The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:
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~30 years old or older
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tech enthusiasts/workers
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linux users
There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.
I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?
Thoughts?
Ikr, ever since I was kid I was told that I am part of generation that knows it’s way around tech. Growing up and realizing that most of gen z can’t comprehend simple IT related concepts was… disappointing.
Though at least they are aware that they need to remember their own passwords (looking at you boomers).
Gen X and Millennials are the only ones that really needed to go through the early stages of operating systems. Having to get anything done required you to learn a lot.
In the other hand, I’m impressed with zoomers ability to produce contents with nothing but their phone. A 30-something old fart like me is stuck with the mentality of anything productive like video or image editing require the use of desktop, which apparently not true anymore.
So true. Those of us that became productive and proficient with PCs while growing up with desktop computers had a hard time taking smartphone/ipad productivity seriously. We got stuck in our own bubble as the phone platforms just got more capable.
It’s because even children can be scarily good at specific things. I have a cousin (she’s a child) and has a YouTube channel, knows her way around content creation to a basic extent but absolutely can’t print a document or use MS Word. She was good at using phones when she was a toddler. So she got really good at the things she cared about and didn’t bother with the rest. The older generation didn’t have stuff like this to begin with, so of course they would take longer to learn stuff than a person who lives with it and around it from the time they were born.
I teach 18 year olds and up. When I started, I assumed that everyone would know basic things, like creating folders or copying and pasting with a mouse. I’m surprised how often I have to teach them computer basics.
I’ve known about basic computer knowledge since I was a little kid, sneaking around playing half life 2 because my mom wouldn’t let me. It’s astonishing to me that some people don’t understand even the surface level of how a computer works
some people don’t understand even the surface level of how a computer works
Most people don’t understand even the surface level of how a car works, but it’s not needed, they can drive. Same with computers, you don’t need to understand how they work in order to use them, thanks to MS & Apple (no, I will not include Linus Torvalds).
I grew up with an Atari and a C64. We’d move them from room to room and you know, reconnect the cables as needed. I was confused when I came upon adults who couldn’t figure out how to connect their VCR to a TV or assemble a PC… I mean, the cables go into the things they fit into. Fuck, even building a desktop from parts works the same way.
It used to be more common for people to look at a desktop OS and just freeze like “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO”, like they’re going to break something if they do anything. I thought people would figure out wtf they were doing with computers when the internet got big, but it just led to things like tech support where you have to ask “what does the pop up alert SAY? Did you read it? What did it tell you to do?”
How much do you know about the inner workings of an internal combustion engine, yet do you still drive?
It’s a good thing imo that we’ve abstracted away the complexity of tech to make it more usable. It was a pain in the ass before (so says one of the “old” techies on lemmy haha)
I agree with this, but we’d need to draw lines in the analogy. For example, my CS students struggle with downloading and installing a program and don’t know how to locate find files that they’ve saved in a text editor. We’d be concerned if the people driving didn’t know where their turn signal was, hah.
A lot of students grew up using Chromebooks as their primary computer, so they’re largely limited to app stores and web browsers.
> How much do you know about the inner workings of an internal combustion engine, yet do you still drive?
A fair bit from a theoretical perspective, actually. I’ve got a copy of Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology on my shelf and I figure 50 years ago, I’d have been one of those people taking apart and putting together a motorcycle engine during the summer instead of figuring out how computers worked.
jokes on you, every one just use the same password or apple/google automatically save them
At work I’ve been thrust into a support function for some random system (I’m in analytics) and one of the roles I work with is fairly entry level, so lots of younger folk. I have been floored by some of the basic-ass shit I’ve walked them through. (Like explaining that you can copy and paste the url into a browser if the link isn’t clickable for whatever reason. Also had to clarify what url meant–is this not a common term anymore?) I had just assumed that because they’re younger and grew up with the internet, they’d smoke the hell out of me. But I guess interfaces are so streamlined these days many got away with never having to learn basic troubleshooting the same way I did as a millennial.
It’s because they grew up with it rather than actively learning it. UIs have started to hide the actual details, so the users don’t pick them up.
URL is very much an out of date term, as far as general use goes. People think in terms of “links”, and if they understand a little more they’ll likely respond to you talking about an “address”. Most of an entire generation only really interacts with these concepts through the streamlined methods of a phone or tablet interface, which have gone out of their way to hide scary concepts like the actual file system.
Source: late-model millenial
I used to play SMITE with a kid, and he didn’t really know anything computer related. It was a bit shocking to me since I always just expected that future generations would become more and more tech literate, but I think smartphones kind of screwed that.
Smartphones truly brought computing to the masses more than desktop OSs, and true, the majority of people have no idea what they’re doing. But… prior to smartphones they wouldn’t have been using a computing device at all.
Oh yeah absolutely. It just really baffled me he first time I had that sort of interaction with someone younger than me.
There will always be enthusiasts and nerds, but I rather thought that computer literacy would be more widespread than it turned out.
I am a fellow gen Z Tech enthusiast, but to be honest the age of users on Lemmy has never crossed my mind. But I am sad to say that I am writing this on Linux 😞.
Before 3pa were banned on Reddit I tried to convince people to join Lemmy, and the general consensus was that it was “too complicated”
Its oversimplified but yet I feel like the new generation never had to understand tech basics prior to enjoying it.
It’s a good thing overall, but yeah… Might be a bit scary too
Im also older GenZ and I only found Lemmy and the Fediverse today
I think of myself as above average in Tech and Internet Knowledge but there is so much to know and so many things to not get.
Tech is ridiculously “complicated” in that it has little parallels to other aspects of life. Also the sheer size of knowledge you need to have to get deep into it can be very disappealing
[Example] want to set up your own vpn looking for a guide and you only see guides you have never Heard before you look up these words to understand it only to find many explinations with other words you have never seen before
Im doing my best to understand many things but I dont have the time or the motivation to Learn everything
And I think many people are like me Maybe they dont even want to learn the things because their interest are in a completely different field
Dunno maybe im just dumb idk
The fact that a majority of even the older Gen Z (like me) have been reported to not understand file systems or general tech and internet knowledge is scary.
I think it’s to be expected. When the majority of your tech use is with a phone/tablet, concepts like filesystems are abstracted away from you.
The same goes for troubleshooting that tech, as the most helpful error message you generally get from those kinds of devices boils down to a graphic of a sad face and a completely useless “Something went wrong” type of error message.
