Are people still this tech dumb?

[FPAlpha]

So a few days ago i was talking to one of our truck drivers about computers and stuff and we got to WiFi systems.

While talking he mentions that at home he has WiFi too and an internet flatrate so because there can't be additional costs he didn't secure access to it or encrypt it at which point i went WTF dude?

I explained to him that even if he has no additional costs and even if he cared less about his neighbours using his connection what would happen if said neighbour was surfing for child porn or doing other illegal stuff using his connection? It would be his ass on the line because it's his WiFi and it would be a major hassle to prove he wasn't the culprit.

Then it was his time to go "WTF.. you're right. Hadn't thought of that!" I think he went home and secured his line.. at least i hope so which brings me to this question.. is this usual that people are still this dumb when it comes to new technologies (and WiFi certainly isn't new by any standard).

My dad only got a computer a few years ago and he started from scratch being a different generation that's not very savvy with digital technology. He had me to teach him the basics and have an eye on security yet he still did dumb things and at one time paid for a mistake i advised him not make.

It just baffled me how people could be so careless and uninformed.

 

[Kestra]

It doesn't seem that dumb to me. Most people use some technology without really understanding how it works, or the full implications of what they are doing.

 

[Amaris]

For most people, technology is magic. You press a button and voila. There's no real concern about what's under the hood as long as the car runs without any major problems. It's not as much carelessness as it is ignorance. Unless people know the technology enough to realize there's a security risk, they're not going to give it two passing seconds. That's how most people work. That's why people like me exist, to help those people divert their attention to more important matters and not worry about their technology. That's my job.

 

[FPAlpha]

It doesn't seem that dumb to me. Most people use some technology without really understanding how it works, or the full implications of what they are doing.

However any manual for a router i know of has some kind of warning on the first pages about security and needing to secure the line with a password.

I'm not expecting them to go deep down into IT security and do stuff only professionals know about.

I'm mainly surprised how someone can't make the leap of logic. If you can install these things all by yourself and have them running then you should also know about the dangers. Whenever i start something new to me i hit up google and invest some time to inform myself.. seems not everyone does that.

 

[Amaris]

It doesn't seem that dumb to me. Most people use some technology without really understanding how it works, or the full implications of what they are doing.

However any manual for a router i know of has some kind of warning on the first pages about security and needing to secure the line with a password.

I'm not expecting them to go deep down into IT security and do stuff only professionals know about.

I'm mainly surprised how someone can't make the leap of logic. If you can install these things all by yourself and have them running then you should also know about the dangers. Whenever i start something new to me i hit up google and invest some time to inform myself.. seems not everyone does that.

Routers are ridiculously easy to install. It's literally "1", "2", "3" and you're up. Most people think that's it.

 

[Kestra]

It doesn't seem that dumb to me. Most people use some technology without really understanding how it works, or the full implications of what they are doing.

However any manual for a router i know of has some kind of warning on the first pages about security and needing to secure the line with a password.

I'm not expecting them to go deep down into IT security and do stuff only professionals know about.

I'm mainly surprised how someone can't make the leap of logic. If you can install these things all by yourself and have them running then you should also know about the dangers. Whenever i start something new to me i hit up google and invest some time to inform myself.. seems not everyone does that.

Most of the people I know don't install their own routers. Then again I think most people in general don't read instructions either.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Well, often my grandma will send me emails telling me her computer is slow and giving me all of her usernames and passwords to online accounts, instructing me to sign in to them and fix the problem. She also thinks that Facebook IS the internet and doesn't know how to get to any other sites. And when she took her computer in for repairs she gave specific instructions to have them reinstall all her Facebook games...when the repair guy told her that "they live online" and can be accessed from any computer she was amazed. I told her to never use her credit card online and a day later she used it to buy something she thought was only 50 cents which of course was actually 50 dollars.

So yes, people can be very "tech dumb." However I know other people her age that are very good with computers and understand the dangers quite well. I think some people are just more willing to invest some time to understand the tools around them, while others use them without thinking.

 

[Miss Chicken]

To use someone else's computer on our router we have to enter the password that is one the bottom of a router. That is the way it was from the very start. I thought all routers would work this way. We also had to use a number on the bottom of our router before we could use the XBox and my Wii online.

 

[WillsBabe]

On one hand I think that you should understand the tech you're using; my colleagues often drive me crazy with their tech ignorance. OTOH I use stuff all day everyday that I don't understand the finer points (or even in some cases the broader points) of how it works: photocopies; tv; electric lights; the internal combustion engine. I think there's a difference to making it work to knowing how it works.

 

[Sephiroth]

WTF is this Kom-Pew-Tur you speak of?

 

[Amaris]

WTF is this Kom-Pew-Tur you speak of?

Magicbox.

 

[Trilliam]

I don't know (or want to know) the tech stuff - my tech-literate kids do it for me - that's why I sent them to Uni to get their IT & Computer Science degrees. Why have a dog and bark yourself?

 

[SchwEnt]

Oh people are wwaaayyyyy more tech dumb than that.

Scary real-life example:
Hospital where I work converted from paper medical records to electronic medical records in 2008.

One of the workers on the electronic medical records is a senior citizen female (she's been at hospital for decades).

She may have been adequate filing papers years ago but she's always been feeble-minded even in her heyday. Just not educated or inherently bright by any measure. Also, she is mean.

Today she doesn't understand terms like "cut-and-paste" and doesn't know what a "cursor" is. She doesn't know how to use this COM-POO-TER (her pronunciation).

And this is her JOB. Wonderful.

 

[Holdfast]

People know about what interests them. To many people, technology is just an omnipresent tool, rather than something to be particularly interested in.

 

[Servo]

There are people on my street who have unsecured WiFi connections. My laptop picks up their signals and fair few of them aren't protected.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I live in a densely-populated area, and remarkably, there are no open access points within range.

It sounds like the guy from the OP just never realized someone could use his wireless network for nefarious purposes. I can believe there are people like that--they don't do things like that so it doesn't occur to them that someone else might.

Whenever I work on someone's computer, I always check their wireless setup, too. If it's not secure I'll get it secured for no charge.

At work, I am one of the few people IT trusts to have VPN access from home. One of the other developers I work with, despite being good at coding on our system, is utterly clueless about networking. IT asked him what ports we use for our software and he rattled off IP addresses instead. He had no idea what actual ports we used--I had to figure that out. So, even technical "experts" can be a bit dim when it comes to specific things.

 

[TheGodBen]

When I worked for tech support, I once spoke to a woman who couldn't find the power button on her laptop. I told her to just press the button she normally presses to turn it on and she somehow drew a blank on where that button was.

So yes, people can be very, very dumb when it comes to technology.

 

[ares93]

I happened to overhear a conversation between a woman an the it guy at the local computer store a while back.

Customer: My printer wont print. Whats the problem?
Repairman: Well, what can you tell me about it? Brand, model, serial number, these type of things.
Customer: What do you mean brand? I bought it at Siba!
Repairman: Alright, if you look at it, is anything written on it?
Customer: Sure, Brutter.
Repairman: You mean Brother. Alright, can you tell me if it a color printer?
Customer: Color printer? Its white!

At this point, i was unable to refrain from laughing so i hurried away.

I often work at the IT dept in school. this is a conversation between me and a teacher.

Me: So you say it died and it now doesn't boot? Does the lights turn on, or blink or something.

Teacher: Yes, there is a little flashing light on it.

Me: Good, that means its got power at least. Do you have it with you?

Teacher: No, i just brought the harddrive with me.

At this point, warning lights are going off in my head. And just as i predicted, she puts a HP notebook computer on the table. Now, i've worked there for months now and i've learned to keep a straight face, but damn it was hard.

Me: Very well, I believe that will be enough. I'll have a look at it. come back tomorrow, we'll see what i can do with it.

Teacher: Alright, there was one thing i wanted you to do. Please remove the antivirus program. Its just slowing down my computer, and i just got wireless internet so i cant get viruses anyway.

Me: Uhm, sure...

No, i didnt remove the AV program but i did try to explain that the viruses really can jump through the air into her computer even if she uses wireless internet.

On another note, the problem was the battery. Apparently she didnt know that her HP was portable and had its own battery, and the "it just died" was the battery running out after she mistakenly pulled the charger from the wall socket. apparently when using docking stations with external keyboards, mouses and monitors, the notebook computer connected becomes the harddrive. I had half a though of asking her that if the computer was the harddrive, what the external usb harddrive she held in her hand could possibly be.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, I've had plenty of people tell me their entire computer tower is the "hard drive." And people have a hard time grasping the difference between "memory" (RAM) and disk space.

 

[the skullcowboy]

I live in one of the Boro's of NYC, Queens to be exact, I have just now checked after reading this thread, there are 12 networks within range of my laptop's wifi card, only 5 of them are secured, well 6 if you include mine, some people just either don't know or don't care.