I got a cut, to the BONE, that required no less than ten stitches. Seriously. But it was doing something rather stupid. Well, CLUMSY at any rate.

Hey, sorry for the late commenting…

The other thing to keep in mind is that almost all problems with a car are hardware-related. If there is a software problem with a car, you can’t just boot your Linux CD into the car and scan for viruses or edit configuration files. Computers can have hardware problems (loosely connected cords, failed hard drives, dusted-up fans), but the vast majority of computer problems are software-related.

You don’t know how many times I wished that I could. Not just with cars, either.

In my case, my first computer experiences were with command line and APL on an IBM mainframe in the 1970s. In that environment there was no alternative to learning how to use it at a more fundamental level. Even the games were text-based and done on CLI! At least it left me comfortable doing CLI on Linux now!

“had mandatory courses in school”
those classes don’t teach you computers, they teach you Microsoft Office, and that is the problem, people who create those classes in the first place, think that is the only software you will ever need, and it’s not, even if you only do office work

“Since they had taken computing classes in high school and college I had hoped that they had some computer skills”
I would expect they had Microsoft Office skills, nothing more (but according to what you are saying, they didn’t even have that)

This is a bit of a surprise, actually. I would have thought that the current under 25 generation, having grown up with computers and had mandatory courses in school would have more facility with them, but I don’t see that trend.

In my last job I worked in an office where we had a number of coop students and other young people working. We had one young woman who reprogrammed the database to produce the graphs and reports she wanted to see. That was impressive!

The remainder of them could play minesweeper, chat, use hotmail and surf the internet. They couldn’t use a word processor application, create graphs on a spreadsheet, use a search engine to do research on line, create a slide presentation or avoid downloading tons of viruses and spyware, because they didn’t know how. It was actually very disappointing. Since they had taken computing classes in high school and college I had hoped that they had some computer skills, but they were almost at “nil”.

I have actually run into a number of 30-somethings who have never used a computer, ever. Usually they have jobs like “truck driver” or “plumber”.

I always expect older people to have lower computer skills, but every now and then I find an 80-year-old who can write XHTML!

I grew up in that generation that “had to learn everything ‘the hard way’,” but I still don’t feel as if all my peers “get it” or don’t “get it.”

Most people I know from my generation, even the ones who had to learn DOS and F-keys, still are deathly afraid of their computers and exploring menus.

But I find roughly that same proportion amongst older folks and teens.

Generally, almost everyone I know, regardless of age, is afraid of computers and thinks if they do anything new or explore anything, the computer might just blow up in her face… and it may do that, too, even if she doesn’t do anything new.

Then there are the few “tech-savvy” people who really do just do what I consider the basics – know how to operate a computer and do weekly virtual housecleaning. No age bracket has exclusive rights to that demographic.

I disagree, and I know you said “There are exceptions, of course”, but still, I disagree, the generation that works best with computers, is the one that had to learn everything “the hard way”, now, with user interfaces over simplified, most of the younger generation does not know how to take care of their computer anyway, it may seem like that, but only because they may spend more time at it, and eventually learn a thing or two, but the young average user is as much computer illiterate as the old average user, it’s only the “young” interested in learning the basics (which is far from the “most” part), and the “old” that had to learn the basics anyway, that are “good with computers”, we could also argue, that what used to be considered the basics, is now considered advanced (think command line)

I think a lot of the knowledge and confidence about cars and simpler appliances stems from the fact that these people learned how to use cars, dishwashers, etc. while still kids and computers weren’t introduced to them until they were adults. Most of the younger generation does much better with computers simply because they have grown up with them. (There are exceptions, of course, but there are exceptions to every trend.) Based on that, we’re unlikely to see much improvement in computer literacy for another twenty years or so, when the majority of the current computer-illiterates have grown old and been replaced.

A similar sort of thing happened in the early days of cars, when car owners hired mechanics and chauffeurs because very few people could operate the fancy new devices.