No Net?

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Zee09

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Okay this just went down now and happens here often.
Guy calls up for parts for which I don't sell and never did for some exotic hobby that you can't
get in a basic store.

I didn't get online until 1995 and I really didn't want to. I had to because of business.
Taught myself as most do-They didn't teach it in the 60's-lol

I remember buying a computer and modem. It was 25 MHz with a turbo button of 33mhz- Wow............
When I unpacked it, to me it looked like a stereo, so I plugged it all up. I got lucky the first time around.
Then I had to drive to get Internet from the only game in three cities- yeah that bad.

But within a couple months I became a terrorist of the net. No more about that. ( joking of course)

Seriously though. This guy who called has no Internet. Really isn't that old- mid 50's and if you are in a niche hobby
you can't even really get a bunch of magazines any more. Many companies don't even want to answer a call.
It almost seems as bad as not being literate. In business you dream of getting rid of it. So it ain't all roses.
The guy doesn't have a cell either. I could hear in his voice that he seemed it really bothered him. He must be isolated because
any 6-10 year old could most likely set him up.

I wouldn't mind helping people like this but it can be bothersome. They never seem to grasp it at times...
 
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
I worked for a school board 2015-2016. They still offered computer literacy classes to employees.

The baby boomers are the last true hold outs.

Yeah and I think the last boomers were born in what 1964??
 
My sister was born in 1966, and she has zero knowledge of, or exposure to computers.

I'm a few years younger than her, and I work in an IT department for a Big 10 school.
 
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
I worked for a school board 2015-2016. They still offered computer literacy classes to employees.

The baby boomers are the last true hold outs.

Yeah and I think the last boomers were born in what 1964??


Older. Gen X is 1961 – 1981
 
Originally Posted By: John_K
I once knew a guy that, if his employer got computers, he quit. He changed jobs a lot.


In previous jobs, we had people who didn't use a computer. But they had a secretary that did. I remember one job where we hired a secretary and she didn't want to answer the phone. She quit that day. She went to lunch and never came back. We were all saying that's a pretty long lunch for the first day. She had to get paid for that day though and she sent her husband to pick up her check. That's probably the best way to quit though, go to lunch and never come back.
 
For some business it is just better to call and talk to an actual person who can get the transaction done right then. We changed benefit and insurance providers at work and while it was possible to do everything online, it wasn't exactly clear to me if everything was in order. So I called, got them to review and confirm, and made a few changes as well that made sense in my situation.
I wouldn't give the internet up, but I can see just using the phone book and buying local, just like 1988, would still work for most things.
 
Originally Posted By: 123Saab
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
I worked for a school board 2015-2016. They still offered computer literacy classes to employees.

The baby boomers are the last true hold outs.

Yeah and I think the last boomers were born in what 1964??


Older. Gen X is 1961 – 1981


Depending on the demographer or organization involved the age of Boomers can range by 3-5 years on each end. I think the generally accepted definition used to include the years 1946 to 1964 being Boomers. I think that still stands.

I know people who are 60 who are very computer literate and I know some 60 year olds that are less so...but I know very few Boomers who work that are computer illiterate. That's usually of their own devices and circumstance in my experience.
 
Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
Originally Posted By: 123Saab
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
I worked for a school board 2015-2016. They still offered computer literacy classes to employees.

The baby boomers are the last true hold outs.

Yeah and I think the last boomers were born in what 1964??


Older. Gen X is 1961 – 1981


Depending on the demographer or organization involved the age of Boomers can range by 3-5 years on each end. I think the generally accepted definition used to include the years 1946 to 1964 being Boomers. I think that still stands.

I know people who are 60 who are very computer literate and I know some 60 year olds that are less so...but I know very few Boomers who work that are computer illiterate. That's usually of their own devices and circumstance in my experience.


Definitions are nebulous. I'm born in 1963 and didn't fit into baby boomer when I was young. I guess they realized people born in the mid 60s weren't categorized so they stuck us somewhere. Wherever it is, we're on the edge.
 
Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
...
...but I know very few Boomers who work that are computer illiterate. That's usually of their own devices and circumstance in my experience.

One up:
they had computers/smartphones/laptops/games first when they appeared...
Still Large difficulty in using them...Really Large....
 
I work on an IT Help Desk. My coworker is an AS400 Operator and has been in IT since 1978 and has never owned a computer. He got his first cell phone 2 years ago, a flip phone. He's in his late 50's.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I work on an IT Help Desk. My coworker is an AS400 Operator and has been in IT since 1978 and has never owned a computer. He got his first cell phone 2 years ago, a flip phone. He's in his late 50's.


I can see some value in a flipper...
My smart phones require the swipe to answer. I hate that.
I have all kinds of computers but for leisure I love the tablet like the Fire 8 incher. I better get into my cell and see if I can dump the swipe..
I have just been too lazy as I only have a cell for trips or emergencies.
 
My mom graduated college then went to work for John Hancock Insurance in 1966 as a "computer programmer". They hired liberal arts majors right off the street and trained them in-house!

I suspect their mainframe computer was pretty crotchety but they had the ability to make it do whatever they wanted on a very base level.

Meanwhile my pop had intra-company email in 1980.
 
A friend of mine doesn't have internet @ home; she uses a chromebook @ the 24hour laundry that has free wifi.

There are no deals for basic internet around here; she is on a tight budget.

Another friend doesn't use the internet at all. People led lives before there was an internet.
 
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