Re: Words every high school graduate should know...

Robert Bannister <robban1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
cybercypher wrote:
Robert Bannister <robban1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
cybercypher wrote:

As annoying as I find it that my 83-year-
old stepmother hasn't the foggiest idea how a computer works, I
know that she'll live to be 100 without that dispensible
knowledge.

Did you actually mean "how a computer works"

Yes, that's what I meant.

or "how to work a computer"?

No, she does know how to work her computer most of the time. When
she doesn't or she forgets, she calls me on Skype.

I would guess that majority of car drivers don't know how a car
works and even fewer computer users know how their computer
works.

True. And that is the source of much unwarranted income for some
who do know how these things work, and many unnecessary worries
and hysterics from those who don't know. If people knew how their
machines worked, they would be able to troubleshoot many of the
minor problems that stymie them when they understand nothing but
how to turn it on and off.

Twenty or thirty years ago, I understood how my car worked and was
able to do quite major repairs. Today, I look under the bonnet and
see a plethora of tubes and wires and "things" - I have no idea
what most of them are for, and I can't see how anyone could work
on the engine without removing what appears to be its intestines,
so now I pay unwarranted sums to the experts.

Yes, that's the time line. Thirty years ago I used to do tune-ups and
replace parts myself, but now I wouldn't even think about touching
the inside of any vehicle. They all require computer intervention.

Similarly with computers: with my first computer, you were
required to open it up and plug things in or out or press tiny
switches, although I was never tempted to do any serious messing
about with the hardware.

I learned how to do all that in my computer tech classes back in
1994.

Still, at least I understood the software and knew how to make it
behave. Today, there are a number of "features" available just in
the operating system that I have never even looked at, and when
software crashes, apart from a few limited actions like shutting
down and restarting, it seems to come down to emailing the
manufacturers who then put you on to a bulletin board where you
might find the answer in time.

Yes, everything has become too complicated and technical even for IT
pros to be able to diagnose and cure all the problems that haven't
been put into the troubleshooting books and software now available.
It's usually unnecessary to mess around with the jumpers on the
motherboard, and those once ubiquitous switches are a thing of the
past.

My stepmother called me on Skype last night to tell me that someone
had given her a webcam. I told her that she should install it so that
I could see her. She said, "Oh, no, Franke. I'll break it!"

She didn't mean that she would break the camera by dropping it on the
floor or crushing it between her fingers, but that she would break
the computer simply by attempting to install the camera software.

I tried to talk her through the installation, but the Autorun feature
was turned off and the PC was running so slowly, she said, that she
wasn't even able to explore the contents of the CD. Maybe that was
because Skype hogs so much of the CPU (about 47% on my friend's PC,
but only about 23% on my Core 2 Duo). Someone over there will have to
do it. She has Windows XP Home Edition, so I can't connect remotely
to do it for her.

--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"When you have to depend on those who used to depend on you, it's
time to say goodbye." Anymouse.


.

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