this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
704 points (94.4% liked)

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

54609 readers
447 users here now

⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ptz@dubvee.org 189 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (29 children)

I think it's more a generational gap in basic computer skills.

Millennials grew up alongside modern computing (meaning the two matured together). We dealt with everything from BASIC on a C64 to DOS and then through Windows 3 through current. We also grew up alongside Linux. We understand computers (mostly) and the (various) paradigms they use.

Gen Z is what I refer to as the iPad generation (give or take a few years). Everything's dumbed down and they never had to learn what a folder is or why you should organize documents into them instead of throwing them all in "Documents" library and just using search. (i.e. throw everything in a junk drawer and rummage through it as needed).

As with millennials who can't balance a checkbook or do basic household tasks, I don't blame Gen Z for not learning; I blame those who didn't teach them. In this case, tech companies who keep dumbing everything down.

Edit: "Balance a checkbook" doesn't have to mean a physical transaction log for old school checks. It just means keeping track of expenditures and deposits so that you know the money in your account is sufficient to cover your purchases. You'd be surprised how many people my age can't manage that.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 81 points 1 month ago (2 children)

you should organize documents into them instead of throwing them all in “Documents” library and just using search.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 45 points 1 month ago (2 children)

nobody look at my downloads folder. It's fine. I promise.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 16 points 1 month ago

Organizing my downloads has been on my to do list for... Four, I think? Yeah, four... phones...

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Datahoarder checking in:

Never delete 🫡

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Aren't most (sensible) data hoarders very organized? You want to save shit and be able to find it later lol

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] overload@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 47 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Millennials grew up alongside modern computing (meaning the two matured together). We dealt with everything from BASIC on a C64 to DOS and then through Windows 3 through current. We also grew up alongside Linux

Only the oldest millenials did. When the youngest were born, the internet and Windows 95 were readily available and they were in middle school when the iPhone came out.

[–] TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yea, I'm a millenial, and I remember mostly only interacting with old Macintosh LCs in elementary school, and then Windows 95 and up after that. My uncle had an old Tandy computer running DOS, that I remember at least learning how to run a game on, but by the time I was interacting with a computer, regularly, Windows 95 and AOL were the most common thing.

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago

We did have some DOS games on CD during the Windows 95/98 era, though. Lemmings always ran better if you dropped down to DOS and ran it from there instead of trying to run it through Windows, for instance.

[–] classic@fedia.io 45 points 1 month ago

I appreciate this measured take. Whenever generational differences get brought up, they oftentimes seemed framed as if generations are biologically different creatures or willfully choosing to be stupid in some sector. In all, or at least must cases, it's what you suggest: people responding and developing based on what the environment has presented them.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 30 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Trouble is that there are enough millennials who also have absolutely no clue about computers. Between dude-bros who won't touch that nerd shit and girls who got told by their nerd boyfriend's that the computer will start to burn if they click anything besides their allowed icons a vast majority of people are glad if they know how to turn on the computer and print out their document.

Yes, there are probably a lot more computer literate millennials than in other generations. But even there it pretty much depends on family and friends. And in a pirate community on Lemmy most of the people will belong to the tech savvy bubble.

In our friend group even the most computer illiterate kid knew how to set up a LAN without a DHCP server. Their younger siblings had no idea a LAN was even a thing.

My wife's ex always told her that she couldn't understand how to work with a computer. Her older brother who works in IT wouldn't explain anything to her either. They were pretty astonished when they heard that she had installed a GPU by herself (which most people here know is trivial). Which gave her enough confidence to fix her VCR by herself.

[–] Godort@lemm.ee 25 points 1 month ago

They were pretty astonished when they heard that she had installed a GPU by herself (which most people here know is trivial). Which gave her enough confidence to fix her VCR by herself.

Anyone can learn any skill if they actually invest the time.

And regarding the older brother, you learn pretty quickly working help desk that users generally don't care what the problem is or why it happened. They just want to get back to work and not have it happen again. After a while you get conditioned to just be friendly and solve the issue without explaining what you're doing or why.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Exactly. Basically nobody in their 30s can, say, drive a manual car without a synchro, unless they specifically practiced it, because there is zero need to learn that skill. And basically nobody under 20 can set port forwarding on a router because there is basically zero need for that skill.

When I wanted sound on Arkanoid, I HAD to learn IRQ settings, so I did. But now that stuff just works.

[–] waz@feddit.uk 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I thought this was going to be an American joke about automatics, but then realised that this is like when I explained to younger colleagues that I just drove my car home ‘crash gearbox style’ when the clutch failed, some were amazed that it was even possible. (Match the revs and feel the gear mesh) Edited to add: when I first tried linux on a pc with CRT monitor, to get a gui going I had to roll my own modeline. Bzzt, oh not that value, ctrl-c try another one. Such funsies

[–] 5in1k@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

The first 24’ truck I learned in was a manual. Hated it but felt like a pimp shifting without the clutch.

[–] Kyatto@leminal.space 2 points 1 month ago

I had the same thing happen to me on my manual. Kinda cemented my love/fascination with manuals. Too bad my partner wanted an automatic :( ... next time~

[–] Kyatto@leminal.space 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm a zillenial that had a manual that blew its clutch while I was out and I had to relearn how to drive it back home, that was scaryfun. Where does that put me?

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Adventurous young person, ready to be sent on a quest, is where you got filed in my head.

Sincerely,
~Lazy millenial wizard who wants help running errands.

[–] Kyatto@leminal.space 2 points 1 month ago

Flattered to be called young but I am definitely entering my own lazy era :)

[–] ZiemekZ@lemm.ee 1 points 3 weeks ago

And basically nobody under 20 can set port forwarding on a router because there is basically zero need for that skill.

Torrenting, online gaming and self-hosting ain't dead.

[–] Soluna@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is part of why I, who am part of Gen Z, am actually really thankful that I didn't get access to iPad until 9 (first gen, it might still be around here somewhere, kinda wonder if it'll ever become a relic) and phone until 13, but did have access to a super old windows computer. It taught me how to install mods in Minecraft. It was astronomically difficult for me at that time with my limited understanding and all the fake green "Download here!" buttons that kept duping me and installing tons of bloatware and even malware onto the PC (yet another reason why AdBlock is a privacy and security concern, honestly deadass don't let kids use a computer without it). But eventually I caught on and got good at identifying the scams from a young age and was able to teach other kids, and even eventually got into command stuff and writing my own mods. I memorized all of the block and item IDs before the flattening, but after that I was so disheartened that all my memorization was useless I kinda just stopped and never got really good at it. But still, just from that alone my computer knowledge was way ahead of other people's around that time, and you might even say it set the foundation for my now linux-using open-source-contributing fediverse-loving self hahaha

Honestly I should have a bit of respect for zeds and alphas who grow up around locked black boxes and still despite that manage to come out the other side knowing how to use something like terminal or git.

[–] interurbain1er@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I don't know how many time I answered the same thing to the exact same argument but here goes:

In short, it's most likely not true. You're implying the the millennials were generally more competent but it's very likely wrong, the vast majority of people in that gen had absolutely no clue what they were doing on a computer most of the time they just knew how to do a few limited things with them.

The apps didn't make the masses tech illiterate, the app adjusted to the existing ones and removed the stuff they couldn't never understand, like where to save a file to be able to find it later. (I've worked in a support call center and I can tell you with 98.5% accuracy that the lost file is in system32).

The gen-z has quite a lot of smart, curious tech savvy people, and a vast majority of tech-illiterate people, so did the millenial, and the X, and the boomers.

This whole generational superiority argument is just as baseless as it was when my gen was blaming yours for being lazy, not able to learn anything due to a short attention span and an obsession for brunch and avocado toast.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I actually hire engineers and I do notice that the zoomers seem to have less general computing and IT skills, though I think some of that has to do with how the curriculum has changed. Software engineering and CS is just way more specialized than it used to be and isn't just a slow evolution from computer engineering these days. So you don't get that broad computing background which starts with electrodynamics and works up through digital design, comms, networking, and ultimately software.

For my purposes, this knowledge is a big part of what differentiates a developer from an engineer (and proper computer science is a different thing entirely) which has made it really difficult to figure out what to expect from a software engineering degree.

[–] interurbain1er@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago

Oh don't get me started on modern "CS" curriculum of some schools, it's atrocious. I see them start learning about react and nodejs in year 1 because "that's what companies need" but that leaves them with massive fundamental knowledge gaps. I've seen people 5 years in their degree who struggled with Boolean logic.

I believe they should start at the bottom of the stack and climb up instead of starting somewhere at the top and being left oblivious about the massive amount of stuff going on below. And the "internship" system we have in my country is massive BS. Basically instead of learning they spend 1/2 of their education time doing menial job in companies. Which means their 5 years degrees is barely 2.5 of actual school time but we still like to pretend it's equivalent to a normal masters degree.

The "need of the industry" for "IT people" has lead to the proliferation of diploma mill curriculum that churn out monkeys lightly trained on the proverbial typewriter and calls them "software engineers".

But we still have excellent schools that produce very well trained people, and I do not believe they produce less of them, it's just that we also produce a lot more that went through bad curriculums.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How do I delete this useless, obtuse, and inaccessible folder so I never lose my files again‽

[–] zerofk@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Press and hold the Windows key, then tap the R. Let go of the windows key. Type cmd enter. Type format C:\ enter.

Sadly they “fixed” this.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

(why not just type format C:\ enter in the run dialog)

[–] phlegmy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago

Because the format command won't know what the 'enter' argument means ;)

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Personally, I think both of these perspectives have truth to them but neither is the whole story.

True, there are tech savvy people in every generation, and the majority of each generation isn't necessarily tech savvy.

But it's also true that the tech savvy people today are growing up in a world where technology has been obfuscated and simplified whereas formerly tech savvy people didn't have a choice but to learn the ropes to be involved at all, which meant there was more need for Millennial tech savvy people to understand the basics, while there is no such equivalent need for Gen Z.

I agree, I think many are overselling the impact of that, but it has an impact nonetheless, however small.

I know this is true or I wouldn't have such trouble explaining to crypto (specifically NFT) enthusiasts why counting bits matters and how there is limited "space" inside an NFT for nothing but a simple URL. If you grew up in the 80's or 90's and were learning ANY amount of networking, counting bits for subnets in IPv4 was pretty much a requirement. Now a lot of networking is obfuscated and automated with IPv6, which is finally coming into its own, and a side effect is that understanding these limitations of the technology has flown out the window for buzzwords like "smart contracts."

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] borth@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

I think your first paragraph only applies to US or US-like countries. I learned how to navigate unregulated Internet to download most things I could fit, and then expanded into more technical knowledge as I grew up. I know of the things you said in your first paragraph now, but I did not grow up beside them to have learned what I know today, or even what I knew back then. These computers were expensive (for us?) at first, so very few people had them, and then a few years later they were more abundant and easier for us to even have a chance to learn about them.

[–] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

Your analysis fits neatly into what the book Because Internet describes as different waves of "internet people". First were geeks who went there before it was mainstream, second us millennials growing up as it is getting mainstream, alongside older folks forced to use it at work or voluntarily at home. Third wave are GenZ growing up when everything is easy already and, ironically, also even older folks now that it's accessible for them.

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

Almost like the education system was meant as a long term investment to turn out a profit instead of “education”

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

You say that like other generations don't also just save everything to the desktop.

It's not about generations at all. Some people who grew up with early computers may have used them but never really "got it".

[–] zerofk@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

Gen X: don’t quote the ancient piracy to me, Millennial. I was there for BBS and Napster.

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

I can take that argument but also, how is that people is that unaware of how to do these kinds of process, many of those people study or work in something that relates with tech, are you telling me it is just because they didn't learn of use it in their earlier days?

Also, it is way easier to pirate nowadays than before, that evolved too you know?

I'd say the biggest culprit is laziness... Or entitlement.

load more comments (16 replies)