I cannot for the life of me understand how so many young people today are ignorant with computers? :confused: It amazes me. I am a 34 year old IT professional. I don't expect everyone to be experts, but young people should have at least a basic knowledge since they are growing up with them, yet I have encountered so many in their early 20's that couldn't even follow simple instructions. I just don't get it.

It's rather simple dear fellow... computer knowledge does not depend solely on intellect, but rather, on your lifestyle. For example:

Jimmy comes home from school, he has no friends to play with afterwards and his mom has just bought him a new Core-Duo computer for his birthday. Jimmy knows nothing about PC's but endevours to learn once his mom tells him she also got him a game, Doom 3.

Sara comes home from school, she's popular and well liked. Sara is constantly on the move and always doing new things. One day Sara comes home and her father has bought a new PC for business, he tells Sara she can use it for games and whatever else she'd like. Sara is somewhat excited, however she also has volleyball practice later and can't wait around to look into it now. She waves off to her father whose left sitting in the chair he just ordered for it..

Becky is a nice girl that's not very cute, she's still growing and has no physical attraction for men. She decides she'd like to learn about computers but doesn't have any in her house. One day she approaches her father and mentions it, and he too has been wanting one for awhile now. They decide to goto Best Buy and look around, hoping that something might spark their interest abit. Becky finds a machine that's able to run some nifty apps, she tells him it's only 900 (a conservative estimate considering you're ripped off at Best Buy) and he agrees. They take it home and he says "have fun" to which her face is making the expression :-O She must setup everything for him since he paid..

In these examples you see 1 thing... the more social and elitest amoung the teens will not have nearly enough time to learn the intricaties of a computer, let alone all the software available. On the other hand the less popular and desperate crowd (myself included) would have ample time to learn, refine, and analyze the various parts of a PC.

That is why most kids today haven't a clue, it's because you an I are different, we're not as well liked. Also there's the fact they usually are out partying, having sex, drinking, and various other illegal activities that hamper their reasoning skills. They may get all A's in school but it doesn't mean they're smarter ;-)

I tend to agree with the OP. They should teach simple file handling from 5th grade....

Um, I think this is bogus. All the kids I know are very proficient with computers, myself included when I was a kid(I'm only 20). My little brother spends most his day on his computer. But he is also still very active in school and with friends. Most kids today are very proficient with the internet, but not so much with actual computing. They are still better than most parents I know. Oh yeah, I also was running linux fulltime when I was 12 so maybe I'm not the perfect person to answer the question.

. . . when I was a kid(I'm only 20).
this is just too easy so i won't.

this is just too easy so i won't.

Just try to find out if kids shows/cartoons are doing well on Torrent sites.

http://torrentportal.com/torrents-search.php?search=tmnt&sort=leechers&d=desc&type=and&sizel=&sizeh=&cat=0&exclude=

this is just too easy so i won't.

He suggested that kids were not proficient in computers, I disagreed, citing myself as an example.

I tend to find older people are neophobic. They are either scared of changes or they find it more difficult to adapt.

The sort of examples I have come across is when people in government don't want to see changes even when change is a necessity, if they were younger candidates however they would be all for change.

At our current moment in time, technology evolves at an exponential rate and with those changes there will always be those that can't adapt, however the children do seem to have a better capacity at adapting to newer technologies. For instance a Grandparent or Great Grandparent of 70+ is less likely to attempt to use a computer and will potentially find it hard to use one should they attempt to, where as children are faster at picking up new things acting like a sponge for new things and new concepts.

I can remember as a teenager being asked to set the programming on the VCR because my parents and grandparents at the time couldn't adjust to it so quickly.

I think Sara's an ingrateful little bugger. Her dad shelled out and all. Geez. And Becky is clearly a lesbian.

answer to this question is easy when i first got my pc i was green and it was smth 8years ago now im over20 by the way :) and i used to fckup my pc often ,then guy used to come to fix it he was proffesional on that stuff like a xaker.and about in 1 year i learned all the basics from installing windows to downlaoding and cracking warez also i used to do programing and all other stuff.i wanted to learn soo much that it seemed it wont be enough time.but when such games like lineage2 and cs came on the way and reached age of 18 computer became like mp3 player you sit put some music on, see few websites and its already booring plus its very bed for eyes.
also things would change if someone offered a job which had something to do with pcs or software it would make some insparation again.by the way things like google makes you forget everything when you can find what you want in minutes without need of inventing it yourself.
peace :)