Originally posted by: Fritzo
People born in the 60's and before seem to have difficulty grasping virtual items. If they can't touch it, they don't get it. Files, folders, icons...it's all magical to them. What's funny is it's all based on old paper file cabinets---and everyone knows how those work.
I do not know what it is, but it is not age or prior experience with computers. I know people in the generation of my parents who are quite proficient at computers (who were not in IT or engineering). Then there are people who are my peers or younger who cannot copy a windows file from one folder to another.
I also think that many of these people are lazy.
The secretaries and attorneys in my office literally use the computer to make their living. However, almost zero of the secretaries or attorneys I have worked with over that past 12 years have knowledge beyond even the most basic tasks (and most of those they do wrong (like spaces instead of tabs)).
And G-d help you if move one of their desktop icons!!!
I am just amazed as to how little they know about the most important tool in their lives. I am even more amazed as to how little motivation they seem to have to learn more.
Also, I remember someone explaining the difference between "computer people" and "non-computer people".
Computer people learn processes and are able to graft what they learned about one process onto other events to make them able to perform tasks they have never done before. Sort of how people who know Windows generally know how to maneuver around almost any Windows program with a general idea where to look for what they need. The more advanced processes you know, the more advanced new process you can do.
Non-computer people learn steps for specific tasks. They know how to open Word, create a document, save it and print it, but they do not take that experience and apply it to using Excel.
An example of this is when someone explains how to do something to "computer people", they take in the "steps" but also analyze the "process" so that they do not need to memorize the steps. Sure they learn the steps, but the steps are just part of the process they have just learned.
When someone explains how to do something to "non-computer people", they try to learn the "steps" without thinking about the "process". That is why they tend to say "This is too complicated" or "That is too many instructions". They try to learn it like a telephone number, digit by digit, so once you get past their short-term capacity (even if they are writing it down), they give up (and you end up with "the blank stare").
I am not sure if that is the best way to explain it, but I think you get the idea.
My father-in-law, a retired CPA, knows how to do things with Excel that I did not even know it could do. That is only because he spent hours and hours looking in the manual (someone looks at the Excel manual!?!) and calling MS. He then has those tasks written down and he follows the instructions step by step. However, when he upgraded Office, some of the steps changed slightly (and I mean
slightly) and he was lost. He literally started all over again.
When I went over to his house some time later, even though I had never performed those tasks before, based solely on his prior notes and my innate abilities
, I was able to fill in the blanks on all of the remaining tasks in mere moments.
Instead of the ability to fly or see through walls, I can operate a computer.
MotionMan
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