If need is mother of invention, desperation is to get us trying what we never thought to ever try. I also remember MS-Dos hard to use with all those commands to learn and no graphic display when working from the command line, but never imagining that one day I would learn all those commands and would miss them to perform more efficiently operations that I couldn't make at all despite a pretty graphics interface that later would come.
I always have been against judging books by their cover, and this is no exception. Given that I am almost always stuck to my computer screen (or so my wife tells me, anyways...), I'd like to consider myself rather tech savvy. That's why I hate being treated like an inferior when it comes to working with technology. This isn't really any different than saying that all muslims are terrorists, or that all Romanians are gypsies.
I find the attitude that anyone over 30 is an idiot very offensive. I think many younger people these days haven't been taught to respect elders, because they've grown up being fawned over, and having their butts kissed. Most of them have no idea what we have been through and prevailed over, and could not deal with much of what we have put up with, let alone a dial up connection. Like many of you, my Dad worked in radio communications, computers, and intelligence for years, and was very tech savvy. He and I were the only two in the family to communicate online, since we were the only two to bother learning the internet. Nowadays, my brother and sister do a few things online, but not much, so in some cases, I guess the derision is warranted. My Mother doesn't even have a computer, since she didn't replace the one my Dad used, and it's a dinosaur now, and she has no idea how the internet works. However, what bothers me is that the topic here is just a part of the problem, with the overarching issue being the lack of respect. I don't care if someone has a 3rd grade education and you've got a doctorate, if s/he is your elder, you show some respect and decency, if only because that person has a lot more life experience.
Since I live in a former mill town, a large percentage of the town is made up of retired people whose children have moved away from Maine, as Maine is not a very business friendly state. I was surprised to learn how many of them are proficient with a computer, at least for such things as email, sharing photos, Facebook, and the like, although my neighbor is in his eighties, and a top seller on eBay.
Ken, do you think some of that is in an effort to stay in touch with their children and grandchildren? Mainers have always been a resourceful bunch, not unlike Texans. My money would be on them if TSHTF.