You might think that, but in many of the rural areas I know, internet illiteracy is still more the rule than the exception. I know that the house where I grew up would still only have dial-up access.

Oh, and that dial-up access would have to be an 800 number or pay long distance.

that sucks :/

did you try saying out the letters?

Sometimes you just have to shred a piece of paper (rather than your fingernails ) and nash your teeth here

My Mom is 81 and can do basic email and search which is all she needs. My neighbors are in their 60s and have never touched a computer.

I am now their internet person when needed. But on the plus side - they still send handwritten letters to their grandchildren every month. That will be a treasure in the future ...

Yes, that's s-i-t-e-period-m, gahhh, shoot me. Really, I was nice, and calm, and waited to come here and get all rantish. You have saved me once again, mecha. Yay!

You have saved me once again, mecha. Yay!

So is this the part of the film where we wait for rescue in the life raft with nothing but a bottle of bubbly?

That sounds really frustrating. I'm in accounting, but I've taken to hanging the xkcd Tech Support Cheat Sheet at my desk because everyone asks me to help them. I really don't know a lot, I just know how to google.

The BF is a network engineer for Big Telecom Company. He knows more about computers and networks and whatever else than I could ever know. Yet he still goes to google.com whenever searching for something - never using the search bar in FF or the search/address bar in Chrome. **headdesk**

I remember once trying to help my sister out on her computer, long-distance, over the phone.

Me: ... okay, now go back to your desktop.

Her: (Long pause)It's not on a desk, it's on the dining table.

Me: *bangs head on the wall, loses will to live*

My sister-in-law can't use a computer. At all. But here's the thing: SHE WENT AND GOT AN ASSOCIATE'S DEGREE IN .. OFFICE MANAGEMENT. And, she graduated from her community college with honors! Yet, she does not have an email address, cannot send an email, find a website, fill out an on-line job application, or do anything whatsoever with computers.

She has a cell phone but did not know she had voice mail capabilities with it. My hub told her that her mail box was full and she said, "what mailbox?" He played back for her a year's worth of unheard messages.

Some people enjoy their ignorance, even wear it proudly.

You're in tech support theora? Terrific! I'm having some trouble, too: the website is down.

He brought up Bing(no, use the *address* bar, that's the *search* bar) and searched it, he mistyped it, he typed site.com, metachat.org, metasite.org and I don't know what else.

Oh, sweet gourd almighty. Today I tried to explain to my mother the difference between her webmail, her in-computer can-be-accessed-offline mail program, and the computer's address book. It was... let's just say it was mutually frustrating.

On the flip side, I recently shifted from "I wonder if I'd like an iPod?" to "I MUST buy an iPod!" because I realized: here's this miraculous life-enhancing piece of tech that I have absolutely no idea how to use. I'm not ready to slip into technological ignorance.

(((Theora))) Good for you for staying calm and getting the job done!

My mum got a new computer a couple days ago and I was helping (by phone) to download Skype and get it going. Being Win7 it uses Bing for a search engine (I use FF). I don't know how I did it without killing her or me, but I walked her through enabling her cookies so the Skype site would behave correctly among other things. The whole thing took about an hour or so. I rarely drink, but man, I wanted something strong after that.

The whole episode reminded me of my three month stint as a tech support person which brought up a whole bunch of bad memories and the stress that went with it. Blergh.

Some people do not have a sense for computers. My boss uses her just fine most of the time, but sometimes will ask me questions that drive me mental. I google the problem, give her an answer in 5 seconds, and she thinks I'm a genius. Not really, but what the heck! I'll take it!

Well, if it's any consolation, there is growing evidence that the generation that has come of age never having known a world without Google is almost equally hopeless.

Triode! Good to see you!

homestarrunner.net. It's dot com!

It's really entertaining to hear our developer support people talking smack about customers, especially the customers who lie about having paid for licenses. Those people get strung up. We have, at times, helped little old ladies who pulled out company name out of the yellow pages from 7 years ago where we happened to be listed under computer services. One of our support guys, an Eagle Scout, apparently can't resist the urge to help a little old lady - even if it is about getting her computer going which has nothing to do with our business. That Boy Scout thing runs deep.

If it makes you feel any better, we once had someone from Iran who wanted to buy our software. We can't sell to Iran - the US government forbids it. So we got a message back from him that included the choice lines, "I am from Iran you asshole. I crack your ass package." Poetry. Pure poetry.

Using these tools is a basic competency.

I completely agree, especially if you want to engage in the world of work or volunteer service. We still have a handful of senior docents who insist on being the exception to the mostly-email communications policy that serves the vast bulk of the 120 volunteers. These few people - maybe four? Take up an inordinate amount of staff time because they have to be called one by one, they have to have training documents copied and left in a mailbox for them, and have to come in and sign up for their schedule in meatspace. And then they have the nerve now and then to say "Oh, I didn't hear that news which is why I did this program wrong. You have to call me, you know - I don't do email."

Well excuuuuuuuse me. I suppose we will custom-cater all information to you alone. Note: I understand the economic access arguments as well as anyone, but these are people for whom lack of finances or top-line computer resources is nowhere near a problem.