Technology

Really shows the difference between Knowing how to work with, and how it works

Gen X here. Honestly, I was a shit typer until I got a keyboard for my sega dreamcast and bought "Typing of the dead".

I went from hunt and peck to well over 100wpm.

People believe just because someone interacts with some sort of digital device, it makes you an expert on computers. The thing is, it depends on the type of operating system you are interacting with.

For example when I was young, my father would buy those big old gray computers from yard sales. I would mix and match the pieces inside to build my own PC. I broke a lot of shit but learned a lot.

The operating system was one where you more or less had total control over the computer. By 12~13 I was using CD-Roms to load different Linux distros and play around with all sorts of different things.

This experience basically taught me how operating systems work at a fundamental level. How it needs a kernel, how it loads and maintains services, packages, etc. How file systems work and learning how terminals are useful. Scripting languages, and eventually coding applications.

Compare and contrast that to the young kids of today. What do they get? A phone and a tablet. You can't open it up. You can't tinker with it. The OS is closed off and is deliberately made as difficult as possible to modify. No mouse, no keyboard. Streamlined UIs with guard rails.

You get what you get and you don't get upset. That doesn't leave nearly as much room for exploration and curiosity. It's a symptom of our computers becoming more and more railroaded. More and more control by large companies.

It's really sad, I think. Fairly soon I believe every device will be a "thin device" or essentially a chrome book. Very little local processing power and instead it'll essentially stream from a server.

Z is not savvy. They're basically boomers when it comes to tech. It always worked so it should work. None of our z staff can fix a printer and in fact none are allowed to

Keyboard typing is a manual skill distinct from tech savvy and has to be taught as such. You're not going to learn it by dealing with a touchscreen swipe "keyboard". I've known a fair number of programmers who were two-finger typists because they were too busy taking CS courses to learn to type.

On the gripping hand, my early-Boomer mother, who learned on typewriters, can type fast and accurately but is quite technophobic.

I think that true "tech-savvyness" isn't really a generational thing.

Some people are just really curious about how stuff works. When they see something they aren't satisfied with, "Just do it." or "Shit just works." They want to know how and why it works. When you hand those people a computer, machine or flower they'll poke at it and try to understand it better.

It's not clear that typing skills are actually needed for that.

I max out at around 80-100 WPM but I only sustain that when I'm transcribing something. When I need to learn about technology, it's much more about reading than typing. When I actually need to do some coding, I spend much more time staring at the screen and looking up stuff on Stackoverlow than I do actually typing.

Most of Z is not savvy at all, just like with every generation. And just like with every generation, some of them will push the envelope of technology. I doubt that lack of typing will slow those folks down.

This might be true but WPM is a very stupid way to measure this argument.

What tech savvy reputation? They doesn't even know what a system file structure is. Neither the article writer, social media =/= tech-savvy.

I agree the 'tech-savvy' phrase has outdone its use. We should use a better phrase, like 'tech-indoctrinated' or 'tablet-fed' to give a better perspective into these younger kids' digital lifestyles.

once again the divide between being tech-savvy and tech-native rears it's ugly head. no, gen z is not exceptionally tech-savvy compared to previous generations, i can confirm most of my peers are tech morons. they've just been raised with smartphones and therefore know that specific UX language better than previous generations

I'm a programmer. I write hundreds of lines of code a day (of varying levels of quality ofc). I also fix technology (phones, laptops, desktops. tablets, etc). I'm probably one of the most "tech-savvy" people I know. I very rarely type faster than 70 wpm. it's just not necessary for what most of us are doing.

Gen-X here with 2 Gen-Z kids. I developed my typing skills playing MUDS in the early 90’s. My kids are….ok….at typing, and despite my guidance over the years, are really bad at troubleshooting though when something goes wrong. It should “just work” to them. If it doesn’t, then the solution is to replace it.

However, I WILL SAY…my typing speed is about 100-110 WPM on a keyboard, and that my daughter could probably match that speed typing on her phone.

The article is kind of all over the place mixing high-school graduates and fourth-graders? I can see how you're sluggish at typing in fourth grade... The numbers for a 17 year old would be interesting... But yeah, 13 words per minute isn't impressive. And most young people I know use phones and tablets, not computers. So naturally a good amount of them isn't good around these things.