Computer illiteracy

When it comes to technology, there’s nothing worse than a person who wants to use tech-stuff but doesn’t know how to. This is not to be confused with people who strive to learn how to do something. The latter are fine, in fact everybody has to start somewhere don’t they?

But there are people who just floor you, and make you think “JUST DON’T USE THE FRIGGIN’ THING!” These people usually come in the form of the “elderly.”

Read on for an explanation…

Elderly you say? Not so much as the literal translation of the term, but simply those old farts who grew up in a different generation from us, and refuse to move forward with us.

As I stated in the previous paragraphs, there is no problem as long as the people are willing to learn. But what if these people DON’T want to learn? Enter those “elderly” people I’m talking about.

They come in various forms and faces, sometimes they manifest in people dear to us. There’s the typical executive who would rather not touch anything and have someone ELSE do it. Which is fine to some extent if it’s in context of WORK. But there are those who INSIST on getting the new stuff, banking on the fact that they will have other people work it for them…

Our parents are a perfect example of such elderly folk. And don’t you go on about that “where’s your sense of gratitude?” lecture on me! You know perfectly well what I mean.

We all know that asking or learning by example is the first step for anything. So let’s compare such a scenario to my own life: I for one never asked my parents to do my homework. But if I had done so, I would never ask them to repeat the same problem for me for the rest of my natural life! Want something more specific? How about this analogy:

TEACHER: Carlo, what’s 1+1? ME: Ask my Mom, she happens to know the answer. After all, why should I know it if my Mom knows it. I’ll just stay by her whenever that particular mathematical question arises.

Frustrating isn’t it? That’s exactly how I’m feeling. It’s ok to teach/show it the first time, but geez! it doesn’t hurt to remember it doesn’t it?

The questions range from “how do you view an email attachment” to “how to delete a file.” As if the second didn’t already take the cake, today she followed up with another request:

MOM: (handing over a CD) Carlo, can you transfer the PPT in this to my laptop.

At this point time I’m thinking “wait a minute, let me think this over ok?”

I could: Put the CD in my drive, then fire up the network. I’ll visit her shared folder (which thank God I’ve set-up in the past), and dump the file.

OR

Give her the blasted CD, have her insert it to her laptop and drag the friggin file herself to copy to her HDD.

What seems to be easier? YOU TELL ME!!!

Sometimes it just makes me want to scream: “If you want a laptop, make sure you can use the fucking thing! Else, just hire a secretary do do everything for you!”