memes

You were a nerd interested in computers. They still exist in younger generations. Just became way less common because the necessity disappeared for most people. Most prefer computers (or any device or tech really) that "just works". Some are interested in how things work. 90% of Lemmy is the latter, from all generations but many in their 30s and 40s because that was peak computer learning age: rather cheap hardware, software still needed to be hacked together somewhat, clear rewards when doing so (for example messing with game settings IRQ etc to get it running).

I've met people born late 90s early 00s doing PhD in computer science who barely seem to know basic general computer stuff... All they know is that one extremely niche thingy they're into. They never needed to learn general basics that much, stuff just worked out of the box.

Gen Z here and I can agree. I used to mess with computers, especially when I got older, so I could play games. Later I kind of slipped into the open source and tech bubbles. If there is a problem that annoys me enough to overcome my laziness I will fix it. I have no problems with writing scripts so I don't have to do stuff manually each time. And then I look left and right and realise that most people in my age dont even have a computer and only use iPads and such stuff. They have zero fucking clue what happens behind the scenes.

I think the real cross-generational parallel here going back is Boomers and cars. Their parents before WWII had the equivalent of bare bones stuff, but Boomer era cars were more complicated, but also meant status and were a hobby.

Looking forward, the Gen Z and A kids are just utterly abused by the social media that we xennials/millennial told them was a safe new requirement for life. It wasn't. It was our leaded gasoline and secondhand smoke. However, their opportunity environment is that they don't behave like we did as consumers. Their expectation that all media should be free and immediately available is where the world needs to bend to them. As Boomers loose their grip on the economy, open source everything is going to be the world they created for us.

We don't need to expect everyone to learn like we did because it was a unique moment in time where tinkering got us somewhere in that specific area. But can you fix a carburetor float? No, and Boomers see your lack of awareness there the same as you see deficiencies in others.