Yes, you.
Years ago, I used to say that while I worked hard to learn the skills I needed to be successful with technology — loving every minute of it, by the way — those coming after me would have an advantage I never had: they’d be steeped in what we call computer literacy almost from birth.
As technology has advanced and become pervasive, it’s clear I wasn’t wrong. Those generations take technology for granted and leverage it without a second thought.
Those of my generation (I’m a proud “boomer”) and older need to work to stay on top of it all.
Not only do I think that’s a good thing, I think it’s critical.
Breaking the boomer stereotype
Break the stereotype of a baby boomer stuck in their ways. Stop complaining and accept that progress has been present since before you were born. Today, that means getting comfortable with computers and technology. It’s almost a requirement to remain connected in today’s world. Embrace it, or at least accept it, and you’ll be much better off.
Quit complaining!
Honestly, it’s an epidemic. I hear this attitude all the time.
“Why do I have to…?”
“The old way was better.”
“Why can’t they leave well enough alone?”
“Who would ever want to …?”
“I don’t like…”
“I hate that they…”
and on and on and on…
It’s nearly the stereotypical “Kids these days” or “Get off my lawn.”
The message others hear from all that complaining is not that things are bad, or that old ways were better, or even that we’re frustrated. What they hear is that we’re a generation of grumpy old farts who stopped learning years ago and don’t want to be part of current society.
Seriously. That’s the takeaway from all your complaining.
Even if your complaints are completely justified, complaining doesn’t help. It’s not good for you, and it discourages others from helping you when you need it.
And yes, I’m ashamed to admit, sometimes it discourages even me.
Help keep it going by becoming a Patron.
Progress is nothing new
Society and technology move forward whether we like it or not.
And here’s the kicker: this is nothing new! This is one thing that hasn’t changed; it’s always been this way.
When you and I were young, things were moving at a pace that amazed our elders. We embraced it. We enjoyed it. We leveraged it.
They suggested we get off their lawns.
In a world of seemingly never-ending change, this is one thing that hasn’t changed at all: things move forward.
You embraced it then. Embrace it now.
Computer literacy
You don’t even hear the term computer literacy that often anymore because it’s more of an assumption than a skill people have to learn. It’s become almost synonymous with generic literacy.
As I said, it’s something that kids just grow up with today.
But for many, it’s still a separate, important skill that needs to be developed.
I urge you to develop it. There are two important reasons why you must.
It’s good for you
Today’s technology empowers you in ways you can’t imagine until you’re using it.
Remember those video phones in sci-fi stories? They exist now; we just call them WhatsApp or Messenger or something else. Oh, and they’re free. Dick Tracy’s wrist-phone? That exists too, though to be fair, the larger version in everyone’s pocket is probably more useful.
The future is here today.
Learning new things is great for your brain, and learning to use the technology around you is good for your connection to the rest of the world.
The less you know of computers and tech, the more isolated you’ll become…
…which leads to the second important reason you must develop these skills.
It’s required
Your ability to be technologically literate is now a basic requirement to participate in society.
From online banking to services that no longer provide paper or have reduced the number of people you can speak with to just connecting to your friends and family who never answer their phone, the pragmatic reality is that you need to be the one to take the initiative and get up to speed on how to interact with the changing world.
The only thing that remains in your control is how you respond.
“Get off my lawn” is not the answer.
You don’t have to like it, but complaining about it won’t help. “You embraced it then, and you can embrace it now” is the best attitude toward technology and change you can take.
“OK, boomer”
The phrase “OK, boomer” has become a bit of a meme. It’s nothing more than a dismissive response by a member of a younger generation to something that a member of the baby boom generation said.
It’s the equivalent of an exasperated “Whatever!” — completely ignoring what someone else has said instead of pointlessly arguing about it.
That it has gained notoriety shows me that my generation has developed a reputation for inflexibility, intolerance, and an unwillingness to listen to the opinions of others.
That may or may not be true elsewhere, but nowhere do I see it more than when it comes to technology and computer literacy. The reputation is sadly justified.
The meme may pass, but the opinion it reflects will remain.
Instead, I want to be like the 95-year-old who teaches computer literacy at a local senior center, or the 99-year-old who blogs about her challenges in aging. Rather than rejecting technology, they’re finding ways to make the world a slightly better place by embracing it.
And they’re happier people for it.
They’re who I want to be when I grow up. They’re who I want you to be.
Do this
Break the stereotype. Become a boomer who embraces, or at least pragmatically tolerates, technology. You and I — and, honestly, most everyone else — will be happier for it.
Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
I’m 88 years old and right now I have 4 computers on my desk and 1 on my work bench. (only two are running, though)
Years ago my son brought a computer into our business. I made the comment, “If that gets in the way of business, it has to go.”
I WAS HOOKED!
I have built and repaired ever since then. Always experimenting so as to learn something new.
Oh, stay off my lawn because the last time you were on it you broke my sapling I had just planted.
Computers were one of those “AH HA!” moments for me as well. Some time ago I wrote it up on my personal blog: Engineering 141.
Not everyone feels the same, of course, but … yeah, I was hooked.
What’s “my lawn” and why should others stay off of it? Is that a new Microsoft thing?
I’m 76 years old. I started using a Commodore 128 in 1985, and moved on to various IBM clones. I think computers CAN be tremendously useful, although sometimes the hassle outweighs the benefits. Everyone has to decide where that point exists for themselves. There is a middle ground between ALWAYS GOOD and NEVER GOOD that neither rabid techies nor Luddites recognize.
Hank, I still HAVE and USE my precious Commodore-128. Daily. (Usually in “C64” mode, which I love. Though “C128” mode is great for renumbering programs!)
But I also have a 64-Bit (Ah, 64. Sigh.) Windows 11 Home desktop computer. It works great — I only wish I could program it…
It’s not too late to learn a language like Java and/or JavaScript. They are unrelated, but what they have in common is that they are ubiquitous and cross platform.
As a Baby Boomer I work with multiple generations wherever I’m working. What I find interesting is how many younger workers that don’t have computer skills. A few years ago I was working for a large corporation and over time I managed to move to various other jobs. One of the keys was the ability to learn different software applications. Many of my younger coworkers did not make the effort to learn and subsequently did not get the better paying jobs. I am not a computer guy. I don’t ‘live and breath’ PCs but in almost every job today we are computer operators in addition to whatever the job is. The pandemic has only heightened the need for PC skills. If you want to get paid more and also keep a job in a difficult economy you have to learn software, not just Twitter & FB.
When I was young, people of my parents’ generation used to complain about how much better things were in their day. I’m sure their parents and their grandparents and every generation before said the same thing all the way back to the hunter gatherers. Facebook is full of nostalgia pages lamenting how things aren’t as good as they were before.
The solution? Let’s get back to the hunter-gatherer stage of evolution when things were at their best.
But… but, come on… everybody knows life was far, far better before sliced bread! Yes Leo, even you… lqtm
I know I’m stuffed with new technology nowadays. My first computer was an Amstrad 464 (I think). Now here I am at 65, officially an old age pensioner aka old fart, struggling to keep up. Find it hard to recall where to go to change some things. Sometimes I worry I might have early stages of dementia. Yet the quack says no way, just normal aging processes.
I get disheartened with (so called) smartphones… have a neighbour whose grandson at 4 (now 10) was happily swiping through apps and “knew” what to do with them. And here we were going uhm, ok, where do I find this, that or the other.
The world is moving far, far too fast. The question is of course will it ever stop, or even regress? The answer to that, to use a Leo-ism, is it depends. All it would take is a coronal mass ejection at the right angle and virtually all electronics technology on the planet is obliterated. Possible? Very much so, as reported recently there was one a few months back and due to the fact that it shot out away from the earth is why we are still able to carry on. It could quite easily happen again and hit earth. Instant stone age situation all over again, although the buildings of today would still be there. Just, no elevators, or lights, or working sewer systems, water reticulation etc. Sounds like fun doesn’t it… not!
“Dick Tracy’s wrist-phone? That exists too, though to be fair, the larger version in everyone’s pocket instead is probably more useful.”
I’m still waiting on a Maxwell Smart shoe phone.
LOL!!!
Epic
Back in the mid 50’s my best friend’s dad worked for IBM. I used to listen to his dad talk about computers and what they could do to help us. I became interested in learning more and more about computers. I went to the local library and read about computers for hours. I couldn’t get enough information. I had to put my computer studies on hold for several years but never gave up the desire to learn more about them. I the early 80’s I worked for a manufacturing company that had computer run equipment and I went to school to learn how to repair the computers that ran the equipment. A few wears later I went to a junior college taking night courses to get may COMPTIA certifications for A+ and Network +. I have been working on computers every since then and I still keep reading more about them to keep up with technology today. Yep, I’m an BOOMER too and proud of it!
Ok, I’m old now (81), pre-Boomer, and got into computers very early on. Think Commador64, DEC Rainbow, CPM vs DOS, punch cards and Fortran IV programming. As a retired EE, I’ve tried to keep up over the years but my particular problem is Definitions. Many words used today are not defined the way we learned in my youth, and so I find them hard to understand. The meaning of terms like migrate, populate, tethering, archive, crawler, server, etc have changed and it takes a bit of doing to easily understand them. Even with my background, trying to find directions on how to perform some procedures like backups can be challenging to me. I can only imagine how it is for a not-techie senior.
And, by the way, I live in the woods now and don’t have a lawn. Instead I share my space with deer, bears, and other non-technical critters.
…and probably have better conversations with them critters than with many of the youth of today. Which is quite sad when you think about it.
Hi Leo. This is my first ever comment although I’ve read your posts for years. Thanks for your huge contribution to information literacy!
I’m a younger boomer (born ’61) who is pretty literate with technology. Family and friends come to me for tech support. I’m concerned that I stay literate for the rest of my life. My motivations are security, interest and practical.
So, my question: Do you have any advice? General guidelines for an already tech literate person on how to stay there?
Perhaps my concerns are unnecessary. Perhaps the personal forces that made me tech literate in the first place will never fail me. But, I want to be proactive not to be swept away in the coming waves of technological advances. My mother worked with mainframe computers in the 70s. She was a rare female in that field. She wrote some of the software that the State Department used at that time. But in recent years, she has fallen behind and turns to me for tech support. There is nothing wrong with that. Hell, we all turn to tech support from time to time. But, I think she has been a little passive about the process and I don’t want to do that myself.
I’m a boomer 8 years Leo’s senior. Helping Leo answer questions helps me stay up to date with my tech skills. I’m constantly googling to find answers, and it keeps me learning new things. You might want to volunteer helping other seniors and teaching classes, teach adult education courses in IT or something similar.
Mark had some good suggestions, I’ll just add a more global one: never lose interest, and never let anyone tell you you’re “too old”. Honestly it cracks me up when I get the occasional comment about “seniors” from someone that doesn’t realize I’m currently 62. 🙂 Keep up to date on what interests you. The more fun it is, the longer you’ll do it. Spoiler: that’s one reason Ask Leo! exists.
62??? You’re just a kid. I’m so old, I got to see the Beatles, the Doors, Hendrix and more.
I tell people that I am so close to 90 I can almost reach out and touch it.
Lucky you. Never got to see the Doors. Nor Hendrix. The Beatles only on (black & white) television when they toured NZ in 1964. I’m really, really old. 65 going on 66 in April. Oh… woe is me. Ok, now where’s that beer? LOL
I’m 67, myself. 🙂
Yer jus’ a kid. Reverse the digits of your age to get my age.
As a boomer, I’m seeing many changes that are going to really start people to howl. I’m 65 and took Social Security at 62. How many are aware that the Social Security Administration has been pushing to do business online? For me, NBD. For my wife, no way! She’s not drawing Social Security yet but the only way to sign up for Medicare was online in our area.
As for the younger generations, my kids and grandkids have learned not to leave their notebooks and phones around when we visit. I’ve still haven’t gotten through to them about passwords, virus scans, backups, etc. Kids these days!
I’ll sort of disagree with one of your observations. I’ve been playing with computers since the Apple IIe. I actually think I have an advantage over those who grew up with technology. Having used the command prompt, learned DOS commands and watched Window grow from pretty awful at first to what it is today, I think has given my a big advantage in understanding how tech works. I don’t see that same level of understanding in the younger generation.
I’m a retired teacher who taught the Office apps in a community college. I used to tell students how lucky they were to have all the options for references and bibliographies in Word. Then I would explain how I did it in undergrad school on a typewriter. It was eye opening for them.
Did any of them NOT know what a typewriter was (is)? I recall writing (?) on a typewriter with 2 fingers. I just don’t understand how I managed to get anything done… must have had the patience of a Saint back then I reckon.
Should any arrongant moron ever say “Okay Boomer” to me, they are going to get a monster put down in response.
That said, like so many others here, I’ve been using PCs since about 1982 when a fellow city planner told me not to buy one of those new IBM PCs because some kids invented the operating system in a garage and it’ll never go anywhere. So naturally I purchased a CP/M computer with 8″ floppy disks (and WordStar!) and an NEC Sprinwriter printer complete with keyboard. They got me through law school leaving all my classmates wondering what the heck is he using to write? They still knew only typewriters even though most of them were 12 years younger than I. Ironically, when I interviewed for jobs at large law firms, they held it against me when I’d ask if I’d get a computer with word processing. Afterall, “only secretaries type.” Now, of course, attorneys are incredibly dependent on their computers and the Internet – but they still have no idea how they work.
In addition to practicing city planning and fair housing law, I’ve built, upgraded, or saved from oblivion around 75 computers including the 4 in our home office. What has struck me about those hot shots who think they know everything, is that most younger computer users really have no idea what they can do with a computer and no understanding of how they work — much like people of older generations. An awful lot of younger folk are reckless with their PCs, tablets, and smart phones, and very susceptible to scams that infect their digital devices. “Passwords? Internet Security Programs? Okay Boomer, what are they? I don’t need them.”
And what’s really interesting is that younger computer users seem to be the ones who complain the loudest when Windows undergoes a major update.
So if one of them should ever say “Okay Boomer” to me, I won’t be able to resist responding, “Feelin’ lucky, punk?” (Bet they won’t get the movie reference.)
(Re: movie reference) Got it instantly, myself. (Grin.)
The more I hear NEW, the more I just see old ideas rejiggered (SCSI anyone)? It just seems like computer tech is reused and recycled for than old aluminum cans. Maybe Moore’s Law was named for Gary Moore (the old game show host from the 60s)?
I am too a baby boomer, but life was great and hard at times for me, I raised all three of my children by myself, and no support, but I did some great things. All my children are so smart in the computer world and got left out, I would like to see what that is and get more involved with the apps and tech of our world. sometimes you just want to fight it, it was simpler then now to find jobs you better have that, I am scared.. I need to get involved with education again and see where it takes me. I ran major Resorts and my own Farm business with just bookwork and ledgers, now I have to recreate my life, what is left, still have to work.
As a 64 year old computer science engineer, I still continue to embrace technology even though big tech decided to exploit me as well as many of my coworkers over the past several decades. The tech industry is in shambles. We’ve allowed the tech industry to be taken over by many unqualified workers from third world countries where technology is often used to scam the most vulnerable among us while many well-qualified highly skilled educated American workers sit on the sidelines scrambling to find gainful employment.
There is something very wrong with this picture. I have been silent up until now, but now I have earned the right to be the “get off my lawn” guy with regard to the tech industry. There will be baby boomers who do not embrace technology, and that’s fine. I do not poo-poo their approach to life. Then there will be the young’uns in the current generation who embrace tech and will discover that they will need to quickly retool given the advancements in AI and that tech will not have their back.
I’m not a computer guy but as a Boomer computers started landing on everyone’s work desk in the early 1990’s. No one asked if you could learn computers. It was required to keep your job and as software was developed you had to keep abreast of the changes.
I’m mostly retired now and it’s difficult to keep up with software changes in the business world,
for example in the last 4 to 5 years Microsoft Teams has become the go to tool for communication. I don’t have anyone in my private world who uses the software. I’ve taken a couple of online classes through Udemy and Teams is a useful tool but without regular usage I forget things. Heck! At my age I forget why I walked into a room.
My other issue is last year I received 4 letters from different companies notifying me that my personal information has been involved in a compromise of one of their systems. In Feb 2026 I received 2 more letters from different companies of the same issues. Do I have any personal information that hasn’t been compromised?
These compromises make me leery of using apps especially banking apps. I worked for almost 30 years in the financial services industry and many of these apps were made for convenience of the customer and the bank but not with security as a primary focus. Honestly I’d be more trusting of Chic-fil-A’s apps.
I’m shocked at how US banks do Internet security. My German bank uses an app for authentication and if you lose that device, you can’t log in without contacting the bank to send you new credentials to use that app on different hardware. The US banks are much more lax.
My guess is that the US banks are focused on cost management versus risk management. What they do is cheaper (both technology and customer service), and there’s some level of acceptable loss as a result. True risk management would ignore the cost aspect.
After reading an item from one of my Ask Bob newsletter several years ago, I spent a few hours requesting that my account be frozen with six credit bureaus. If your interested, you can search the Ask Bob website at https://askbobrankin.com/
I hope this helps,
Ernie
It is easy to overestimate the computer skills of the younger generation.
Firstly, they can look impressive because they have fast hand to eye coodination (monkeys have faster hand to eye coodination).
Secondly, I read an article in the British press that said the younger generation are the generation most likely to be caught out with internet scams. Because they were brought up with the internet, they are more inclined to trust everything they read and feel over-confident.
Thirdly, they are inclined to get their information from social media which is unreliable and manipulated. Whereas a reputable journalist will write a considered and researched article, anyone can post their views on anything, and the younger generation are less likely to check the reliablility of what they read.
Fourthly, the whole technology culture can produce a short attention span; important political events require careful thought and research, not three seconds of doom scrolling then off to the ballot box.
I have nothing against any generation but because many boomers boast about their computer illiteracy it doesn’t mean all young people are that computer literate, it just means they can do what they need to do easily.
All of the above is good. Just two things that worry me. First, we lose our ability to properly communicate face to face, one human to another. They other is when AI truly meets Quantum computing and being able to crack all our encryption algorithms in minutes instead of hundreds of years.
I think the definition of “properly communicate” might be up for revision. The fact that kids are communicating at all is a good thing. Just because it’s not in the format we recognize ourselves doesn’t mean it’s bad (or good).
I’ve communicated for decades with people overseas without being face-to-face. It was wonderful, and established critical relationships I treasure to this day. Am I to dismiss this because it’s not “face to face”?
As for passwords: quantum-resistant algorithms are already being developed and in some cases in place. The “quantum cracks everything” meme is a) years if not decades off, and b) doesn’t take into account that better encryption will come along, possibly even created by quantum computers someday.
We’ll probably be using quantum computing to create our passwords. The escalation goes both ways. Passkeys are at the forefront of this defense.
As for the shift in communication, I communicate extensively on social media, but it’s personal communication as well as my general blog style posts.
You can have a video chat with someone anywhere in the world. You can get a phone call wherever you are. Go out any evening and the pubs are as full as they’ve ever been. I don’t think people are losing their communication skills. They said the same thing about television 70 years ago. True, many have become addicted to AI, but those are probably the same people who would have become addicted to television, and I know a few TV addicts.
When I was a teen, I was allergic to letter writing. The idea of going to a mailbox and waiting a week for an answer just didn’t work for me. Once email came out, I wrote a lot of emails and eventually switched to Messaging. Many people probably have a similar experience, so int that case, technology has us communicating more.
Mark, you wrote:
“The idea of going to a mailbox and waiting a week for an answer just didn’t work for me.”
Oh, that’s nothing. Remember mail orders? “Please wait six to eight weeks for delivery.”
It trips off the tongue… but even the faster of those two speeds was over a month if dreary waiting!
Yeah, Amazon has got us spoiled… especially if you have Prime. 🙂
Yes. I almost wrote about that. I remember when I bought a Whammo slingshot and waited years (probably 2 weeks) for it to arrive. Also my Captain Midnight decoder ring.
I bet that most of us who read you regularly have been doing so for many years and are mostly boomers. You are speaking to the choir. We are all very computer literate – the comments here prove my point. I’d send your article to AARP for their magazine, where you might run into a Boomer who is not computer literate. Or, I would restructure it so you are talking to people who work with seniors, and urge them to make computer literacy available to residents of Independent and assisted living communities, and send it off to some professional publications catering to that sector.
You don’t see all the questions that come into Ask Leo! Most readers are, as you say computer literate, but there are still many who preface their question with things like “I’m past the age where I can keep up with all this.” or “I’m too old to be learning what a ‘cloud’ is.”
I hear regularly — like every day — from folks of our age that are most definitely not part of the choir. They need to hear this message.
Being in my mid 70’s, I suppose I’m definitely a ‘boomer’! But I also suspect that I’ve never fit into any mold, and in particular, the boomer one! I’ve been a computer geek since the 1990’s, and I keep a ‘smart-phone’ handy in the event of power failures or other emergencies. Even though I use both, I must admit to preferring my primary laptop screen to that of my hand held phone, but that’s a personal preference, not a ‘get off my lawn’ complaint. I’ve given up on learning how all the latest technology works ‘under the hood’, probably due to my age, and the fact that I’m getting lazy, but I’ll never lose the desire to learn how to manage or use any of it, including AI – I’m currently looking into seeing if I can get all I want from small language models – anyone know of a few good ones?
Ernie
A very insightful article and I entirely agree with the premise. I am a historian, however, and I am concerned that post “boomer” generations are at some risk from natural–or manmade–disruption of the internet, temporary or long-term. In 1859 a solar coronal mass ejection, or flare, destroyed world telegraph communication, the internet of its day. It took decades (and in the U.S. a civil war) to fully restore. Today there are are almost 9 BILLION of us. Such a flare would be a (one hopes) not quite extinction event.
Disregarding today’s “named” generations, we are barely two lifetimes away from a worldwide lifestyle that had prevailed for thousands of years: when it was the elder people who had knowledge and the younger who desperately needed that knowledge to survive. How many today can ride a horse (much less raise, train and care for one), start a fire without matches (if there are matches), hunt, farm, raise livestock? Only 150 years ago most people lived after dark by lamplight and candles, and not long at that.
Have you seen young adults when the electricity is interrupted? They first reach for their smartphones (if they weren’t already clutching them). And if that is gone? Completely at a loss, like deeply asleep people dazed on first awakening.
I’m not a survivalist or a doomsayer, by any means; I certainly enjoy and value modern civilized luxuries as fully as possible. But I know that that is what they are. Past civilizations have tended to collapse inversely with their sophistication, if you follow me? That’s why they are called “past”. And the present culture is , in a sense, very fragile.
You have also written recently on the subjects of internet bullying, scamming , isolation and exploitation of young persons. I recently saw a group of some five or so young persons waiting for the school bus–all five on their phones, not interacting with one another at all. I think that is a degree of “computer literacy” gone too far. I hope computer-savvy boomers don’t jump on that bandwagon and do try to get across, to their contemporaries as well as their juniors, that there’s more to living than this; the perspective of experience is second only to sharp hindsight. How else are we and our posterity to endure the Age of AI and stay recognizably human?
-Dave
P.S: Realize you are too busy for casual reading and may not enjoy science fiction. But if you ever have a “loose ends” half hour, you might look up on eBooks or something, L. Sprague DeCamp’s short story “Child of All Ages”. rgds D
Burke’s Connections is a 1980s documentary on the history of technology. The first episode discusses what might happen if modern technology ceased to exist. The Internet didn’t exist then, but I think it still applies today, maybe even more so.
James Burke Connections, Ep. 1 “The Trigger Effect”
Your statement “I recently saw a group of some five or so young persons waiting for the school bus–all five on their phones, not interacting with one another at all. ” sounds to me more like Technology Dependence than anything else, and who knows? Maybe they were texting each other 🙂
Ernie
“Maybe they were texting each other”
A few years ago we stayed in a small B&B and the owner told us that two teenage girls in her family sat on oppostie sides of a small room texting each other in silence.
There was also a trend reported in the British press a few years ago that at parties young females would text insults about the person they were talking to, to their friend across the room.
Far more serious, I believe, is some British managers have said that Gen Z employees in offices are too anxious to answer the telephone – I would guess that is exaggerated.
Texting is a way to communicate privately — without others around you listening in.
Yes, with an emphasis on communicating . Technology can also be used to enhance communication. Texting and social media are methods to communication.
There’s a VERY good chance that they were indeed interacting with other people, just using a method we might not prefer ourselves.
Leo and Mark, I take your points and agree entirely. MY point was merely…what if these children should lose that method?
There will probably be a new method. Technology generally creates new opportunities when older ones drop off.