Not to call out this girl specifically. There are plenty of videos on the intarwebz of young kids struggling to suss out older technology.
Here, a cassette player/recorder, there a rotary telephone. Teenagers flummoxed for minutes or more.
But I am thinking back to myself at that age, 35 years ago. Instead of handing ME, a punk kid, some device 20 years obsolete, gimme something 40 years obsolete... Something from the 30s. I seem to think I could figure out that 40 year old thing. Like a wire recorder or a Victrola. Heck, I could figure out a 70 year out of date phonograph cylinder faster than this girl did with a 25 year old cassette player. And I have never seen a phonograph cylinder machine working, to date
"Hurr Hurr, T-Bolt! I guess GenX is just so much more superior than Dang Millennials, huh?"
First of all, I think she is GenZ. The last Millennial was born in September 2001. This girl in younger than that.
Second, I think the pace of technological advance has made much bigger leaps to now over the past 30, then it did back in '83 and the previous 30 years to it. The form function of a record player was pretty similar to itself for decades. But to go from a KISS LP to a KISS MP3 on a iPod or to Spotify on your Smartphone? That's a BIG change in how a thing works to get music into your ear holes. Of course, you wanted the best then, and you got the best now, KISS; some things just don't change with the times. So don't be that hard on poor Millennials, they have enough of a handicap built in without us exacerbating it.
I agree with you. It is easy to feel superior, however the interfaces and controls have changed ALOT in the last 20 years.
ReplyDeleteFor example, when I was young and even into high school record players were still relatively common, as were wind up watches and other devices, so because I knew them I could figure out old victrolas.
Now that almost everything is digital and uses buttons or touch screens, there is no (or very little) continuity to dials, knobs, and analog.
At one point I was out of the technician field for a while. When I re-entered, all the scopes had rubber buttons where the knobs used to be, and writing on the screen. I had to do a little bit of fakery-catching-up.
ReplyDeleteSome kids have a feel for tech and some don't. Also some are exposed to older tech and some aren't. When we carpooled, the other kids were fascinated by hand crank car windows and never locked the doors because their car had power locks. My 16 year old has actually used cassettes,VHS,and floppy disks. My college age son actually wants a stick shift car. Other kids his age want an iPhone and an Uber.
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