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There is a persistent but fallacious belief regarding digital literacy: “Old people can’t use computers”. Not only is this hilariously wrong, it also has some dangerous consequences that we’ll see in this post.

The truth is, you simply can’t… simplify things and treat any group of people as if they were a homogeneous lump. There are people who are old and can’t even turn on a computer, and there are people like Grace Hopper, who was recalled from retirement (twice!) to work on the US Navy’s IT infrastructure.

Obviously enough, there are many gradations in between, too. There are old people who perhaps can’t program but who can still use a computer. There are also old people who know how to turn on the computer, somewhat use it, but would be unable to troubleshoot it the moment something goes awry.

But all that isn’t very important.

Instead, what is important is to understand the dangers of correlating digital literacy to age – either old or young.

Digital Literacy and Age: Take Nothing for Granted!

Assumptions are a dangerous thing, as they can lead us to wildly inaccurate conclusions – sometimes with unforeseen repercussions. In the context of digital literacy and age, we’ve already seen how this can work. I mean, just to assume an old person can’t use a computer isn’t something you would’ve liked to do when meeting someone like Grace Hopper or, to name another example, Robert Shingledecker, the creator of Tiny Core Linux – who was also struggling with a debilitating medical condition, as he confessed in an interview.

You might think these are somewhat extreme cases, but I assure you: People who can program or play MMORPG though they are above 60 are far more common than you imagine. Heck, two of the blog’s friends fit the profile!

But such assumptions can also go back to apparently valid factors. I mean, allow me to manipulate you a bit for creative purposes and present you with two subjects, A and B.

From Command Line to “What’s Wrong with ‘qwerty?’ as a Password”

Subject A worked her entire life as ticket sales staff for an airline. In this capacity, she had to use a computer daily. But this happened in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. We’re talking green-on-black, command-line interface with arcane commands; not any desktop environment with icons and drag & drop.

Subject B, on the other hand, worked as a nurse and had basically never used a computer until a decade or so ago, in her late 60s.

Now, if I told you that one of them can somewhat operate a computer but has zero understanding of concepts like YouTube playlists, account creation and management, or strong passwords, and the other can even troubleshoot peripherals based on info she found online, would you like to take a guess who’s who?

Since you’re aware I’ve been creatively manipulating you, the answer is obvious. Subject A, my mother, can’t use a computer. Subject B, my mother-in-law, is miles ahead of her.

Learning how to learn is a skill you don’t want to ignore.

Digital Literacy and Age: The Dark Side

Digital literacy and old age has certain correlations (wrong, as we saw), but there is a dark side, too. One that has to do with digital literacy and young age.

In a nutshell, there seems to exist an assumption that is even more fallacious, which affirms young people, as a matter of course, are good with computers.

Obviously enough, “good with computers” is a very broad area. As I’ve shown with the examples above, there is a huge continuum from developing your own programming language or operating system to being just about able to turn on the computer and browse the internet.

“Good with Computers”

With that in mind, I would argue that someone who is “good with computers” should at the very least be able to find information about the system they’re using, troubleshoot problems, fix them, and have the skill to customize/modify the system. If you know – if you can find out – how to do stuff like modify the registry to always get a password prompt for UAC, then you’re “good with computers”. Heck, if you know what a registry and UAC are you’re already halfway there.

Kids mostly can’t do that. They lack patience and motivation. I mean, look at this:

A sixth-former brings me his laptop, explaining that it is running very slowly and keeps shutting down. The laptop is literally screaming, the processor fans running at full whack and the case is uncomfortably hot to touch. I run Task Manager to see that the CPU is running at 100% despite the only application open being uTorrent (which incidentally had about 200 torrent files actively seeding). I look at what processes are running and there are a lot of them, hogging the CPU and RAM. What’s more I can’t terminate a single one. ‘What anti-virus are you using?’ I ask, only to be told that he didn’t like using anti-virus because he’d heard it slowed his computer down. I hand back the laptop and tell him that it’s infected. He asks what he needs to do, and I suggest he reinstalls Windows. He looks at me blankly. He can’t use a computer.

[…]

A kid puts his hand up. He tells me he’s got a virus on his computer. I look at his screen. Displayed in his web-browser is what appears to be an XP dialogue box warning that his computer is infected and offering free malware scanning and removal tools. He’s on a Windows 7 machine. I close the offending tab. He can’t use a computer.

There are a lot more in this post – about kids and adults alike – and I really recommend reading it.

Assumptions and Simplicity Are a Dangerous Combo

Misinformation, whether accidental or not, can be insidious. It’s considered almost a truism to associate digital literacy prowess with young age, and digital literacy problems with old age.

In reality, what should be self-evident is that people are different. Some things are also hard to define – I mean, I used a rule-of-thumb example to define “being good with computers” but who appointed me an authority on the matter? Things related to skills are complex.

And so, do yourself and others a favor, and remember that appearances can be deceiving. The grandpa you’re making fun of might know a lot more than you do!