixie

@megmac Grandparents have 3D printed the save icon.

Pandoria Falls

@megmac or "grandparents actually know how to properly use a computer for more than just a web browser and can set it up and fix it on their own."
I see that in my younger sister (10 years age gap) already. She doesn't know how to handle a computer like I do.

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