Computer Illiteracy

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Why do people pride themselves on computer illiteracy?

I have seen this question posted throughout the internet, and still have yet to see a satisfying answer. I work in customer support for Microsoft, and several times a day, I get calls from people who are strangely proud that they don't know a thing about computers. As far as I know, literacy in all things is something people need. If you don't know how to read, you should learn. If you don't know how to do basic math, you could easily lose your home or job.

So why is it different with computers? I mean, I see it as similar to a car. If you don't know how to drive, or how to change a tire or oil, then you shouldn't have access to a vehicle. And a computer is just as dangerous. Not knowing what to do can result in viruses, identity fraud, and a whole host of other issues. And calling tech support can cost you big time.

The worst thing is, computers are ridiculously easy to learn. When I got my first laptop, I hadn't even touched a computer in years. And, call me ignorant, but it never even occurred to me that I could call someone to ask questions. My system started to slow down, so I Googled it, found the solution, and applied it. I wanted to install a game, so I found some techno-babble site. I didn't understand any of it, so I found a youtube video that made it clearer. The next thing I knew, I was computer literate, and at the time, I assumed I knew just the basics necessary just to run the thing.

But so many people seem to think its a weird plastic box run on magic and the souls of unborn children, or something like that. Don't like technology, stay away from it. That's totally fine with me. Want to play around with a computer? Then for my sake, at least, learn how to at least plug it in and turn it on.

I think you'll find that most people who hate computers are baby boomers and older. Back when they were young, a computer was a strange monster that filled up large rooms and could only be communicated with using punched cards.

There was a LOT of fear that computers would "become sentient" out of the blue and take over and/or destroy the planet. You know the Terminator movies, and how Skynet suddenly becomes self-aware and launches the nukes? Back in the early 80s when the first script for Terminator was being written, such ideas were pretty common. There was a movie made in 1971 called Colossus: The Forbin Project, where the US and USSR make their own ubercomputers, and the computers link up and take over the world. How about the guy behind the Zeitgeist movies, who thinks that we need to allocate resources using computers? He first unveiled that idea in 1975.

It all sounds silly today, but I'm betting that a 70 year old who is afraid of her laptop has stuff like that in the back of her mind. I remember being little (I'm 40) and my dad went to a store and got a computer punchcard as a receipt. It had the printed total on it, and also holes for the store's computer system. This was before bar codes, and plug-and-play merchandise tracking systems. That's how that store kept track of inventory in the late 70s. For people in that era, computers were mysterious and scary.

Thanks for your advice.

To continue the conversation, I would just like to say that I have no issue with people who don't like computers. Most people who don't like them probably don't use them, and they won't call tech support about it. Obviously, some of them probably have to use those computers at work regardless, but they have their own IT departments to handle their needs.

What irk me are the people who LIKE computers, who WANT to buy them, and still don't know anything about them. They're right up there in the list of people who annoy me, right next to people who call in because their 14-year-old computer finally bit the dust, and they feel that Microsoft owes them a new one for free.