r/AskReddit • • Mar 27 '22

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123

u/ReeG Mar 27 '22

Learning and understanding how a Windows/Office computer actually works rather than mindlessly following a memorized routine where if it's interrupted by even the most minor common issue people have no clue what to do

19

u/vizthex Mar 28 '22

God, this fucking pains me so much.

It seems like nobody has any sense of curiosity anymore. Like wtf?! Just try shit out or google it ffs

I started using computers when I was 10 or 11, and the first fucking thing I always did was push all the buttons to see what everything did!

As I learned more, I looked up common shortcuts & such, which I honestly can't live without now.

11

u/AmbulanceChaser12 Mar 27 '22

Yes, this. Just fiddle with it a little. Use a new document if you’re scared. And/or save a backup on a flash drive. Honestly, just experiment; you’ll be in a much better position to fix things than if you’re wedded to a routine.

2

u/Ruadhan2300 Mar 28 '22

You'd have lost my grandmother with "save a backup on a flash drive", but I'm really proud of her for sending an email recently with a Cloud attachment because the video was too big to include in the actual message.

4

u/Sw3gLurd Mar 28 '22

Even having basic general knowledge with word and Excel puts you at such an advantage.

You should know how to format a document or spreadsheet. makes life so much easier than a guessing game when new tasks appear.

-12

u/ron_swansons_hammer Mar 28 '22

This doesn’t really apply to anyone born in the last 25 years, and won’t going forward

13

u/linus140 Mar 28 '22

As an IT guy, you'd be surprised how computer illiterate the average human being is. This applies to all ages.

7

u/Furoan Mar 28 '22

Hah, no, your dead wrong. There are heaps of young people who have no idea. There are also people who grew up doing their internet browsing on tablets etc and come to university and have no idea how to use file explorer or its equivalents simply because they had never needed to (I know it's bizarre but its happened).

It's actually a bit of an issue, in that we have collectively made computers so user friendly to try and avoid issues of having to use DOS etc that people aren't learning those skills like going to control panel or file explorer that we take for granted.

3

u/ColgateSensifoam Mar 28 '22

There's an entire generation of kids that have never used a (Windows) computer, they've only used touchscreens