thirding this.

In the bad old days computers weren't wide spread but just by virtue of having one you would learn programming / tech skills. Today computers are everywhere but owning one doesn't teach you anything as fundamental functionality is hidden/locked away from the user in the name of being "consumer friendly".

I wonder if those born between 1988 and 2002 will be the last of the so-called naturally computer literate.

This! I'm very concerned that we are growing a population that is more and more monitored by their devices and has less and less understanding of how they work and how they or even if they are being monitored.

Aye, I second this, got me really pissed off when fellow CS student told me he has ''experience'' in using Iphone extensively, and that counts towards computing.

Makes you wonder what does computing mean to people nowadays.

I ask this out of genuine interest... why does it matter? Why’d it piss you off?

Not OP but, it's the classic Dunning-Kruger effect, they know so little about how to use a computer that they think that using a iPhone is a skill that is equivalent. This usually isn't a problem for most people but this person is in CS, where you would expect them to have at least passing knowledge in computers to join the major.

Again, why? FWIW I have a fancy degree in computer science and spent my childhood rebuilding and scraping together old 2/3/486 boxes. Yet I think it’s terrific that someone would be interested enough to enroll in a CS program without having wintel/Linux boxbuilding trivia knowledge.

The perception of what makes a viable CS major needs to evolve past what those born during the “Personal Computer” era think it should be.

I do agree with that and I have seen quite a few brilliant programmers be born in classes but there is a point where you start to expect them know some basic stuff like what a router, IDE and script are so that I don't have to explain them in full just to say how to make something work.

It is a computer, of a different design.

A jet fighter is a computer with wings. I don't think we should expect pilots to be computer literate the same way a software programmer needs to be.

Was correcting several statements that mobile devices aren’t computers. Lots of “computer knowledge” had to be aquired in the 90s due to the poor design of wintel boxes.

"what's a computer?"

looks like there is some truth in that ad

Wait, the previous generation had no phones at all. Do you mean that today's generation use phones instead of computers? In that case, I understand your point.

This reminds me of a story I recently heard where a student at a digital arts college reported they were saving their file inside photoshop instead of a folder.

It sounds bizarre - because they were using an iPad/iPhone instead of a computer.

Classic: http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-comput...