Every generation has its nerds. I’m not suddenly a millennial just because I know how to fix a computer.
Yeah you clearly have no clue what the 80s and 90s were like for sure
The point is late X/early millennial were the only ones “forced” to fix tech if we wanted to use it (obviously people older than that needed to as well but they were less likely to be into tech). Shit rarely worked out of the box, plug and play was shit, nothing was standardized, etc. Around the late 90s into the 2000s things worked more reliably without needing tinkering, and then apps came in and shifted things even further from tech literacy.
The PC revolution started with the Apple 2 in 1977. In the early 80’s everyone had a Commodore 64. By the mid 80’s everyone had a PC. If you were born in the 80’s, you were not editing autoexec files in diapers.
Unless you were poor and your parents could never afford a PC. We still got to use computers some in school at least. I once volunteered for a ‘computer camp’ which was basically summer school where they would let you play on the computers.
I’m Gen Z and I was still “forced” to fix tech if I wanted to use it. I mean sure, I didn’t have to deal with IRQs, setting up autoexec.bat and config.sys, and so on, but if you’re not at least a little bit inclined you wouldn’t have the patience to fix things even when you’re “forced”. You’d just give up and move on. There’s always something else to do. Things have gotten easier for sure, which is reducing the exposure to “falling in the rabbit hole” but one way or another interested people will get into it.
It’s like how cars are getting simpler to use, but you still have car guys around. We don’t say only old people know how to drive stick.
In any case, there’s better things to use as a generational boundary; like how a single G5 piano note will trigger a very specific group of people.
Edit: I went off on a tangent above and got argumentative. My original comment before this one was intended to be sarcastic but tone doesn’t carry well over text. This whole thing isn’t really something to argue about so I’ll leave it at that.
G5 piano note
'72 Gen X here, I HEAR YOUR CALL!!!
It’s all perspective lol, how many of us would last a week logging…with out all the modern tech?
Or car mechanics, might not care how the fancy cloud works, but can talk about engines all day long.
The way I see it, we’ve all got our niche and help each other out with what we dedicate our time to learning.
Gen X - who, let’s face it, wrote most of this stuff - gets forgotten again.
Gen X is the Aslan lion meme: “Do not cite the deep computer repair magic to me, Millennial. I was there when it was written.”
Asian lion?
Damn autocorrect.
They mean Aslan, aka big kitty Jesus, from the Narnia books.
I read big kitty Jesus as big titty Jesus and was confused
You’re thinking of Gandalf Big Naturals. Easy mistake to make.
Better than Wither Big Naturals
By that logic, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak were Boomers so Boomers all know how to fix computers.
Let’s face it, “generational” assumptions are all too coarse to be valuable - and are probably just another way to separate and divide us all so we stop thinking about how to take down the ruling classes.
My dad is close to 80. He’s been PC savvy since the super early 1980s and he still is, although he is stuck in Windows because he’s a monster in the astrophotography world and most of his software isn’t supported in Linux etc. I dated a girl in college whose dad was one of the founding creators of the internet. Unlike Al Gore lol.
I taught my younger brother how to program in basic and pascal in the 80s. He’s now a super successful programmer. I’m pretty poor but I like to build fix and upgrade people’s computers as a hobby. I am gen x.
I dated a girl in college whose dad was one of the founding creators of the internet. Unlike Al Gore lol.
Bullshit. If her dad was one of the founders of the Internet, you’d know that the Al Gore meme was a Republican smear campaign.
I worked for Vint Cerf in the early 90’s. This is what he wrote to defend Al Gore against the Republican smear campaign:
Al Gore didn’t need a smear campaign for his nonsense. I was there too, we were laughing our asses off at the shit he said.
“We don’t think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he “invented” the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore’s initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening.”
- Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn
He was a hell of a lot more of a founder than Al Gore was. Gore was a marketer at best.
Edit: you all are downvoting without even knowing who he was. Drink piss assholes.
Al Gore never claimed to have been the founder of the Internet. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn both defended Al Gore against idiots like you.
Rush Limbaugh was on the radio daily in the early 90’s calling Al Gore’s information superhighway a Democratic Boondoggle. Republicans were fighting to kill the Internet. Al Gore was fighting since the 80’s to fund it so it could grow into something bigger than a research network.
If Eisenhower can get credit for the US Interstate Highway system despite not pouring a drop of concrete, then Al Gore gets credit for the Internet.
You really love that piece of shit don’t you?
I worked for Vint Cerf. I later started my own ISP. I know the history of the Internet because I lived it.
I quoted Vint Cerf. What do you have to support your claim?
I am Gen X
This sounds like a commercial (fellow GenX here), haha
Here’s a 40 second video of Vint Cerf saying Al Gore did help create the internet:
Hey, Millennial here. Just a friendly reminder to drink your metamucil today
As one of those Gen-X that actually helped create the dumpster fire we call the modern Internet, I have come to realize that we fall into two camps. You either look young enough to be classified as a Millennial (my wife) or you look old enough to immediately be thrown in the Boomer bucket (me)…which is really unfair because no other generation has hated and fought the fucking Boomers longer than us.
I’d love to show some GenZ photos of Matt Damon, Bem Affleck, Cillian Murphy, etc. and ask them what generation they think they are.
The struggle is, we all live long enough to be the next boomers. Maybe in 10 years it is: “OK, Gen-X”
I think what’s happening is Millenials are starting to get the “OK Boomer”.
Yep it’s just a phrase now and people don’t know what boomer was.
Before I deleted Facebook entirely, I briefly flirted with a Facebook group of Aussie gen xers for a bit of nostalgia, and I had to quit after only a few weeks because the ‘back in my day’ crowd became too insufferable. It’s already happened.
And while gen X definitely were instrumental in creating much of modern tech, most of them are still pretty hopeless at it. Watching some of my similarly aged colleagues trying to use a computer is an exercise in frustration.
Ahhh I see. So what you’re saying is that Gen X is actually the root of our problems? Boomers were just another symptom that needed a GUI.
Eh. Genx understood how to work a VCR and deal with the rat’s nest of cables behind the TV
Computers are millennials
Utter BS. I’m on the old end of Gen X and I’m still building PCs for people and troubleshooting their shit when it breaks. I have yet to meet a much younger person who can do it as well.
Your also on Lemmy so you’re the exception not the rule.
Gen X seem to be either computer people or totally unaware. Millennials seem to be generally much less knowledgeable than the former and much more knowledgeable than the latter. Obviously there are millennials who are computer people, but my conception of them is more people who got computer science degrees than the person who lives in a shack in the woods and builds his own robots. Boomer computer people are even more formidable.
I’m not saying that’s true, but it’s the stereotype I have in my head.
Well put.
We were the first (of non-computer types) to adopt the web. We rode the AOL Instant Messenger train. What are you talking about.
AOL instant messenger was late to the party. ICQ started the instant messaging fad… that little “uh oh” notification sound is permanently burned into my brain.
presses Ctrl+G to foghorn
Fuck that sound.
I was on ICQ as well, but most people weren’t. I was generalizing to the contemporary audience.
Most millenials I deal with don’t know how anything works. They know apps and swiping screens. They are computer competent, knowing how to use them. Like knowing how to drive a car doesn’t mean you are a mechanic. They frequently know how do basic fixes like rebooting or reinstalling but less frequently have any true troubleshooting understanding. I don’t claim all millenials are like that, but broad stroke its not uncommon. I’d never say the generation as a whole is THE technical one though. I know more Gen Z that are technical by far, but that seems more matching Gen X to me. They either know technology or don’t. Nothing in between.
People can be exceptions to the norm. Most GenX we all interact with are as hopeless as the boomers.
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No we’re not!!
Its almost like the “generations” are mostly arbitrary with a lot of overlap
I had home computers 10 years before the internet really hit.
Older Millenial here. It was definitely GenX that paved the way for the computer world I learned, and it was mostly GenX who wrote the books and taught the lessons (often informal) that brought us what knowledge we have, at least in the beginning. Plus a small selection of exceptional individuals from older generations, including, dare I say it,… the baby boomers.
Older millennial here, too. This is absolutely correct. (Btw we are called xenials 1981–86)
There is a big difference between having the people who invented something and being the people who families (and companies…) depend on to keep them running. This being about the latter.
Or, at least, in my family, we tended to not tell the engineers at Ampex to get their butts downstairs because dad didn’t understand why the color was off on the football game he recorded last night
When I joined the company maintaining Unix, I was one of the younger ones. It’s older X who knows how it’s all built; because they did it.
Very late Gen X or early millenial no. We came through VCR DVD it was a wonderful change. Also Torvalds would be Gen X.
That’s cool. We’re used to being forgotten and this way nobody will ask us to fix their computer.
no, they’re just choosing to not fuck with this shit because they’ve had enough
Whatever
at this point it’s pretty funny….
I don’t know about you, but I quit doing that soul crushing work as soon as I could something I really loved.
They said boomers so same dif.
Fine with me. Leave us the hell alone.
Oh it’s a printer? I, uh, yeah, no I don’t know anything about printers sorry.
PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean?!
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Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, etc. are marketing bullshit that need to stop being used in the common lexicon.
Agree… Cringe.
Sauce? I just make stuff and opine freely. I think none of that is bullshit, but I’ll debate it on a case-by-case.
Unfortunately, I can’t find anything that really matches my statement, but I recall seeing it somewhere.
Based on what I could find, the generations are made up demographics with no real actual definitive delineation. Too many sources can’t agree on where one starts and the other ends.
Oh, but not “Boomer” so you can still say “Ok, Boomer?”
They should just be numbered. From best to worst, so Millenials would be 1 and Boomers would be like… 6? 7? How many generations have we had 🤔
To me, “boomer” is a mentality. Sure, they were the kids born after the WW2 economic boom, I get that. But I feel that the mentality is “old and dying off and not worth considering”.
Based on what I could find, the generations are made up demographics with no real actual definitive delineation. Too many sources can’t agree on where one starts and the other ends.
interestingly, here in the balkans, there are plenty of gen z techy guys. they aren’t full blown engineers but they can fix a lot of basic everyday problems. proud to be slavic lol
Pc gaming is kinda bringing gen z and alpha back to the light. RGB is how the get you and before you know it you’re watching pewdepie’s guide to installing Linux and custom android roms.
I’m quite optimistic about the computing future tbh! With LLM helping with troubleshooting the field should be much more accessible for anyone willing to learn.
Gen Z / alpha: “fix the computer? Do you mean the phone?”
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Lost gen got all that kung-fu.
gen x
You do realize Gen X were the ones who were building their own computers back in the late 80’s and all through the 90s and loading them with Windows 3.1 and the original flavors of Linux, on top of fostering the open source world everyone here relies upon? All before Millennials graduated from Jr High.
If they want to take over from my gen-X ass from doing everyone’s fixing shit, I’m all for it.
To my fellow Gen X’ers…
Shhh!
Let someone else deal with the inept on the other end of the phone. Be happy we’re being ignored again.
Millenial here:
This is good advice, sage even.
…
EDIT:
I didn’t forget the couple of extremely cool and also very knowledgable Gen X mentors/bosses I had, hahah!
I was going to complain, but you’re damned right.
Silence is golden.
And duct tape is silver
The meh generation
so middle of the road that they are left out of every discussion about generations. Boomers may suck, but at least they’re memorable lol
I for one am happy to be left out of the ‘generation war’. It’s stupid. In my day blah blah blah- no one cares gramps. Live in the now.
Back in my day we had weed. We still do, but we did back then too.
In my day you would either get trash weed with seeds all in it, or pay out the ass for ‘kind buds’. You can get whole Ounces in Michigan right now for what we had to pay for a quarter in the 90s… damn it, you got me doing it! ;)
I used to get my weed in a big trash bag behind the high school from a guy on a yamaha scooter. It was mostly seeds and stems and you had to smoke a lot to even get high but it was great because it gave you something fun to do with friends. I can’t handle the weed people smoke nowadays, one toke sends me straight to the nether realm.
Nah, they’re the last “boomer” generation. Fed a diet of TV and no internet growing up, but just in time to secure the last slice of normal with owning a home and having a family on a decent income.
You’re using that word again. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Boomer is a mindset not a timespan.
the last “boomer” generation. Fed a diet of TV and no internet growing up
Boomer is a mindset not a timespan
Lol.
Yeah?
You don’t have to be born from '46 to '64 to be a boomer, you have to act like a boomer to be a boomer. Being fed a boomer media/social diet growing up tends to make people grow up into boomers.
You’re conflating and confusing a term that has existed since the 60’s to describe a time span, with complex societal, economical effects on peoples mindset today.
Your inability to describe and explain the things you want to argue is the issue. Repeating the word again and again is not helping.
You’re completely wrong, but if you want to confuse the word even more, go ahead.
Lol
Wooooooooooosh
I’ve spent the last decade training Millennials just for that task.
I’ll be over here screwing with the K8S cluster if you need me.
You seniors and your K8s I tell you whut
And again, generation X completely forgotten about.
Yep
The whole history of this meme is a tired Boomer-tier joke. It’s 9gag material at this point.
We’re already at that end of the alphabet again?
We fix our own damn computers before the Millenials get out of bed.
As one of the older Millennials (1982), I can say that there is a lot of truth to this meme.
And a younger one…
Yeah, this is more young X and old millennial. Xers born in the late 60s-early 70s and millennials born in the late 80s-90s don’t know shit.
I’ve heard us (young Xs and old millennials) described as the
organOregon Trail generation. We grew up along side the tech so we understand it better than your average person from before or after.Is this a black market body parts game? Drug wars meets Oregon Trail?
I’m not sure what their comment said before they fixed it, but if it was “The Organ Trail”, that game exists. It’s basically “The Oregon Trail”, but with zombies.
Yeah, I went back and changed it to a strikethrough to avoid more confusion.
Oregon Trail.
Thank you, autocorrect strikes again.
The oregano trail is lined with spicy meat-a-balls.
I’m not sure why people are down voting this. I agree 100%. The most techie people I have ever known are part of what you called “the Oregon Trail generation” (I love this term).
People always get pissy about these generation things. It’s not about some people being better than others. There was a period of time where being able to use a computer meant being able to take a tabula rasa machine, install an os using a bunch of disks and a large manual, and figure out how to fix anything without the internet. There was also a period of time where home computers were becoming common. Those two periods overlapped and created a group of non-professional people mostly (MOSTLY) born between 75ish and 85ish that are much better able to use and troubleshoot tech than people born before or after.
But you always end up attracting a bunch of douches saying “I was born in (whenever) and I have a degree in (whatever) and I know more than people blah blah blah.” Yeah, I’m not talking about professionals or hardcore hobbyists, I’m taking about regular jerkoffs that had to figure this shit out without specialized education or the internet. It was a unique period that created a group a people different than what came before or after. No judgement, it just is. For some reason certain people take offense to that.
Instead of “the Oregon Trail generation” we should be called the “I read the damn manual” generation.
Though i’m the very tail end of genX and a “computer expert”, I pretty much think that the millennial generation being the only generation was all part of a solid de-education plan. At the rate we’re going Its only a matter of time where the tech we have today is forced to be only approved OS, controlled, monitored and IT capable people who know how to bypass will be arrested for violating the law.
The water is starting to get warm…
It wont even be that hard. Take their gibbity away now and a lot of people (young and old) will be helpless. Or, what will actually happen, minorly change gibbity outputs to fulfill your political agenda to become the first trillionaire, all the while the population doesn’t know theyre being fed trash.
Great guy know is an actual boomer, grew up in Canada and then London after the war (dad was an MP). That dude took a passenger ship from Canada to UK and then back.
Was in Jolly ol’ England at the right to see the Beatles before they were the Beatles.
He was doing things with palm pilots and computers that no senior citizen should have been doing if this ageist shit was in anyway accurate
