They appear stupid to me.

Are they your nephews from your side or your wife's?

Either way, hillbilly or Polish. No wonder they got rocks in their heads.

Bet he knew where to find porn, though.

Bet he knew where to find porn, though.

Not shocking, my 3 and 6 can't understand that not everything is a touch screen.

I doubt they will ever use a hard wired connection.

This might be slightly more normal than you might think. I have had to explain email to some students in the past couple of years because they had never used it in their lives or they set up an email account in fourth grade and never used it.

I bet they were putting you on. Right now they're laughing @ you.

I bet they were putting you on. Right now they're laughing @ you.

Your nephews are morons.
I'm sorry I had to tell you that.
But it's best for all of us.
And...
You asked.

So, my assumption is always that kids today are far more technologically savvy than past generations, and I still believe that to be true. However, we were back at my parents' for Christmas, and my nephew got a laptop to play games (just a nice laptop - not one of those custom-built Alienware things). He is 13 years old and his older brother is almost 16. They spend ALL DAMN DAY on their phones or tablets or playing XBox or Playstation. Most Christmases, I will play video games with them because my brother (their dad) doesn't enjoy them.

Anyway, because of that relationship, my younger nephew asked me if I would help him set up his laptop and download some games, etc... and wow, was it eye-opening. He didn't know a goddamn thing about a computer, nor did his brother. To make this short, I'll just list a few highlights:

- He had never heard of an ethernet cable, and he actually wasn't even aware of hard-wired internet.
- Once he understood the concept of hard-wired internet, he then mistook the power cord for the ethernet cable.
- He had no idea what a router was (I tried hard-wiring him so his games would download faster)
- He didn't know to click the start button to see his applications
- He asked me if him being on his cell phone would mess up the games we were downloading? I still don't even know what he was getting at there.
- His computer wouldn't turn on so he thought something was wrong with it; however, he just hadn't plugged it in for hours
- And the list goes on

I swear both my nephews are smart kids - both in advanced classes. Is this common? Did the advent of smartphones and tablets make certain-aged people completely ignorant of how to use an actual computer, or is it just these two?

Also, for you tech guys, do you foresee a future in which businesses don't use "computers"? I can't, but I'm no expert. My company piloted tablets for some of our field employees, and the feedback was awful. They have to be able to type and maneuver quickly.

So, my assumption is always that kids today are far more technologically savvy than past generations, and I still believe that to be true. However, we were back at my parents' for Christmas, and my nephew got a laptop to play games (just a nice laptop - not one of those custom-built Alienware things). He is 13 years old and his older brother is almost 16. They spend ALL DAMN DAY on their phones or tablets or playing XBox or Playstation. Most Christmases, I will play video games with them because my brother (their dad) doesn't enjoy them.

Anyway, because of that relationship, my younger nephew asked me if I would help him set up his laptop and download some games, etc... and wow, was it eye-opening. He didn't know a goddamn thing about a computer, nor did his brother. To make this short, I'll just list a few highlights:

- He had never heard of an ethernet cable, and he actually wasn't even aware of hard-wired internet.
- Once he understood the concept of hard-wired internet, he then mistook the power cord for the ethernet cable.
- He had no idea what a router was (I tried hard-wiring him so his games would download faster)
- He didn't know to click the start button to see his applications
- He asked me if him being on his cell phone would mess up the games we were downloading? I still don't even know what he was getting at there.
- His computer wouldn't turn on so he thought something was wrong with it; however, he just hadn't plugged it in for hours
- And the list goes on

I swear both my nephews are smart kids - both in advanced classes. Is this common? Did the advent of smartphones and tablets make certain-aged people completely ignorant of how to use an actual computer, or is it just these two?

Also, for you tech guys, do you foresee a future in which businesses don't use "computers"? I can't, but I'm no expert. My company piloted tablets for some of our field employees, and the feedback was awful. They have to be able to type and maneuver quickly.

It's not that uncommon for people of all ages not to know how to work with computers. There are kids and many adults who are unaware of all sorts of things in the world.

I worked at a tech call center for a short time and people would call in with some classic lines: "My whole system's down" and sometimes it was something very simple. The thing about computers and other things in life is that you have to have a desire to learn those things and sometimes you have to learn them on your own.

The scarier thing I think is the younger people who don't read and who don't understand the Constitution of the United States and the idea of the first amendment.