• Rachelhazideas@lemmy.world
    2712·
    3 days ago

    Classic Lemmy Linux users forgetting that access to a PC and the knowledge to use it is a privilege not afforded to most unlike budget smartphones which cost less than the keyboard you own and are becoming more and more of a necessity than a trivial toy as it was when we first had them.

    Lamenting generational failures is a pastime reserved for the old to soothe their egos. If you actually care, understand the systemic reasons why young people are less tech literate and take the steps to reach them.

      • glitchdx@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        2 days ago

        computers have never been cheaper

        while that might be true for the e-waste teirs of pcs, that idea is laughable for anything actually usable. just take a look at nvidia’s pricing, and I don’t mean msrp I mean the actual price you actually pay at checkout.

      • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 days ago

        Bingo. I have noticed a huge downfall in curiosity and engagement with not only technology, but pretty much everything in the world. People just want to be spoon-fed and will fight you throw a hissy fit rather than just… learn or make an effort to figure things out on their own.

        I used to be a part of a DIY repair space for tech and mechanics and left because around 2022 it went from fun to just… a bunch of lazy people showing up and whining that other people were not doing the work for them. And you’d explain it was a DIY space for people to self-learn and they would just give you this vague look and get angry and then complain that ‘I thought you were suppose to do it for me.’

        I don’t know what it is, social media or phone addiction or what. It seems to be just as bad will millennials now as any other gen. People just… don’t want to try anymore at anything. And trying is the only way you properly learn anything.

            • irelephant [he/him]🍭@lemm.eeOPM
              1·
              2 days ago

              Sure, but google an error message + one or two tiny details still will 70% of the time return something useful.

              Its gotten worse, but not that bad yet.

                • Psychadelligoat@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  1·
                  2 days ago

                  At that point, as silly as it sounds, run it through a locally hosted LLM

                  they got trained on the documentation for a lot of these softwares, they’re shockingly good at error code lookup and providing correct solutions because they basically print out the help page that’s now hidden by search engines

                  I still sanity check every answer I ever get, but it helps narrow shit down when Google or others aren’t fucking behaving themselves

    • Jankatarch@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 days ago

      Most people carry a smartphone more expensive than my all organs combined to be fair, at least in US.

      Linux and technology in general is not that hard as long as you aren’t scared of clicking everything and messing around. And I say this as someone who didn’t have internet access until 2020.

    • LeFantome@programming.dev
      3·
      2 days ago

      I bought a 2013 MacBook Air for $60 a year ago to take with me on a backpacking trip.

      It is running the very latest release of EndeavourOS and runs it well. It can do video calls. Honestly, there is little it cannot do.

      You can use it to learn to program C, C++, Rust, Python, Go, Java, C#, and F#. It runs Distrobox and Docker so you can learn about containers. I guess after using QEMU/KVM to learn about VMs. You can use it to run K3S. You can run Postman, RestAssured, and Selenium to learn about Web APIs and testing. It runs WASM. You can orchestrate AWS or Azure from it as it runs both Terraform and OpenTofu great. It can run a host of cybersecurity tools including BurpSuite. You can run both SQL and Document databases. You can use it to package your own software and contribute to Linux distro development. You can emulate older machines and even run digital design tools and PCB layout. Obviously it runs all the major modern web browsers and a couple different Office suites. It can even do basic video editing and run smaller LLMs. It can run Steam if you are happy with older games. I know it can do all these things because I have.

      Without going on and on, I think you could use it to rotate a PDF.

      It comes with keyboard, trackpad, screen, and networking built in. It takes up hardly any space. And it is considerably less expensive than most phones and tablets. Of course, there are many less expensive computers that would also do the trick if you cannot afford $60 and just want to learn.

      I don’t think you can argue that basic computer skills are elitist. We are not talking F1 racing here.