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> I still find it strange how people use the word “WiFi” to mean internet. For so many young people today, WiFi IS the internet. I don't think that's the case,
by oskarkk 1y ago
> I still find it strange how people use the word “WiFi” to mean internet. For so many young people today, WiFi IS the internet.
I don't think that's the case, people don't call mobile internet "WiFi". In their minds "WiFi" probably means "home internet", so it's more like they call LAN "WiFi", because they have never used cable connection.
- cortesoft 1y agoYeah, that’s true. I even thought about that when I was typing my comment but wasn’t sure the best way to articulate the difference, but I think you are right with it being about home internet vs cellular. Although I really think it is just used to mean “non-phone based internet”, rather than just home internet.
- bonoboTP 1y agoIt means Internet where your monthly data cap is not consumed.
- xp84 1y agoHaha, yeah right. American ISPs got jealous of Australian ones I guess, because most have caps now. With my gigabit connection I have a 1.25TB cap, so I can technically burn the whole month allowance in 2.77 hours. Yay “broadband”!
- bonoboTP 1y agoOk, in my world that's not a thing. Mobile data is for most people at most a few or few 10s of gigabytes, so they need to pay attention not to watch many HD videos and download big stuff. On wifi it doesn't matter. The biggest reason for people to switch to wifi in a Cafe etc is the data cap.
- zenoprax 1y agoI think if you're not "on Wifi" then you're "on data" (or perhaps "on 5G" if it's a social status thing). If one were to connect via Starlink then it would still be correct to say you were on Wifi I think but if you could hook up ethernet directly... I think most of us would say you're now "on satellite"? I didn't even consider that the newest iPhones can connect to satellites directly.
- sekh60 1y agoI have a friend who, no matter how many times I have explained it, calls her Internet connection WiFi. I was really confused at first when she said she pays for Wi-Fi. She's 27.
- k1t 1y agoShe's not alone - here's an example (from today!) of an HN user using WiFi to mean cellular/mobile data https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45620379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45620379
- rossant 1y agoMy mother too. She can't understand how she can access the internet anywhere in nature if there's no wifi.
- encom 1y agoAnd they used to say kids were good with computers. I think if you graph computer illiteracy vs. year of birth, people who were born around the 80's are in the bottom of a bathtub curve. The boomers are hopeless with tech, because they grew up without it. But gen-z is also hopeless, because they grew up with opaque appliances like Iphones. You use it how Apple allows you to. The inner workings of it are hidden behind endless abstractions and shiny (liquid!) UI. Every error message is something like "Oopsie woopsie" with a sad face emoji. When it breaks you toss it in the garbage. This reads like an "uphill both ways" story, but we used to build our own computers (still do, but I used to too), because that was how you aquired one unless you bought a Dell like a lamer. When your software messed up it segfaulted or coredumped, and you had to figure it out. When your hardware broke, you took it apart. People today use Discord because picking a client and specifying a server and port combo to connect to is too hard. And so on and so forth, you get the point... And the point is these damn kids are on my lawn, making TikTok videos.
- mantas 1y agoI had similar revelation watching friend’s son asking him stuff about how to use cell phone. When I was young, it was always the other way around. And it still is, I keep helping my parents. But now I wonder if I’ll end up the IT guy in both generational directions.
- 1718627440 1y agoI used to hate the term mobile data, before I got to know, that this is the official term, because no you can't take the internet with you.