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.
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.
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.
This is especially funny because kids these days have no fucking clue about computers. When my generation (gen X) were kids, we did all the tech support for our parents. Now that we're older, we do all the tech support for our kids.
With the exception of knowing how to search for something on youtube, the new generation's tech skills are quite poor. They know how to use a tablet, they know how to use a phone, but that's it. Don't expect help using a computer, don't expect any knowledge on what lies beneath the covers. They're predictably clueless given that we've targeted technology for the lowest common denominator. The old paradigm of kids knowing more than their parents about tech is a thing of the past.
No. That joke worked in 2005. We've since learned that people who grow up with computers and phones and tablets still don't learn shit about how they work.
Had to fix my programming teachers printer yesterday, the solution was that the usb-a extender got unplugged.
I also have to diagnose my siblings (11yr and 20yr) PCs any time they have issues. This is so real fr.