As someone who is currently tutoring computer science courses for college, I think you greatly over estimate the average computer users ability to navigate a place like Reddit, let alone Lemmy. Most people I tutor for intro classes struggle to understand a file browser. Even for me Lemmy was slightly intimidating with how it jumps to the whole open source/ chose an instance thing before I could make an account.
Lemmy will need a basic app before it really jumps to the main stream.
My favorite is “Okay open up Explorer, no Windows Explorer, ok close Internet Explorer, open the folder looking one, no need to double click the folder, shit you just moved that folder into another folder, we need to undo, press Ctrl+Z, wait at the same time, well not the exact same time, press Ctrl a bit earlier… Ok, Edit pulldown and click undo… how about you shift over and let me drive”
It makes me sad to see how inept 18-20 year old kids are at basic computer operation. I’m 28 so not that far away, but I find myself constantly thinking “how did you guys miss this”.
I spend most of my day as a tutor for an intro to Microsoft office class and I am continually blown away at how little people understand about devices they paid hundreds of not thousands of dollars for.
Mostly it is because iOS and Android abstract away the file system. I’m 43 and have been using computers since the late 80’s, one of my biggest gripes with android is the lack of a good simple file browser and text editor.
Phone OSs are definitely a big culprit but students entering college now would have most likely at a minimum been issued Chromebooks since middle school. While not perfect at least Google drive would give them a chance to get to grips with how to navigate files.
I have had multiple college freshmen taking an intro C# class that had no idea what a zip file was. How can you want to be a computer science student but be so disconnected from your own computer skills.
I kind of don’t think it’s that weird. I grew up with computers and I use one for work in a technical field where understanding them helps. But I also barely use one anymore other than for work or the odd game. People who grew up on phones and want to develop for phones or consoles might never have needed to use a computer but can still be interested in computer science.
Yeah, Lemmy doesn’t seem to like .gif. When I uploaded it using Jerboa, it converted to .webm, which, ironically, doesn’t seem to work in Jerboa. Seems to load fine on the web version of Lemmy, though: https://lemmy.ca/comment/867679
It seems really counterintuitive, but computer literacy has taken a huge nosedive since the early days.
I have a 9 year old son, and while it’s anecdotal I know for a fact he’s the only one in his class who knows what the different components look like and what they do. All his friends are major gamers, but they have no idea how any of it works under the hood, so to speak, nor are they able to do a proper Google search, or organize files.
It boggled my mind when I first realized it also. At least my son got a nice headstart, as he’s already into python and stuff. I’m proud as hell, lol.
Not just kids. I’m surrounded by adults that need me to guide them through a simple buying process or to download files. My opinion is that the instance login is just a massive barrier that will make it impossible for the general public to make lemmy and Mastodon mainstream
I was a geek squad agent for several years and yeah the adults were usually more clueless than the younger clients. Computers have been a part of the work place for nearly 40 years… I’m not expecting most people to know hardware and maintenance but just being a competent user is rare.
Yeah the instances are really confusing for a normal user. Imagine if something like discord worked like that, where you had to have a separate account for every single channel you join.
As someone who is currently tutoring computer science courses for college, I think you greatly over estimate the average computer users ability to navigate a place like Reddit, let alone Lemmy. Most people I tutor for intro classes struggle to understand a file browser. Even for me Lemmy was slightly intimidating with how it jumps to the whole open source/ chose an instance thing before I could make an account.
Lemmy will need a basic app before it really jumps to the main stream.
My favorite is “Okay open up Explorer, no Windows Explorer, ok close Internet Explorer, open the folder looking one, no need to double click the folder, shit you just moved that folder into another folder, we need to undo, press Ctrl+Z, wait at the same time, well not the exact same time, press Ctrl a bit earlier… Ok, Edit pulldown and click undo… how about you shift over and let me drive”
Exactly that hahaha.
It makes me sad to see how inept 18-20 year old kids are at basic computer operation. I’m 28 so not that far away, but I find myself constantly thinking “how did you guys miss this”.
I spend most of my day as a tutor for an intro to Microsoft office class and I am continually blown away at how little people understand about devices they paid hundreds of not thousands of dollars for.
Mostly it is because iOS and Android abstract away the file system. I’m 43 and have been using computers since the late 80’s, one of my biggest gripes with android is the lack of a good simple file browser and text editor.
Phone OSs are definitely a big culprit but students entering college now would have most likely at a minimum been issued Chromebooks since middle school. While not perfect at least Google drive would give them a chance to get to grips with how to navigate files.
I’ve been using Solid Explorer for years. There’s likely something better now, but it’s served me well.
Omg kids struggle to understand simple file browsers now?
I have had multiple college freshmen taking an intro C# class that had no idea what a zip file was. How can you want to be a computer science student but be so disconnected from your own computer skills.
I kind of don’t think it’s that weird. I grew up with computers and I use one for work in a technical field where understanding them helps. But I also barely use one anymore other than for work or the odd game. People who grew up on phones and want to develop for phones or consoles might never have needed to use a computer but can still be interested in computer science.
Ironic.
Yeah, Lemmy doesn’t seem to like .gif. When I uploaded it using Jerboa, it converted to .webm, which, ironically, doesn’t seem to work in Jerboa. Seems to load fine on the web version of Lemmy, though: https://lemmy.ca/comment/867679
It seems really counterintuitive, but computer literacy has taken a huge nosedive since the early days.
I have a 9 year old son, and while it’s anecdotal I know for a fact he’s the only one in his class who knows what the different components look like and what they do. All his friends are major gamers, but they have no idea how any of it works under the hood, so to speak, nor are they able to do a proper Google search, or organize files.
It boggled my mind when I first realized it also. At least my son got a nice headstart, as he’s already into python and stuff. I’m proud as hell, lol.
Good on you for getting him involved early. I’m trying to do that stuff with my nieces and nephews but they aren’t really grabbing on.
Gonna remember this for when my boy gets old enough. Hope he is going to at least be slightly interested lol
Minecraft can be a great tool for learning basic logic gates and all that. That’s how we started at first.
It also helps that he’s way smarter than I was at his age, lol.
Not just kids. I’m surrounded by adults that need me to guide them through a simple buying process or to download files. My opinion is that the instance login is just a massive barrier that will make it impossible for the general public to make lemmy and Mastodon mainstream
I was a geek squad agent for several years and yeah the adults were usually more clueless than the younger clients. Computers have been a part of the work place for nearly 40 years… I’m not expecting most people to know hardware and maintenance but just being a competent user is rare.
Yeah the instances are really confusing for a normal user. Imagine if something like discord worked like that, where you had to have a separate account for every single channel you join.
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Old.reddit is great. Way better than their modern redesign.