The idea that the young kids know way more about computers than any adults do is very persistent. When I was one of the young kids, I figured it was true; now that I have passed beyond the point UC Berkeley's Free Speech Movement recommends as the demarcation for trustworthiness, today's young kids—the ones I encounter at the library, anyway—are failing to give me a run for my money. Actually, it's hardly even a brisk walk. Maybe it's only that the kids I see are the ones that don't have computers at home (that's why they're at the library). Even within that subset of kids, the ones I really notice are the ones who have problems that they want me to sort out; the kids that don't come to me for help might be computer whizzes.
The thing is, as a young computer whiz, I liked to show off my whizardy. Library patrons about my age seem to be the most likely to inflict geeky help on their struggling fellows; the kids just play games and check MySpace. An important distinction: the kids I see tend to be able to use the internet. They are comfortable around computers, unlike the technophobes from older generations who still can't figure computers out, ever though they've had several decades now to do it in. They know how to use computers, if not expertly, then functionally: they can make them do most of the things they are interested in making them do. They are, however, extraordinarily poor troubleshooters when the unexpected occurs. On many occasions, I have responded to the complaint that the screen suddenly went blank; every time this was caused by the user disconnecting the power with a poorly placed kick. The kids these days don't even know that computers have to be plugged in to work.
When I was a kid, computers were cool; now they are just everyday appliances, like dishwashers or toasters. Of course, I think I've got a pretty cool toaster, so maybe it's just that I and everyone I ever hung out with was a total geek, so my impression of my own age group leans toward geekery. Or maybe we really do know more, but only because you had to know more in those days to get the games to load (if you're old enough, think back to the incredible sequence of text commands required to start a game on the Commodore 64). Computers are so easy to use now. You don't have to memorize even one text command. Kids today don't really like computers they way my peers and I did. They may be exited by content they access; I get excited by the thrum of the things coming to life when I power them on.
Interesting.
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