Young People - The Smart Phone Generation

retiredguy

Wow, I am glad to see just how passionate most of you guys are about your profession. Before I retired I had a plaque hanging in my company truck that read, "keep your phones in your pocket" and "if there is not enough time to do the job right, there is always enough time to make it right". For me, it was that if you can't do the job my way, I will get someone else to do your job. When you do a job, your "signature" is on that job. If you are not proud of your work find another profession.

hot_rod

It is a bit of a catch 22 with smart phones and tablets on service people.

More and more you need that technology to troubleshoot and even do set up on all sorts of equipment. It will be hard living without smart phones in our trade.

The infrared camera attachments for smart phones sure are a game changer for service techs.

JUGHNE

It isn't the technology itself that is unsettling to me but the absolute reliance upon it and the inability to do simple math or estimating.

I buy wine by the case at a large grocery store. They offer 10% discount on 12 or more bottles.
Years ago the cashier had to enter the discount into the register. It was always entertaining to see the blank stare on how to calculate that....does anyone have a calculator?.....finally someone would whip out their new phone. One kid ran the numbers on the 10% and was baffled that it was the same digits as the before discount price, he said that can not be right. You had to walk him thru the reasoning behind it.

Only a woman over 40 had no problem with it, just type it in.

Today the register has been updated that will apply the discount when you reach the 12 bottles, so it is less entertaining buying wine.

My children and grandchildren were forced to figure their wages and show the work on paper, no calculator....no paperwork....no pay check.
The hourly wage always ended in some odd number like 37 or 59 cents just to exercise the multiplication brain cells.

One grandson had a extra quarter of an hour for a pay period. Rather than do the extra math he just deleted the 1/4 hour.

Now the youngest son is teaching at a collage. He informed me that true to the family tradition his students have to show their math on paper...long hand for a simple algebraic formula.

Students are in early twenties and overcome by this.

This formula is to calculate how much embalming fluid to use on the customer.
So we agreed that at least they can't kill anyone with too much juice.

ChrisJ

People aren't going to do things they do not need to.

That's not a recent thing.

They may even learn how and then forget due to not using it.
.
That didn't stop me from laughing at a kid that was trying to defrost a refrigerator where I work with it plugged in and turned on but still....

ethicalpaul

They probably don't even know how to hitch a mule team to a plow either!

ChrisJ

ethicalpaul said:

They probably don't even know how to hitch a mule team to a plow either!

Damn kids these days.
I bet they can't light a coal boiler or adjust ignition points either.  

hot_rod

How many people under 30 can get from A to B without using navigation on the phone or in the vehicle?

Although I admit to using it quite a bit so I get the verbal commands as I pay attention to the road. No more paper maps in the truck

I have the GAIA gps app and I can even take backroads in most of the world!I

Mad Dog_2

I keep a Hagstrom in the Trunk....Mad Dog 🐕 

ChrisJ

hot_rod said:

How many people under 30 can get from A to B without using navigation on the phone or in the vehicle? Although I admit to using it quite a bit so I get the verbal commands as I pay attention to the road. No more paper maps in the truck I have the GAIA gps app and I can even take backroads in most of the world!I

I don't know?

How many people under 30 can get from point A to B.  Period?

If they do the task at hand isn't that the main objective?

This is like asking how many people under X age can operate a mimeograph.  It's irrelevant.


Believe me,I have an abundance of old useless skills.  It doesn't make me any better than anyone else.  I'm very good with MS-DOS and I can work on vacuum tube equipment.    No one cares 

Dan_NJ

hot_rod said:

How many people under 30 can get from A to B without using navigation on the phone or in the vehicle?

Better question might be how many under 30 people's Uber/Lyft driver can get from A to B without using navigation on the phone or in the vehicle?

I (over 30) can set the magnetic declination on my compass too if need be, but the paper maps are a thing of the past in my vehicle for a while now.

Mad Dog_2

You still can't beat a Hagstrom...Smart Phone Screens and Navigators are inches wide vis-a-vis a 12" x 14" (approx) map..for getting the Big Picture and specific details...I like both..Mountains often lost the Satellite too.....Mad Dog 🐕 

Steamhead

Mad Dog_2 said:

.......Mountains often lost the Satellite too.....Mad Dog 🐕 

This is an important point. Technology can and does fail. What do you do then?

Not long ago, The Lovely Naoko and I were on our way home when the Beltway came to a full stop. There was probably an accident somewhere ahead but we couldn't see anything. Without referring to maps or GPS, I hopped off at the next exit and got around that mess, using roads she had never taken.

She didn't ask where we were- she trusted me. I really made the right choice when I married her.

Now, she could have done the same using GPS, but what if she could not get a signal?

And GPS can do some strange things. I once flew back home from somewhere and used an airport shuttle to get from BWI to home. The driver was glued to his GPS- which tried to route him through downtown Baltimore rush-hour traffic to get to the north end of the city, where his drop-offs were. The screen indicated serious congestion in that area. I showed him how to get around it and we all got home at least an hour sooner than we would have going through downtown.

Moral of the story- don't blindly depend on technology.

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

.......Mountains often lost the Satellite too.....Mad Dog 🐕 

This is an important point. Technology can and does fail. What do you do then? Not long ago, The Lovely Naoko and I were on our way home when the Beltway came to a full stop. There was probably an accident somewhere ahead but we couldn't see anything. Without referring to maps or GPS, I hopped off at the next exit and got around that mess, using roads she had never taken. She didn't ask where we were- she trusted me. I really made the right choice when I married her. Now, she could have done the same using GPS, but what if she could not get a signal? And GPS can do some strange things. I once flew back home from somewhere and used an airport shuttle to get from BWI to home. The driver was glued to his GPS- which tried to route him through downtown Baltimore rush-hour traffic to get to the north end of the city, where his drop-offs were. The screen indicated serious congestion in that area. I showed him how to get around it and we all got home at least an hour sooner than we would have going through downtown. Moral of the story- don't blindly depend on technology.

So you feel a 20-30 year old couldn't take the same blind guess you did?

Steamhead

ChrisJ said:

So you feel a 20-30 year old couldn't take the same blind guess you did?

Not a "blind guess". I knew those back roads. It helps if you know several ways to get from point A to point B.

JUGHNE

In my mind, not seeing and studying a large paper map puts you at a disadvantage of not seeing the "big picture".

Steamhead has probably looked at the paper map most of his life and knew about other roads.

But to look on a GPS screen you are only seeing a postage stamp of where you are, yes you can zoom out but you lose the small county roads that become alternative routes.

I feel almost lost if I don't know for sure which is North, even though the GPS is guiding me.
For me, that map on the screen is always set up to have north on the top.

The same way with blueprints. Without seeing the entire print it seems worthless to try to look at a print on a small screen and swipe in either direction to look where something goes.
I lose the pipe source and not sure I had followed the correct line on the print to what ever it feeds.

BTW, how many people can find the North Star?

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

So you feel a 20-30 year old couldn't take the same blind guess you did?

Not a "blind guess". I knew those back roads. It helps if you know several ways to get from point A to point B.

Ah I thought you were in an area you didn't know.

Mad Dog_2

Jugne..exactly what I was saying...Tiny screens...need the big picture.  I also LOVE studying maps and generally have very good sense of direction sans GPS or map.  My 2000 Durango has a Digital Direction LED...Every vehicle should have that.  Mad 🐕 Dog 

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

Jugne..exactly what I was saying...Tiny screens...need the big picture.  I also LOVE studying maps and generally have very good sense of direction sans GPS or map.  My 2000 Durango has a Digital Direction LED...Every vehicle should have that.  Mad 🐕 Dog 

What is a digital direction led?

ratio

ChrisJ said:

Mad Dog_2 said:

Jugne..exactly what I was saying...Tiny screens...need the big picture.  I also LOVE studying maps and generally have very good sense of direction sans GPS or map.  My 2000 Durango has a Digital Direction LED...Every vehicle should have that.  Mad 🐕 Dog 

What is a digital direction led?

The modern version of those li'l compasses that people stuck on the dash of their car. Apparently, that's ok technology.

ChrisJ

ratio said:

Mad Dog_2 said:

Jugne..exactly what I was saying...Tiny screens...need the big picture.  I also LOVE studying maps and generally have very good sense of direction sans GPS or map.  My 2000 Durango has a Digital Direction LED...Every vehicle should have that.  Mad 🐕 Dog 

What is a digital direction led?

The modern version of those li'l compasses that people stuck on the dash of their car. Apparently, that's ok technology.

I don't think I've seen a new car in the past 20 years that didn't come with a compass.

But yeah I guess that's acceptable. 

SlamDunk

In the 80's, it was maps that could never be folded back the way you bought it. My roommate's parents sent him a AAA Trip Tick, spiral bound flip map showing him how to get home from school, about 1200 miles. It was like seeing fire for the first time.

ChrisJ

Steamhead

I think that's a GE fan.

Mad Dog_2

Chris Farley was the best...miss him...Swayze too...Roadhouse...Mad Dog 🐕 

Dave Carpentier

Flashback to ~25yrs ago. Any vacation road trip, I would look thru maps (Mapquest, if i recall) and then type out a route plan (Exit 276, turn right on Hwy544, left on McKay St, etc.
Nowadays I load waypoints into the GPS, it tells me what lane to be in etc. So much more relaxing, but you still have to actively "drive" and not just hold wheel.

My phone is an invaluable tool to look up parts or find tech tips and manuals etc.
Back in the way-long-ago, it used to involve a trip to the library.

JakeCK

ChrisJ said:

I have a fan similar to that. Only it's a Westinghouse. That thing is like having a tornado in the house. All metal, almost nothing between you and those steel blades. I disappeared it to the attic when the kids came. 

ChrisJ

JakeCK said:

ChrisJ said:

I have a fan similar to that. Only it's a Westinghouse. That thing is like having a tornado in the house. All metal, almost nothing between you and those steel blades. I disappeared it to the attic when the kids came. 

Those fans were designed with the intent to keep people from accidently coming in contact with the propeller. They didn't feel they needed to protect people from intentionally trying to hurt themselves.


That's a huge part of what actually has changed in our world. The need to try and protect people from themselves.