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Kids Can't Compute -- And That's A Problem


IBM PC Kids are "digital natives." They grew up using computers, and therefore are more "tech savvy" than older people. Right? No!

Well, the first part's right, but the second part is increasingly wrong. Ironically, with each passing year, young people entering the workforce know less and less about computers and the Internet.

Why Do People Think Kids Are Computer Geniuses?

The idea that young people are better than old people at understanding and using computers used to be true. But now those young people are getting older: The most computer-savvy demographic is now probably aged 25–55.

(Of course, every generation has a minority of programmers, tinkerers and computer geeks: The tech-savvy young people of today are just as good at computers as any other generation. I'm talking about the skills and acumen of average users.)

C64 I'm a good example of why the 25–55 set is more tech savvy. My first computer was a Commodore 64 with a cassette drive. I never bought an application: I "used" it by writing simple programs. So I was forced to confront the basics of how computers work.

My second computer was a PC, running MS-DOS, which required me to memorize commands and operators—and these were descriptive, which means I had to be aware of what was going on with the machine. Even the most novice DOS user was forced to mentally imagine file locations on the hard drive, confront memory limitations, and even interact with arcane BIOS settings.

And then Windows came along, which forced users to constantly maintain and optimize a computer, defrag the disk, edit WIN.INI, and worry about the size and location of the swap file.

(I could go on, but you’ll just think I’m grouchy about “kids today.” But that’s not my point at all.)

What Kids Can't Do -- And Why

What's changed is that we've entered the post-PC world. Yes, kids are using computers more. But today's computers—even Windows PCs and Macs—don't force users to confront what’s going on “under the hood.”

Kids who grow up using iPads and iPhones, for example, have no reason to know nor care about even the most basic facts, such as the differences between storage and memory.

Using a computer no longer requires knowledge, awareness or skill. What’s worse: post-PC devices don't even inspire curiosity about such things.

What Kids Can Do

It's not that young people are dumb. It's just that their whole orientation and experience is detached from the nuts and bolts of computing.

Instead, they’re focused on apps and services. Most kids, teens, and twenty-somethings know about all kinds of apps and services that older users have never heard of, and they're often very good at using them.

And, needless to say, young people are young. They have the agile minds, high energy and insatiable curiosity of youth -- always a valuable asset.

Why This Is A Problem

Psychologist Abraham Maslow talked about the Law of the Instrument, most commonly expressed as: When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Likewise, when you grew up using Post-PC devices, every problem is solved with an app or Internet-based service.

Let me give you one simple example: A startup executive I know managed a well-educated man in his mid-20s, who was tasked with running an email marketing campaign, using the MailChimp service. This involved tracking customers in ways that exceeded the capabilities of the service. The solution was to export the data from the service, place it into a spreadsheet, and use Excel to do the required analysis.

But the young guy simply couldn't do this. He insisted that there must be a way to do it within MailChimp. Specifically, he was very comfortable with using something, but alienated from the idea of building something.

And This Will Be A Growing Problem

The overwhelming quantity and user-friendliness of today's apps and web-based services isn’t stretching users. It’s not confronting people with the need to understand computing, or to be creative in building solutions.

It will have other effects as well. Younger users will increasingly struggle to understand a wide range of computing phenomena, such as why a deleted Snapchat photo can still be recovered, why email can be intercepted, and how social networking activity might prevent them from being hired in the future.

This is just cause-and-effect reality:

  • The cause is that computers are now super-easy to use and getting easier all the time.
  • The effect is that newer computers don’t require skills or knowledge about how computers and networks function.

When preemptive virtual assistants like Google Now get better at answering questions before you ask them, even the ability to formulate a question may atrophy.

(Of course, the very nature of these observations is unfair to individuals. Any particular employee may completely defy all these "stereotypes.")

So What's The Solution?

Hiring managers should watch out for knowledge, skill and perception gaps.

The solution for young people—and "society" in general—is education. Software development should become a core part of public education, required of all students. By the time kids graduate from high school, they should be able to build a PC, troubleshoot networking issues, and at the very least be able to build and manage a moderately complex Web site.

A good start would be to bury the myth that using iPads turns kids into computer geniuses.


By Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan)

Image credit: Ruben de Rijcke (cc:by-sa)

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