Times are changing and one of the main things that are changing are the users. Hardware is faster, smaller and cheaper but the users have changed even more.
The Past
Computer users learned things on their own. The stuff they did learn from other people where taught by friends and family. If you wanted to know something that no one else knew, you messed around with whatever you wanted to learn about for hours/weeks.
In the past, you where almost a god if you could make a computer do something other than word processing. You where even better if you could fix or build computers. On top of that, you where the ultimate guru if you could program as well.
I know someone that could do all of that and was working for a coal company working as a mechanic. They learned in their spare time and finally applied for a job with a technology company. That mechanic quickly became an engineer at Intel with a lot of hard work.
The Present
I’m gonna catch hell for this, but today’s computer users are lazy, snotty, whiney and whatever other word you can fill in there. Computers have been around since the early 80’s (I’m talking mainstream, home PC’s) and we STILL have people who have never touched one and claim to know nothing about them other than to get on AOL.
What brought this story on was when I started researching hardware for a new gaming computer I’m putting together. This is my first major upgrade in about 6 years. I’ve upgraded machines here and there, but this new computer will blow anything in my house out of the water. Anyway, while doing research on problems for certain products and other things, I’ve noticed a heck of a lot of “yougins” running all over the internet posting all kinds of whiny comments about how they can’t get their setup right and they want to blame anyone but themselves.
As a for instance, I’m going to randomly select a comment off of some BB by searching Google…
Oh, and I do quote:
Gallery 2 sucks, too many files and folders
I tried to install it, Ive only got webspace not a server so I had to download all 3490 files via FTP, which took ages. Then when I had uploaded it it didnt work, when I tried to do something firefox asked if I wanted to download main.php. Then I want to delete it, but that will also took ages, because for some reason Gallery2 features alot, alot of folders. For example, in g2data/locks/ there are 9 folders named 1-9, then inside those folders are there also 9 other folders name 1-9, all folders are empty. 81 useless folders…..Gallery2 should consist of less folders and files….
I know - it takes so long to upload data these days. I mean sheesh, its almost like back in the day when a 9600 baud modem was slow…
This comment goes back and forth, but this idiot attacks his helpers with comments like:
Park and fryfog most be the most stupid people ever. Of course PHP installed, im not that stupid. I even wrote before that I got unlimited MySql databases, if I got that, why wouldnt I have PHP?
I know my post wasnt very well discussed or argumented, but yours beat me in stupidness dude! (He11Fire)
Yea, because people are suggesting something that is valid. There is a way to install MySQL without PHP. Anyway, he upset me too much to let it go… Oh, you want a link to really see the whole story eh? An earlier posting, on the same BB by the same author pretty much demanded why Gallery doesn’t work in safe_mode. Again, this proves my point that the younger generation has no respect for themselves, others or the software they are using. If a software license was required to install Gallery - he would have lost it for lack of understanding the webserver, software and for being rude to those who help.
ANYWAY - to get back on topic, people are no longer learning. They are taking the easy road and asking anyone they can how to do whatever. The same has gone on with the school systems in the United States.
Don’t know about “you”, but I personally will exhaust myself looking for a way to solve a problem before even beginning to think of asking a question to a mailing list, BB or someone else. This stubborn attitude is idiotic to some, but its something I believe in because I learn from my ignorance (note: the actual definition of “Ignorance” is: To not know. So, all the idiots out there calling each other ignorant are hypocrits).
Again, while searching on NewEgg, I run across a review of a product that just stuns me.
(1 out of 5 eggs)avoid like a plague
Comments: this ram bites the big one this is my 4 one.. got so fed up i ripped of the heatspreader. it is elixir underneath. i can buy elixir for $xx buck from all teh cheap places. be warn,. ocz using memory they just buy from other peps and put their spreaders on it..
Where is the grammar? Where is the punctuation? Where in the heck is “teh” spelling? This person is a kid that spends way too much time chatting online and playing games. In the past, this person would have been called such and ignored.
How to fix the problem
The problem is not going to go away easy or anytime soon.
Kids these days have lost respect for themselves and others. Educational standards have fallen as kids get more and more lazy. They rely on the Internet for reports instead of doing the research the hard way. They no longer think about mathmatical problems, they rely on their calculators and computers. They also rely heavily on spell check instead of learning how to spell words. (NOTE: I am a firm believer in spell checking, but I try my best not to rely on it.)
Why am I focusing on kids? Because its the kids and younger adults (older teens) that are causing this embarrasement to everyone. These kids learn a few things and decide that they are computer gods and like to throw around their use of programs they think are cool. There is typically a name for them from geeks like myself: Script Kiddies.
My Past
Now, I’ll admit, I’ve been using computers since I was 4. I did not own my own computer until I was 14 and I had to buy it with my own money. I did not have internet access, nor was I allowed to plug the modem in without my parents knowing about it. When I was younger, the computer was always in the main room of the house.
When I asked my dad if he was concerned about me visting adult websites (I was 16), he promptly gave me the address to Playboy’s website. Again, I was in the family room, surounded by my parents and two sisters. There was no way I was going to that website.
Now, my dad did help me with programming. He helped me with BASIC (ask a kid these days what BASIC is…) as well as helped me learn HTML. Notice that second word in the last sentence: “helped”. He did not show me how to do everything, he did not do everything for me and all that. He guided me into what I am today (a computer addict). Even though I’m a web programmer, because of my past, I want to become a Mechanical Engineer…
Up until about 5 years ago, I would claim that I could find anything someone wanted online in under 1 minute. I suceeded every single time someone would ask me to proove it. Now days, the internet has become a wasteland of useless information or information that is republished on so many websites, its blatenly obvious. Today, I routinely have to dig through pages of results on Google to find something relevant to what I’m searching for. It’s no longer about what keywords you use to search…
The Parents Are to Blame
That’s right, the parents. To solve the problem of the kids degrading the internet more than they have, the parents seriously need to get involved.
Tell my why in the world does a 5 year old need a computer in his room with the ability to get online via broadband and be completely unsupervised? WHY!? Some people may laugh, but this is a very real situation in several households that I visit on occasion. This is stupidity at its best.
This is the same problem that is popping up with kids getting home from school only to hop on their favorite IM program and chat away all night, which causes all the “chat speak” we see on BB’s and such.
Some parents claim that its for homework. Others claim its just for gaming. I say its all bullshit. Why does little Joey need a computer, two gaming consoles and his own DVD player in the family SUV? The attention span of kids these days is miniscule at best. This is now a topic of the latest TV shows aimed towards reality TV junkies (See Nanny 911 & Super Nanny. If you watch either of these shows, you’ll soon learn that the parents that want their kids to grow up without punishment or very little punishment have lots of problems. Morale of the story here folks: Control Your Kids.
