It's not cute anymore.

So I've been doing this tech support thing for a while now and there is something that bothers me a little more every time I hear it. The phrase “ I'm just computer illiterate” or “I'm just not computer literate”.

Really there are two reason this adds another drop in the bucket that is my overall annoyance with most people who end up on my phone needing support. The first reason is that its really no longer cute; it seems to me that a lot of people who say these things makes them appear some how adorable. Like they are some poor foolish person who needs protection from the big scary computer's. We need to stop it, computers are not new technology, they are not frightening, and they are not alien. They have been a growing part of our every day lives for the better part of 30 years. The second thing that gets under my skin about this is that people seem to use this term as some sort of excuse for having not learned anything about something they use every day. I am not saying that people need to be experts on computers at this point, after all I use my car every day and I have only a passing understanding of how it works. But they should know some of the terms, I've spoken to people who didn't know how to turn their computer off ( on is easy its the big button on the front) to me thats the same as not knowing how to shut your car off.

There is another part to this, there are people out there who use their age as an excuse, this needs to stop. In part because I have spoken to people in their 8's who frankly know more about their computers than some twenty year olds. But the larger reason for this is that using your age as an excuse to not learn anything tells me you have spent the last thirty years walking around with your fingers in your ears willfully not learning anything new. And so when a customer tells me “ I'm old I just don't get these things” what I hear is “ I don't feel like I should have to learn a new skill”.

These are things that I've seen over and over, and really I think it has more to do with our culture than anything wrong with these people. Maybe I'm wrong though, if you disagree, or agree, or have something to ask, please feel free to comment.