Now before I start complaining about other people, I first want to do some throat clearing.

I do not expect everybody to understand everything their computer does or how it does it. I don't think most peoples' thought of a good time is setting up a new service on their home server, even if I do (and if you read this, probably you do too).

What I'm trying to say is that I think it's ok if you aren't a computer whiz and choose to put your short time circling the sun into other interests and skills.

However,

It's sometimes infuriating having to help people who are technically illiterate. The number of people who I have run into that don't know what an internet browser is, despite communicating with me on our website is worrying.

From the moanings and groanings both online and in person from those of us who have to come to the aid of the illiterate, the sentiment "This problem will be gone when they all die out" is often heard.

Of course, I cannot insist the emperor isn't naked, the boomers are by in large completely helpless behind a keyboard. Though, I do have a bit more patience with them. They lived their entire lives, built careers, raised families, and then computer knowledge became a requirement to function in the workplace and society. In my experience they are pretty capable with basic office tools, word processing and spreadsheets, but flail when having to work with anything web-based.

Over the past 2 years, working with adults of all age ranges, I've realized this problem is not going away any time soon. In fact I'd say the tech illiterate of gen Z are as bad as the boomers. They have the inverse problem to that of the boomers, they only know how to use a browser. This gets them a lot further than the boomers in most tasks, but when they have to move data off of one platform and onto another, they too begin to flail.

When they are on a single platform, they are pretty capable once they are taught the basics. It's just that most institutions are not on a single platform. Trying to explain to them that what's on the cloud is not on their personal device is a labour of love. This is partially the fault of platforms, obfuscating ways to get your file out of of the web-app. File -> Save no longer saves the data in the universal format, it saves it as the platform's project file. On Google Docs, it is the .gdoc file format, if you want it as a pdf or docx you have to select "Export". The web-app version of Word is even worse, just popping up "your changes are automatically saved", like no shit just give me the damn file.

There was just an assumption that kids would learn computational skills through osmosis, and for some time I think this held true. The 2000s were a time where it took some skill to operate a computer, and with the youth being interested in the online world, they picked up these skills. In the 2010s, When computing shifted towards a mobile-first paradigm, when ease of use became the guiding principle, the barrier of entry was lowered, and these fundamental skills were lost. Users no longer needed to do any real file management. Since mobile apps give the user little-to-no recourse if a problem occurs, when these users then are faced with a problem on a web-app or desktop native application, they don't have the tools to attempt troubleshooting it themself.

This is almost entirely conjecture, but in my experience it is true. These kids come to me saying that the page didn't load, I tell them to refresh it, and amazingly it loads. Their older counterparts often at least tried to close the app and reopen it before they come to me.