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Ope sorry, kid that young will only know Tablets and App Stores. Gonna need to fix the printer yourself still.
Nah. Yes the younger generations aren't all tech geniuses but they do have hackers and tinkerers. Also the problem this person has most likely can be solved by a tablet and app savvy person...
For sure, but the tech literacy divide is growing. There are hackers learning esoteric concepts like "directory navigation" yes, but statistically this kid will be uncomfortable interfacing using a mouse. Just the way it's trending.
but statistically this kid will be uncomfortable interfacing using a mouse.
So what, there's nothing special about using a mouse. It's a personal preference for me, but a touchscreen can certainly do the same tasks.
Also, mice used to be a novel way to interact with a computer that nobody was comfortable with.
There aren't a lot of people left who are comfortable in a pure keyboard environment. Much less the flip switches on early PDPs.
Computer interfaces change. Being uncomfortable using an interface that's new to you is indicative of nothing.
So far we haven't figured out a way to "right click" with a touchscreen in the way you can with a mouse. The long press just isn't as fluid.
Isn’t that with two fingers tap?
With a touch pad, not on touch screens.
Uh, let me find another analogy. Expecting a kid raised on tablets to fix a computer, is like expecting someone who's never owned or driven a car to perform auto maintenance.
Like I said, that kid couldn't even fix a tablets hardware. But this generation also has tinkerers and people who are interested in the hardware. Just like every generation.
Our fingers as a manipulation tool are unparalleled in our bodies for their dexterity and ability to do minute tasks.
Moving a ball / mouse that moves another object will almost always be more precise than a simple touch, at least until the intervening technology to translate our fingers adjustments reaches the same capability as mice.
I don't see how a touch interface could ever be as precise as a mouse. The pointer is much smaller than a fingertip and you can't really scale it without having to make the touch surface enormous or zoom in and out all the time. Even using a drawing tablet is less fluid than a mouse and it eliminates the issues with the lack of precision.
Back in the late 00's there was an older instrument computer that booted directly to DOS. I was the only one that knew what that was and how to launch our control software (from the large floppys). Everyone else needed to have windows to computer.
I had a similar experience with a diagnostic machine at my high schools auto shop. That thing had just been sitting around for like a decade before I figured out how to get it going for the teacher. I had been using dos since before I can remember to play games on my dad's PC. I didn't understand a ton of it because he just gave us a notebook with the commands to type to start the game but I think starting with it so young really helped wire my brain for using computers because when I came back to it when I was older everything just clicked.
Oregon Trail and Maniac Mansion ftw!
Bold of you to assume printers can be "fixed", and not that they just work, or don't, exclusively on their own and that any troubleshooting, when it comes to printers, is just a glorified prayer.