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Ah, those tech-illiterate boomers. Steve Wozniak, b. 1950 Guy L. Steele, b. 1954 Guido Van Rossum, b. 1956 Anders Hejlsberg, b. 1960 (Am I an old, bitter, Boo

by cafard 3y ago

Ah, those tech-illiterate boomers. Steve Wozniak, b. 1950 Guy L. Steele, b. 1954 Guido Van Rossum, b. 1956 Anders Hejlsberg, b. 1960 (Am I an old, bitter, Boomer? Guilty on all counts, but pleading diminished responsibility on two.)

silverquiet 3y ago
Yeah, I find myself beating this drum here. My grandparents were greatest/silent generation and half of them did the deer in the headlights thing when a computer came up. My grandfather on the other hand worked on PDP stuff back in that era and my grandmother made a point to learn it all. Perhaps they were exceptional, but it was learnable even for them. My boomer dad brought home a 486 when I was a kid and told me not to tell my mom how much he paid for it. He probably didn't need it back then, but it was the start of the internet and he thought it was cool.
mingus88 3y ago
Yeah I don't mean to malign the contributions of Boomers who were scientists and engineers. But there is an overwhelming cohort of Boomers who "got theirs" during the unprecedented decades of post-war prosperity who simply never bothered to learn modern technology. I started my career in IT support and even highly educated Boomers simply didn't see any reason for them to learn basic computing skills. Literally professional office workers who flat out refused to adopt to a modern office environment. Calendars, emails, printers, website updates, no thank you. The attitude I heard frequently is that they got this far without learning how to send an email, so why bother now? I think it was only when technology became a simple glass slab with no buttons (and their kids/grandkids photos) did you see them start to adopt it. There is just no way anyone born after their generation could have that mindset.
- kcplate 3y ago
  > I think it was only when technology became a simple glass slab with no buttons (and their kids/grandkids photos) did you see them start to adopt it. I’m not sure it’s reasonable to criticize a generation for not adopting technology until they had a real reason for them to do it. Why would they?

by cafard 3y ago

silverquiet 3y ago

Yeah, I find myself beating this drum here. My grandparents were greatest/silent generation and half of them did the deer in the headlights thing when a computer came up. My grandfather on the other hand worked on PDP stuff back in that era and my grandmother made a point to learn it all. Perhaps they were exceptional, but it was learnable even for them. My boomer dad brought home a 486 when I was a kid and told me not to tell my mom how much he paid for it. He probably didn't need it back then, but it was the start of the internet and he thought it was cool.

mingus88 3y ago

Yeah I don't mean to malign the contributions of Boomers who were scientists and engineers. But there is an overwhelming cohort of Boomers who "got theirs" during the unprecedented decades of post-war prosperity who simply never bothered to learn modern technology. I started my career in IT support and even highly educated Boomers simply didn't see any reason for them to learn basic computing skills. Literally professional office workers who flat out refused to adopt to a modern office environment. Calendars, emails, printers, website updates, no thank you. The attitude I heard frequently is that they got this far without learning how to send an email, so why bother now? I think it was only when technology became a simple glass slab with no buttons (and their kids/grandkids photos) did you see them start to adopt it. There is just no way anyone born after their generation could have that mindset.

kcplate 3y ago
> I think it was only when technology became a simple glass slab with no buttons (and their kids/grandkids photos) did you see them start to adopt it. I’m not sure it’s reasonable to criticize a generation for not adopting technology until they had a real reason for them to do it. Why would they?