Hacker News Reader

Comment by rcthompson | Hacker News Reader

Will it ever happen? When the current generation of children reaches office-holding age, a majority of them may understand internet culture, but I don't think a significant fraction will ever understand the internet in a technical sense.

View on HN

The current generation of youngsters seem to be really good at tapping things quickly to get what they want on a phone, but if anything they are less technically literate than previous generations.

My niece dropped a programming adjacent class in college because they required them to use real computers "like with keyboards for old people" and she didn't want to learn how to do that.

They're also really good at optimizing for likes on insta, I would argue that is not technical literacy either.

Anecdotal, but I've experienced this with my brother who's 15 years apart. Has a phone and can use it, but even when interested in something like emulators, considers using an SD card and selecting some options too difficult.

This reminds me of the scifi first contact novel "Blindsight", which while not the best writing is chock full of intriguing concepts, one of which is the role of the "synthesist": a career where your job is to act just as a communications bridge between those who are so highly technically specialized (including cybernetic body modifications) that they are effectively incapable of communicating to managers and government officials. Hence the role of the synthesist, just to be a neutral observer who can help decision makers make sense of reality.

That's basically the description of a "Business Analyst". Also seen in Office Space: "I deliver the specs to the developers".

What is your reasoning behind that? This is seriously one of the dumbest "kids these days" statements I've ever read. Kids will become technologically sophisticated, many kids already are. Many kids will attain higher technical proficiency than you ever had, for example. Why would it be otherwise?

There are 100 reasons - the innards of technology boxes are less accessible. Programming languages are more abstract, and few dig down to the lower layers (which used to be all there was). Its changing faster and hard to get a mindshare before it all changes again.

I don't think its a 'kids these days' statement at all. More a 'technology these days'

Right. Take 2 10-year-olds. Give one a C=64 and a paper manual, and one an iPad and an internet connection. Which one is more likely to learn to program?

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm trying to say. It's not statement about "kids these days", it's a statement about all people always. The fraction of the population that actually understands the inner workings of the technology we all use every day is vanishingly small, and what I'm saying is that I don't see that changing, despite the fact that "kids these days" are growing up with computers and smart phones unlike previous generations. Hence, I think the idea that we just have to hold out for the next generation who will come in with their deep understanding of computers and digital security and fix all the laws to reflect the realities of modern computing is sadly flawed.

Just because your average, clueless, overweight boomer thinks using the latest social media applications on the newest phones makes someone technically savvy, that doesn't mean they actually are. Also, I'd bet the average teenager would still be as clueless about setting up a home theater (i.e. plugging in the correct cables into the correct sockets) as one was 20 years ago.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com