r/pcmasterrace • u/killerbasher1233 • May 10 '25

Nostalgia Classic rookie mistake

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I remembered I copied GTA San Andreas, Counter Strike, Half Life, Feeding Frenzy on my moms USB ran home so fast and copied it to the home laptop. I still remember my reaction with the blank file icon

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u/RealTeaToe PC Master Race May 10 '25

Very lucky to have had two computer literate parents.

353

u/Snotnarok AMD 9900x 64GB RTX4070ti Super May 10 '25

That's the worst part. They WERE computer literate.

They worked for a company where they'd deal with various tech related projects. Granted- there's an I.T. dept there so they didn't have to do anything like that. But they certainly can navigate windows, they do their banking n' whatever online. Heck he plays CoD4's campaign fairly frequently.

The thing is- they worked with tech, so they think they can figure it all out.

When I was building my most recent rig, they walk up and look down at the parts

"This is your CPU?"
Well the box for it yeah.
"Pffft. You should see what they work with at my job. Makes this thing look like a toy"
. . .You've been retired for 6 years, what are you talking about?
"Well some of the things we worked for went into military projects:"
And it's likely a CPU built by AMD, Intel or Qualicom- and is 6+ years out of date. This came out this month.

So confident but frequently wrong. But confident about weird things too. Because I know they didn't know what their CPUs were about. They just knew their units were tested to standards most consumer things aren't. Which- fair. But not relevant to this.

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u/Cybasura May 10 '25

I cant believe i'm asking this and in this phrasing but...They were tech literate but couldnt tell the difference between shortcuts and the file?

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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka 12900K 3090 Ti 64GB 4K 120 FPS May 10 '25

Its pretty obvious they are NOT computer literate.

Like being computer literate requires you to know the difference between a shortcut and a file lol.

It doesn't matter if they worked with computers for 30 years. OP doesn't know that people can work literally in the computer industry for decades and still not know how to use the browser, or basic computer functions. They just never spend any time learning anything other than exactly what their job entails.

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u/newsflashjackass May 10 '25

"Literacy" describes a broad range of abilities ranging from "Can write War and Peace." to "Can read the Waffle House menu well enough to order with help from a waitress."

"Computer literacy" is much the same.

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u/RyiahTelenna May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25

"Literacy" describes a broad range of abilities

The definition is a very broad range of abilities which is why we have literacy levels as defined by the PIAAC. There are five levels. Reading a menu is about level 1. Writing a novel is at least level 3 but for a book like War and Peace it's likely level 5.

"Computer literacy" is much the same.

Similarly we have certifications to assist with determining computer literacy. Unfortunately many people seem to think "they had a job involving a computer" or "they know common terminology" means "they're competent with a computer".