Kate Hackett
Okay — so my day job is tutoring and something I’ve realized over the years is that my GenZ students (god love ’em) are completely computer illiterate. If it’s not the single most intuitive thing in the world with a pretty graphic (“create new document”), they have no idea how to do it. They can’t center text (they tab forever), they download and save everything instead of just opening it in the browser, and lord help you if you want them to add a text box.
It’s bizarre because they’re, in theory, the most computer-savvy generation! They’ve grown up with this stuff! But they also never really had to learn it because it was just delivered to them fully formed.
u/Dark-Matter-7935 seems to have spotted a similar phenomenon and took to AskReddit to wonder:
“What is a basic computer skill you were shocked some people don’t have?”
Here are some of the best answers:
1. Mice Thingies
I once did a bit of tutoring for folk, and I remember one lady asked how she could open Word. So I told her to move the mouse pointer over the Word Icon and double click on it, to which she replied “Oh no, I can’t do that. I don’t like those mice thingies…”
2. READ IT
Reading.
You don’t know how many family members have asked me to come help them because something popped up.
Them “Why is it popped up?”
box says update will happen tonight
Me “There is an update coming, nothing to worry about”
Them “oh wow, I’m so bad with this I wish I understood it like you”
ITS IN PLAIN ENGLISH JUST READ THE SCREEN GOD DAMMIT
3. Scams
Not recognizing a scam email when it’s really obvious
4. Windproof Routers?
Had a situation happen with an older coworker when I worked at Pizza Hut who knew I was in college for CS. She walked up to me with gusto and says, “I need a wind proof WIFI router because the wind keeps blowing it away” then when I tried to explain to her that wind doesn’t blow away WIFI. I shit you not this lady goes, “No wonder you can’t get a job in computers” A couple hours later, she’s outside on the phone cussing out the ISP because they told her the same thing I did. Turns it was orchestrated by her grandson telling her to ask for windproof routers. Like when your dad tells you to go into autozone to ask for blinker fluid.
5. Close the tabs
I had a colleague who complained about her computer being slow after lunch. Took a look, and it turns out she was using ‘minimise’ instead of ‘close’ after reading emails – had over 200 emails open!
6. Plugs
Shape recognition.
Does the end of the cable look like the hole in the machine? It’s amazing how many people can’t figure that out at work.
7. Seriously, plug it in
Them: “My computer turns on, but my monitor doesn’t show the picture!”
Me: “Is your monitor plugged in and connected to the back of your PC?”
Them: “No, I needed to use that outlet so I unplugged it”
Me: 🙁
8. Double click
Not knowing what double click means
9. URLs
Not knowing how to enter a URL. I’ve tried to get people to enter a URL over the phone and they just put it in the Google search bar (usually after first going to google.com).
10. Desktop background
My college roommate didn’t know he could change his desktop background. He was blown away and went to show it to one of our other friends, who was also blown away because she didn’t know you could change the background.
11. Email previews
Not realizing that there is more written in an email beyond the preview.
Apparently all emails are only a few sentences long and typically trail off mid sentence according to this person.
12. This is what I’m TALKING ABOUT
Knowing how to save or open a document. I’m not kidding. I work with teenagers.
13. File organization
Just navigating Windows Explorer, and the organisation of files. The amount of people who just stick every single file on their desktop is crazy, and they’re not arranged in any particular order. When they need to find a file they have to peer all around their desktop to find it.
14. Just look it up
My girlfriend always thought I was super smart and could solve every computer problem through sheer force of my brain. Then I was helping her with a computer issue and after exhausting the basic troubleshooting steps I had, I googled her issue with some specific keywords and got some help articles to work off. She was blown away “you just google it?” And I’m like yeah, there are no unique situations and someone smarter than me has solved this issue before.
She came home from one of her classes the other day and proudly told me one of her students had a camera she had never used before and she used google to look up how to put it in RAW mode. I was so proud and congratulated her on now being qualified to be a web developer.
15. Copy/Paste
I caught a coworker flipping back and forth between tabs while retyping a paragraph. When I showed her how to copy and paste, her response was “I can’t keep up with all this new technology.”
16. Follow instructions
The ability to follow a step-by-step how-to instructions.
Example, I worked with a place that used a lot of pictures files. There was an issue where we couldn’t open .jpeg files, but .jpg were okay. So you would have to rename the files to .jpg.
I got my first batch of ~100 .jpeg files and said, “there must be an easier way.” Everyone insisted you have to do it one by one. So I looked it up online and found it you can change file extensions in bulk using the command prompt.
It literally took five steps. I made an easy to follow instructional document with screens shots, and passed it around to everyone. I thought they’d be very thankful that I saved them hours of work.
A month later I caught them renaming each file one by one. I didn’t say anything.
17. Shortcuts
I’m in my 40’s, I teach at a private elementary school. A teacher in her late 20’s shared a google doc with me, and she had “centered” the title by hitting space bar a bunch of times.
Another teacher, around my age, wanted to know why google docs would not translate her document into Spanish. It was a jpeg with text on it.
No one seems to know any keyboard short cuts.
18. Turn it off
That turning it off and back on is a solution to most common problems
19. Search
Been working in IT long enough to where people not having basic computer skills doesn’t shock me anymore. But still, how do people never figure out that you can search for programs in the start menu?
“My Outlook is gone!”
hits start and types Outlook
Oh, there it is! How’d you find it?
20. Emails
Not so much a skill but I was shocked when I would interview people in my previous company at the number of individuals who don’t have an email address or even know how to create one.
