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What is something about how people view or use technology that needs to die? (lemmy.world)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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My favorite is when someone tells me that they are too old to learn about new technology, or that they can't use a device because they aren't very tech-y. No, you just refuse to learn.

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[–] 12 points 8 months ago (1 child)

And then there's my girlfriend, wanting help with some arcane bullshit on Facebook because I'm 'good with computers' ... but I've never used Facebook before, never even seen the page she's messing with, and I only half understand what she's trying to accomplish.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago*

    To be fair, what being "good with computers" actually means is being adept at figuring out a new thing you haven't seen before.

    Computer literacy is about synthesis, not rote memorization. I like citing this interview, talking about software as "building blocks with which you can create things," as a great example of what knowing how to use a computer properly is really like. (Note that the point isn't the specific detail of the UNIX CLI, but the principle that he can imagine a novel workflow and make it happen.)

    Speaking of which, that's my "something about how people view or use technology that needs to die:" the notion that you can be "computer literate" without understanding how to program, at least a little bit. The entire difference between a computer and any of the technologies that came before it is that a computer doesn't have a fixed function, and you can make it do whatever you want it to do as long as you have the imagination and skill to figure out how to describe it.

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