Generational Tech Gap
As I mentioned before- I went down to NYC last week to spend some time with my family, which mainly to ME was paying emotionally for my mom's financial gift of two tickets to Spamalot.
While there I was reminded once again of the fact that computers have created an interesting twist of the generational gap. I was talking to my dad and told him that I currently don't use an instant message program because I seem to have a software incompatibility problem. His response, I thought you recently had someone fix your computer... I said the fix was a HARDWARE issue and the problem I had with Yahoo Messenger was SOFTWARE. He repeated himself, I thought you had your computer fixed; so I repeated myself- there's a difference between HARDWARE and SOFTWARE.
Later that night, he showed me pictures of the improvements to his house in Conn. and his dog, who had recently died. I took about 5 min. and showed him how to go to his control panel and change his desktop to a picture on his hard drive, so he could have a picture of the dog as the background picture. I considered this a very simple computer trick, my dad however waxed poetic and pointed out that I really should find a job in the tech field as I'm so good with computers. I shook my head, and pointed out that what I had showed him was one of the easiest tricks in the book; that while I knew *something* about computers I was at the shallow end of the pool.
This made me think. Personal computers happened in MY life time, as has basically anything you can connect to your TV- VCRs, laserdiscs, DVD players, and game platforms. I remember I was the first one in my family to own a VCR, and I bought my mom her first wireless phone (because those phone cords always seemed to be 6 in. too short). While my first computer wasn't till college (a Mac SE), I've futzed around on computers more then my parents.
However that doesn't, to me, make me an expert. I had friends in college who majored in computer science who know a GOOD deal more then me.... And whenever I have a hardware problem- no matter how simple it is, I call a friend.
My father has better computer trappings because he has more $$$- like he has a wireless laptop and other nifty periphels, but he thinks I know more because he knows I was using it in college- not knowing I was using relay to chat with girls and the internet to find good comic book porn.
Yes I have a knack for connecting TVs to the other stuff... and I remember when he gave his 3rd wife a DVD player for x-mas, I made sure it was set up before I left; but I don't think I could be a vcr repair person or have a career in computers without more training. But since my dad didn't grow up with this stuff, it's all odd and somewhat alien to him. Meanwhile I'm sure that Evan (who’s like 7 years my junior) knows a good deal more then me about computer stuff. Heck I don't even know how to do html tags on my own... though I'm sure my dad would argue that I KNOW what html tags are makes me better then him... I'm also pretty sure that Evan's son Lash at 14 will know more about computers then I did at 22...
I just thought that was interesting. As it goes to perceptions, my dad sees me as computer literate and I see myself as barely able to do more then run Sims 2 and download porn.
And for the record- the next day I showed my mom the same trick I had showed my dad, so she could keep it. I also pointed out to her that she had NO virus protection, which she was cool with and that she should run her anti spyware software on a more regular basis.
While there I was reminded once again of the fact that computers have created an interesting twist of the generational gap. I was talking to my dad and told him that I currently don't use an instant message program because I seem to have a software incompatibility problem. His response, I thought you recently had someone fix your computer... I said the fix was a HARDWARE issue and the problem I had with Yahoo Messenger was SOFTWARE. He repeated himself, I thought you had your computer fixed; so I repeated myself- there's a difference between HARDWARE and SOFTWARE.
Later that night, he showed me pictures of the improvements to his house in Conn. and his dog, who had recently died. I took about 5 min. and showed him how to go to his control panel and change his desktop to a picture on his hard drive, so he could have a picture of the dog as the background picture. I considered this a very simple computer trick, my dad however waxed poetic and pointed out that I really should find a job in the tech field as I'm so good with computers. I shook my head, and pointed out that what I had showed him was one of the easiest tricks in the book; that while I knew *something* about computers I was at the shallow end of the pool.
This made me think. Personal computers happened in MY life time, as has basically anything you can connect to your TV- VCRs, laserdiscs, DVD players, and game platforms. I remember I was the first one in my family to own a VCR, and I bought my mom her first wireless phone (because those phone cords always seemed to be 6 in. too short). While my first computer wasn't till college (a Mac SE), I've futzed around on computers more then my parents.
However that doesn't, to me, make me an expert. I had friends in college who majored in computer science who know a GOOD deal more then me.... And whenever I have a hardware problem- no matter how simple it is, I call a friend.
My father has better computer trappings because he has more $$$- like he has a wireless laptop and other nifty periphels, but he thinks I know more because he knows I was using it in college- not knowing I was using relay to chat with girls and the internet to find good comic book porn.
Yes I have a knack for connecting TVs to the other stuff... and I remember when he gave his 3rd wife a DVD player for x-mas, I made sure it was set up before I left; but I don't think I could be a vcr repair person or have a career in computers without more training. But since my dad didn't grow up with this stuff, it's all odd and somewhat alien to him. Meanwhile I'm sure that Evan (who’s like 7 years my junior) knows a good deal more then me about computer stuff. Heck I don't even know how to do html tags on my own... though I'm sure my dad would argue that I KNOW what html tags are makes me better then him... I'm also pretty sure that Evan's son Lash at 14 will know more about computers then I did at 22...
I just thought that was interesting. As it goes to perceptions, my dad sees me as computer literate and I see myself as barely able to do more then run Sims 2 and download porn.
And for the record- the next day I showed my mom the same trick I had showed my dad, so she could keep it. I also pointed out to her that she had NO virus protection, which she was cool with and that she should run her anti spyware software on a more regular basis.
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