I don’t understand why the people in my parents’ generation have any difficulty with computers. I don’t understand why a large portion of them can’t do more than exactly what they were shown to do. I really don’t understand why they blame every electrical problem on the computer. So I asked! And this is how it was put to me.

My mother grew up when computers were in the early developmental stages. These are the things she associated with computers:

1) Computers were terribly sensitive and would self-destruct if not dealt with properly. See Desk Set if you do not understand what I mean.

2) Computers were mainly used to detonate huge destructive trajectories that were involved mainly in wars. It was not a toy as it is now.

So you see, when older people go into fits over the new desk top you put on, or blame every electronic mishap on this new PC, it’s only out of habit. Nothing more, nothing less.