Comments on: It’s still too socially acceptable to be lousy with computers

By: The Name You Know

The Name You Know — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:19:29 +0000

Here’s another common mistake: typing the domain name of a site people know into the Google search box instead of the browser directly. I see lots of people waste time and energy that way. And it’s not just the people I know that do this. Many of the top search words are domains.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:12:05 +0000

For a bit of humour in response to all of this there's this brilliant XKCD cartoon. (Thanks VXL for reminding me).

By: Mino

Mino — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:09:34 +0000

I think the most important thing is ones will to learn. I know older people who until their 40-50 never touched a keyboard, an now are easily using the internet or a software, and people of 30-35 who copy the link to a document on the stick and than wonder why, oh why is not working…. So is not the age, but the decision if you want or if you don’t want to achieve a decent level of knowledge in using a computer.
And by the way, being the one who fixes the “aliens” in my colleagues computers, I am automatically supposed to be expert in fixing fax and xerox machines. So I’m getting better in that too

By: french derek

french derek — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:42:49 +0000

Anon said a lot of what I would have said. As a 70+ year-old I admit to being useless with the DVD recorder (can just about manage the player!). I’m not so bad (really) with computing; and am an iMac fan after years of Microsoft misery. But, even so, I admit to having learned a few things from the list of “alien” mistakes/misunderstandings.

One of the frustrations of being a professional (of any sort) is that one encounters such “rudimentary” understanding of one’s own profession and what it entails.

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:48:18 +0000

What a depressingly arrogant and patronising post, typical I’m afraid of those that work in IT every day

By: Brusselsblogger

Brusselsblogger — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:25:26 +0000

Jon, I am not sure I 100% agree with you. For me most of these examples are really nice user interface challenges which are actually solved (and the user doesn’t *need* to care).

Most people really don’t care what is a RAM memory, hard disk oder shared drive disk which is hosted in the cloud.

On the other hand: one example that drives *me* crazy: people who are mostly editing files day in day out but don’t know how to use track changes with Word or that it even exists.

By: till

till — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:04:00 +0000

In 2010 there are still people in their 30s using spaces and new lines to draw tables in Word as well…

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:08:23 +0000

@Simon – how you have managed to make the leap from what I write to Murdoch and governments regulating the internet is absolutely beyond me. Perhaps it’s due to laziness having not looked at what I have written over the last 4 years or so on this blog. Equally the blog runs off open source software and you’re welcome to use or share whatever is here… in fact the very opposite of the sort of internet future you seem to fear.

As for the main point – no, the internet is not a place. It is a means, something akin to a pen and paper, using the internet is a skill that will become as ever prevalent as using a pen and paper, one of those things without which our society will not be able to function. People who cannot read and write get stuck in poverty, and that’s why states invest in education to help people out of that situation. Use of the internet will go the same way – those who cannot use it put themselves at a severe disadvantage and that’s the reason it’s vital for everyone to have good net skills.