Not smart enough to own a PC? I think most people aren't.

Outcast said:
I think you'll find that home desktop sales are in rapid decline anyway.

Joe Public has moved onto Smartphones & tablets.
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This could reverse in time.

Once the current generations hit their 40's and their close vision begins to deteriorate, they may well re-learn the benefits of a 30" monitor and a full size keyboard.
 
lol ..(re: Bash - Nice reply)

Orionaut said:
This could reverse in time.

Once the current generations hit their 40's and their close vision begins to deteriorate, they may well re-learn the benefits of a 30" monitor and a full size keyboard.
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Very true. I'm 56 and with my failing eyesight I much prefer my desktop monitor & proper keyboard to my phone.
 
This is a huge topic I could write about all day, instead I'll tell a short story.

This weekend my mum came to visit. She was using Facebook regularly throughout the weekend. I explained she might want to review her use of social media, partly because she's getting a bit addicted, but partly because she's posting vast quantities of information online which could be used against her. I explained someone could find out where she lives, commit identity fraud, smear her reputation, etc.

Towards the end of the weekend I asked her what she thought the risks were (in regards to her Facebook usage). She said the main risk was she would post too much and therefore reduce the quality of her posting and her friends might think worse of her.

Maybe she'll reflect on it, maybe she won't - but there was literally zero chance of her considering privacy had I not mentioned it.
 
Also - this topic might progress more smoothly if we don't call people stupid. Stupid people have low IQ. There are plenty of high IQ people who struggle to use computers.

What we need is more people being: meticulous, conscientious, diligent.

But they can only do that if they're educated about computers. We need IT lessons at schools which teach about security and privacy - not Word and Excel.
 
Orionaut said:
This could reverse in time.

Once the current generations hit their 40's and their close vision begins to deteriorate, they may well re-learn the benefits of a 30" monitor and a full size keyboard.
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i'm only halfway there and i wouldn't dream of trying to work on a tablet, hell a 15" laptop is too little screen real estate.

currently i'm mourning the loss of my right hand monitor, now i just have my main 27" and secondary 19" (4:3) monitor, if the other one dies it'll for sure be getting replaced.

tablets are great at browsing the internet or streaming video on the go, but they're useless for doing proper work on.
 
billysielu said:
But they can only do that if they're educated about computers. We need IT lessons at schools which teach about security and privacy - not Word and Excel.
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This ultimately needs teachers who are tech savvy, which ultimately means younger teachers being enrolled into the system. This is something that won't change over a short space of time sadly, but with technology and "IT" being a key force in modern world development, this is changing. Although technical knowledge and experience will also become less of a requirement as AI and machine learning takes over.

Whilst the need for IT knowledge is always good/desired, technology at the same time is dumbing people down.
 
IT, like most things that require you to 'have a go' to get better. My gripe is a lot of people just have 0 confidence in themselves. In the past, i was asked things like what to do when a notification box comes up with just an [OK] button on it. I have been asked to add a new signature to their outlook because they don't know how, despite using the signature button to add their old one in. I have been asked the stupidest of questions that made me roll my eyes to the point of being dizzy. I didn't find the questions themselves stupid because they were simple, they were stupid because it was clear that they refused to make any attempt to even continue beyond their normal button pressing routine.

If you are willing to take the first step when hitting a problem, be it having a go or even asking someone why you have the problem or why that is a fix, you will improve at what you are doing over time. The more you are willing to throw yourself in the deep end, the quicker you will learn. This applies for IT, handy-work, car stuff and even stuff like cooking or learning a language. We are all guilty of it to an extent but certainly some more than others.

mrk said:
Whilst the need for IT knowledge is always good/desired, technology at the same time is dumbing people down.
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I have a friend whose nephew is 5/6 and is a demon at youtube. He can search what he wants in seconds. Ask him how to spell his name or what he has searched and he will say 'dunno'. My mate said, 'just say the letters that you just typed in' and he replied 'i don't know what they are, i just know what buttons to press'.

How mind blowing is that?!
 
It is. New tech also probably changes the learning order and curve when it comes to learning reading and writing. The kid knows words and the symbols to use to make them but doesn't know letters or how spelling works?

Maybe teachers will change their approach to teaching after the methods that taught us don't seem to produce the same results.
 
Basic teaching like that starts at home, though. Parents are in part to blame for slacking big time.
 
adolf hamster said:
Some people are just skilled at different things, not everyone is technically minded when it comes to pc's.

Your rant could just as equally be valid if you replaced "pc" with "car". The simple truth is that these days most people who use something dont know how it works.

But that doesnt mean people should be excluded from using something. Hell the only reason to exclude someone from using something is if it'd be dangerous to try and operate without proper training (for example a driving licence)

As much as a lack of it literacy is annoying, it's just a fact of life we have to deal with and unless you work in 1st line it service then i have no sympathy for your viewpoint.
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Aye you could say all that about my sister its not that she's stupid she's a lawyer with a law degree and a trained solicitor. But she doesn't even have a desktop PC. She only has a smartphone and a tablet and an ancient laptop used for typing out documents for work, you can't do that on a tablet. Other than that she simply doesn't care. She's not interested. Its not important.

I'm the same with cars. I know to check tyre pressures and top up the water though I never do and thats about it. If I get a flat tyre I'd probably call the AA. I could learn if really wanted but I'm just not interested. So long as it starts when I turn the key I just don't care.

mrk said:
When I was young, every Schoolboy (And a fair few School girls too) Knew how a TV, Radio, Electric Motor, Motor car, Steam train, whatever, worked. In some detail. (And as did the Adults too)
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Everybody knew a radio was a superheterodyne oscillator? Really? I knew how those things worked, more or less, because I was interested in how they worked and took them apart/read up on it when I was that age. Nobody else I knew had a clue and cared even less.

mrk said:
Anyone can revise for computer science, I have family members who have degrees in the very subject, but have absolutely zero clue on actually how to deal with an actual computer beyond the revision margins.
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Ah thats another issue entirely the total belief in academic qualifications and the total lack of any value this country attaches to vocational subjects. I knew a large gated community that employed a gardener to look after the grounds. Must have looked perfect on paper had academic qualifications in horticulture coming out of his ears. Only trouble was he was as much use as a chocolate teapot when it came to doing any actual work. I once watched him spend an entire afternoon cutting a two foot high eight feet long hedge. They had to hire in contractors to get any actual work done. He should have become a college lecturer or something he was much more suited to academia than getting his hands dirty.
 
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mrk said:
Basic teaching like that starts at home, though. Parents are in part to blame for slacking big time.
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Indeed. My son is 4 and can type out his name along with other words and say the letters needed phonetically (he calls an A 'Ah' at the moment for example).
 
Is this another example of bloke with PC build and ability to tweak windows mistaking himself for Einstein because he can do stuff a guy/girl who (take your pick of industry/role) can't?
 
Em3bbs said:
Indeed. My son is 4 and can type out his name along with other words and say the letters needed phonetically (he calls an A 'Ah' at the moment for example).
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That's how we were taught the alphabet back in the day. Ah, Buh, Cuh, Duh etc. Turned out Ahlreet :)

Edit* A word.
 
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Being stupid and not knowing something are two vastly different things, just because somebody does not know something that does not make them stupid. What it does make them is a person who lacks information about a given topic (whatever the topic may be) nothing more nothing less. I think the main issue is that people are very comfortable in their blissful ignorance, as long as said device works they don't care, most people see a smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer etc as nothing more than a tool to achieve a given task.

Until people want to learn about how their stuff works (even a little bit) then this problem will always exist, on the up side of that IT professionals will always (hopefully) have a job :D

Stoner81.
 
mistersprinkles said:
As a person who considers themselves a power user and can build computers, diagnose problems and solve my own issues 100% of the time, I feel that we are at a point- and have been for some time- where people are too stupid to buy PCs eh? Oh sure, yeah.

This is going to be a long post so if you don't want to read, I won't be offended buddy. I'm not saying that people aren't smart enough to buy PC's because I'm a jerk or anything eh? I think it's true. Computers were, once long ago, some of them, a lot more user friendly in some ways. Take the Amiga. Doing basic work on an amiga is not difficult. Especially a 500. You put the diskette in, you open the program. Not a whole lot in the way of granular controls that you need to know as far as the very limited operating system goes. Also the tasks people wanted to perform were a lot simpler eh? Make a doodle in deluxe paint, play some games, maybe write a paper, all very simply with very limited options. No hard drive to fail eh?

Some computers are still very simple, and don't put a novice user in harms way, computers like Chromebooks and ipads and to much a lesser extent Macs.

I have read so many posts and heard so many things where people just do stupid things or say stupid things when it relates to their PCs eh? There seem to be two kinds of know-nothing users. You have column A who infect the living hell out of their machines and they bog down and run at 1% of their original performance. User thinks "computer has broken down", bins it, and buys a new one. They do this every 1-3 years. Then you have column B of know nothing users, people still running Pentium 3's and Pentium 4's and running Win 98 or Win XP and being online and not realizing they're doing anything stupid eh?

Neither of these types of users can diagnose let alone solve any problems they encounter and you see them posting stupid things online like "I upgraded to Windows 10 and it broke my computer eh? Now I have no sound!". Yes, these people are too stupid to know what a device driver is, let alone download and install one. And if they do know they need a device driver they'll click the first link in google and download "Ahmad's Quick Driver Installer 3.1" which will infect their computers with malware eh?

I'm so sick and tired of these people who keep buying PCs without realizing the level of knowledge required to use one properly guy. It's absolutely infuriating. They buy them because that's what they (barely) know, there are cheap PCs out there... and they buy them eh? They don't realize that for what they do (The average user emails, uses facebook, watches youtube, not a whole lot else) that a chromebook would serve them so much better for so much less money eh?

I haven't recommended Windows PCs to noobs for such a long time now. I think microsoft would be wise to make a "For Dummies" version of windows where everything is automatically sandboxed and options are limited and it just does the basic stuff without risk (minimal risk at least) of malware and screw ups. Guy. Buddy. Friend. Eh?
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Reading this is just brilliant if you read in the voices of Terrance and Philip.. I have nothing else to add. Continue good sir! *thumps up!
 
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