this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
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I used to think I was a 5/10, but then I tried to pirate a game on SteamDeck and I felt like I lost a lot of braincells. Spend like 6 hours trying to fix things and I accidentally bugged the internal speakers.

I think I'm at 3/10, linux (SteamOS) is so fucking hard to use.

I might be the most technologically illiterate Lemmy user ever.

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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 1 points 4 minutes ago

A solid 4, I think. Sure, I can build a PC and install an OS but both of those have been pretty much plug and play for decades at this point.

Don't ask me about your smartphone, your smart home devices or your Windows 10/11 problems, I don't have a clue about any of that. If you visited my home you'd be forgiven for thinking it was abandoned 20 years ago.

I can usually figure out basic tech I've never used before, but I'd prefer to have the manual, help or hindrance though that may be.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 46 minutes ago

I am an IT technician, I would say that I am about a 7.

Most of my job deals with psychology.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 1 hour ago

I mean im in IT and it really depends. Everythings a learning curve so things you have figured out usually goes well but since every tech has pretty much unlimited use cases you still can hit roadblocks. For things you have never done it takes time to learn how to do the common uses and then you can expand out to things that require more finesse (ideally, if the boss wants Z you make it do Z even if you never got it to do X)

[–] StrixUralensis@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 4 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Please give references for the scale

Also Richard Stallman -- the man who wrote the original Emacs and GCC -- has never installed a GNU+Linux distro, and he has no idea/interest in it.

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 17 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

What's the scale? I'm proposing:

1 - able to turn on the device (not necessarily turn it off)
9 - can train and run own LLM (from scratch, not from an existing model)
10 - knows how to reliably set up a printer

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 13 points 3 hours ago

10 - knows how to reliably set up a printer

What is this, D&D levels? Let’s keep this fantasy nonsense out of the rating scale!

[–] kbal@fedia.io 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
  1. Inert object, no ability to move, perceive, or interact with any tech
  2. Root vegetable, largely unaware of technology
  3. Nematode or worm, unlikely to use tools much
  4. Lizard, capable of accidentally pressing buttons
  5. Blue Jay, might learn to deliberately press a button
  6. Orangutan, could make and use simple tools
  7. Human baby, likes to grab things, can use iphone
  8. American high school student, can use electric toothbrush
  9. Chess club member, probably knows javascript
  10. Go club member, probably knows C++
  11. Kernel hacker
[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

As someone who wrote not only one, but two kernels, can I claim an 11?

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 3 points 1 hour ago

Only if you make something like TempleOS.

kernel

kernel

kernel

11s hate this one simple trick !

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

My technology skill makes me satisfied that your scale starts at zero, but annoyed it didn't end with nine.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 1 hour ago

Like a 7 or 8 maybe?

[–] Libb@piefed.social 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

11 - I avoid it as much as I can ;)

More seriously, I will often be the one people around ask for help but it doesn't change that I also learned to absolutely distrust tech.

All tech, be it corporate-owned as well as free/Libre... I'm using Linux and have no issue (I like it) but I'm also terrified by the many 'social code of conducts' that have been popping out in many communities. Not necessarily because I disagree with their core values, that would not even matter much, but because it's stating a precedent to allow a group to remove any user they don't like/disagree with the right to use a tech... and that power will be used even when not 'the good guys' will be in charge.

Hence me slowly falling back to analog as much as possible...

Edit: typos, clarifications

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

I used to be really good. In the last 15 years or so the industry has insisted on making the interface would be worse and worse. NowI’m damn near helpless. I google more stuff than you can imagine. It’s fucking stupid. I don’t even enjoy most technology anymore.

[–] 0x30507DE@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago

My thing is C++ and Z80/45GS02 assembly, and I love a good terminal, so wherever that puts me I guess

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 hours ago

Operating stuff with GUI? Maybe 5/10, just ok.

Operating stuff using command? 0/10 i suck.

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 14 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

how the fuck do you "bug" the internal speakers while attempting to pirate a game? that's like saying you broke the sink while trying to change a light bulb.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 8 minutes ago

Dependency... magic. Currently I am having to wait for Firefox not loading websites due to a slower DVD drive I am uploading from to cloud in another tab.
Maybe some internal QoS thingy where it thinks the network connection is slow.

And recently I had issues with laptop taking a very long time to resume from sleep or turning screen back on due to iio-sensor-proxy, a program responsible for... at least determining physical screen orientation.

[–] Rednax@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Welcome to linux!

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Idk, its actually a common problem according to SteamDeck users on reddit, so like its not just me. Must've accidentally messed with a setting.

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

EDIT: sorry, that was mean and uncalled for, but I'll leave it here for people to downvote if they want.

trying to fix things... bugged the internal speakers

sounds to me like the problem is located somewhere between the user and the trackpads.

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 hours ago

Learning drive 5. Using once learned 8

[–] cloudless@piefed.social 11 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

Whatever score you give to youself, will be a demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

[–] mienshao@lemmy.world 12 points 4 hours ago

I think the opposite—seems like many of you on Lemmy don’t realize how bad the general population is with technology and are selling yourselves short. Even knowing what linux is puts you at a 6/10 imo, especially when compared to most folks (half of whom don’t know how gmail works).

Like the fact that we’re on Lemmy—a site that most americans probably couldn’t access if they tried—shows we’re all at least a 5/10 on the technology scale.

[–] Rambomst@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

So what you are saying is my estimate of 8/10 is too low, right? Right.....?

[–] cloudless@piefed.social 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Rambomst@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

I laughed way too hard at this

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Can confirm: I rate myself a 7/10. I know a lot about a few things and a moderate amount about many more, but there’s always more to learn…

[–] cloudless@piefed.social 4 points 4 hours ago

The tech field is so vast, most people can't even list the industries within tech, let alone being competent in just a small part of it.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Scale is always a problem with questions like this. If these are percentiles of the general population, then I'm easily 10 and even trying to dig deep enough into Linux to break a Steam Deck puts you near the upper end of the scale.

If on the other hand, 0 is an otherwise intelligent adult who refuses to have anything to do with anything having a screen and 10 is Lovelace, Turing, von Neumann, etc... then I might be a 7 or 8.

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago

There is not one single technology to be good or bad at. You can be an Android development ace, a Windows gamer and a Linux user all at the same time, and naturally you will struggle if you switch to Windows dev and Linux gamer.

Being tech savy really just means that you know and recognize tons of patterns that pop up everywhere (e.g. drag-n-drop, config files in certain places with overrides in other places etc.)

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Depends on how you are using your scale.

  1. One way is to quantify how much knowledge do you have right now. This might be average or low or whatever. This doesnt matter at all.

  2. The better way is to think about your willingness to learn and try with confidence. This is what you should actually put on a scale.

My existing knowledge is better than average. I've spent the last 2 years learning to put together some hardware (NAS/server, custom keyboard from scratch, hitbox videogame controller) and using more software (Linux basics, Docker and server basics, emulators, etc). I'm still probably way behind the tech professionals who are on Lemmy, but I would say my willingness to learn and try is very very high and that's more than enough for an enthusiast and hobbyist.

Also worth considering benchmarking against the general population rather than Lemmy's tech community. The general public mostly hasn't even heard of the Steam Deck or Linux, and certainly can't manage anything beyond pressing the install button in an app store. Compared the the general public, my wife thinks I'm a literal wizard for having an email address with my own domain and being able to access a remote desktop.

[–] bacon_pdp@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

Between 0.4 and 0.6 but the best humans score between 1.2 and 1.8; we are all pretty shit at technology.

If you don’t believe me, ask technical lithography questions to software programmers and economic questions to plumbers.

We are swimming in a sea of technologies and don’t even know how deep the water around us is.

Fuck the technological complexity in a single screw is massive.

[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I "hacked" my wii to get free games one time does that count? other than that I can operate most devices but I have no idea how to code and don't have time to learn. I'd put myself at a 6/10.

[–] Rambomst@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

8/10 maybe more, maybe less. Software developer, don't really have issues with tech, but put me in front of a quantum computer and I sure as shit would be lost, but fine with consumer products.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 2 points 1 hour ago

Same just about.

Like I know some truely brilliant people. I'm just happy riding the coattails.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 hours ago

It all depends on the day lol.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

Decimal or binary? I'd say a two.

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Compared to people who work on cryptography and AI magic? Like 2/10. Compared to Boomers? 9/10.

[–] Botzo@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The number of computer scientists I've known that couldn't set up a VPN, or alter a firewall rule, or change the layout on a web page slightly, or set their out of office replies...

Basically the experience I've had is that those people you imagine are gods of tech are frequently terrible at tech beyond their very narrow niche.

But boomers, yeah. Even my mom who was a programmer and mostly stayed current on tech. But when Facebook stopped using a chronological news feed, she couldn't handle it.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I have an English Master's and my wife has a PhD in Comp Sci. Guess who sets up all the techie stuff. That'll be meeeee.

PS fuck Facebook's feed. I found out about a friend's death 2 weeks after she died (her parents couldn't get at her address book so they posted with her account on Facebook instead). I had to tell her other friends because NOBODY had seen the post.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 3 hours ago

What's a 10?

[–] missingno@fedia.io 1 points 3 hours ago

Hard to put this on an absolute scale with no frame of reference, but maybe like 7-8? I've got a CS degree and I run Linux at home. I know enough to know how much I don't know, but I know how to Google the things I don't know and figure it out. Which is the skill that really matters, right?

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 1 points 3 hours ago

i3. I know how to confidently issue commands to search and then confidently type it in my computer.

yup, the 'i' means imaginary.

I can pirate games, movies and books, can use SciHub to download articles behind paywalls, and have installed ReVanced on my phone. 🤷

[–] dulcisima@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

6-7. I’ll consider 5 the average user, since there’s no ranking criteria given.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip -4 points 4 hours ago

I am a 10/10. With tech you know it or you don’t.

Once you know it, the shit is routine… If you don’t know it, it is impossible.

Also 9.999/10 whatever issue you are having with that tech is some other process that is shitting the bed.