Culture Gen Z struggling to use “old” office equipment like copy machines, printers, and scanners

From ancient printers to stubborn scanners, office machines are giving gen Z serious tech shame

Scanners, printers and photocopying machines are confusing the touch-screen generation, as they come face to face with archaic offices.

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Gen Zers like myself are finally entering the workforce. And while we’ve all quickly adapted to the office’s specific brand of oat milk, and the best bike route, what our generation of chronically-online, social media-savvy employees weren’t accounting for, is all of the ghastly and archaic technology left over from the 90s and early 00s.

I’m of course talking about machines like the daunting and imposing photocopier, or the printer that sits neglected, making whirring noises as though it’s threatening to explode every time someone reaches for the ‘on’ button.

Moving away from the safety and comfort of a Google Docs link or an AirDrop is a genuinely scary step to take when approaching your new office job. And apparently, this is a genuine symptom of a generation that has been praised as ‘tech-savvy’ and ‘digitally native’ their whole lives. Sure, content creators like Corporate Natalie help the transition, but it’s not always a smooth ride.


Garrett Bemiller, a 25-year-old New Yorker who works as a publicist, told The Guardian that “things like scanners and copy machines are complicated,” and shared that the first time he had to copy something in the office, he found himself having to reattempt several times. Luckily, veteran office workers quickly came to his aid.

Sarah Dexter, associate professor of education at the University of Virginia, told the publication that “there is a myth that kids were born into an information age, and that this all comes intuitively to them.” In reality, we’re not the all-knowing tech gods that so many millennials and gen Xers expect us to be—we still need to be taught how to use things.

The main difference is that we were brought up in an age of extreme user-friendly tech. There is a certain degree of intuitiveness that comes from being so familiar with the internet and apps, but this doesn’t always translate to a long stagnant office culture dynamic—one that seems to so often be living in the past.

Desktop computing is far less instinctive than the mobile, social world that gen Zers roam. It’s true that loud office computers and dense file systems are daunting for the information age.

This one is somewhat embarrassing, but a lot of us don’t seem to understand buttons either. You can’t swipe this computer screen open, as one Reddit user had to make evidently clear with the implementation of a sticker to point out the ‘on’ switch on-screen:

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The struggle to adapt to the office environment was given a name by tech giant HP in a survey from November 2022. Dubbed ‘Tech Shame’ by the company, the research found that young people were far more likely to experience embarrassment over tech illiteracy or even a dodgy Wi-Fi connection than their more mature peers.

Debbie Irish, HP’s head of human resources in the UK and Ireland told WorkLife that the amount of shame younger colleagues experience may be a result of things like a lack of disposable income to afford better hardware and internet, versus older more seasoned employees, who are more likely to have higher wages. This divide between the old and the new may be why quiet quitting was such a prevalent trend in 2022.

Hybrid working is part of the problem, and needless to say, our time out of the office as a result of the global pandemic (remember that?) have made office tech seem even more alien to us.

Accessibility is taken for granted today thanks to the apps we find ourselves trapped in. Max Simon, corporate life content creator, told The Guardian that “it takes five seconds to learn how to use TikTok, you don’t need an instruction book, like you would with a printer.”

There is a clear divide between our paperless tech literacy and the physical machines we may encounter in our office jobs. We’ve been made shy because of the emphasis that is placed on us as tech-savvy, when in reality, we just know how to use google to solve our problems. It won’t be long before AI has us all out of the door anyway.

 

[Ikea Shelf]

Debbie Irish, HP’s head of human resources in the UK and Ireland told WorkLife that the amount of shame younger colleagues experience may be a result of things like a lack of disposable income to afford better hardware and internet, versus older more seasoned employees, who are more likely to have higher wages.

Debbie can fuck right off. The amount of money I see younger people spend on tech is ridiculous. And when the latest, greatest doesn't work perfectly out of the box, they get rid of it. Most of the time they don't even return it. Older people aren't spending more. They take care of the things they buy and if there is an issue with it, they spend more than 12 seconds trying to get it to work. They also happily will take the "worthless" things that younger people dispose of.

 

[retard strength]

I believe articles like this are written as millenial/genx/boomer clickbait, for morale boost and smugness and also any chance to fart on those darn dummybaka gen zoomies. They're at it again with the hot chips and broccoli hair and their drip no drip fr!

But I do work with some and there is definitely a gap. A few are tech literate and some can learn to be quickly enough. One has an IT dad and is great at everything. Where people shit on them is likely along the lines of the main problem I run into with them. How many just flop around helplessly without actually trying to use any of the equipment first when facing any kind of technical problem. No problem solving procedure or plan, no internet search even. I can't explain it very well, sorry, but it's bizare to me. Like they get all deer-in-headlights as if I'm pillstreaming behind the wheel 110 mph towards them as they stutter? out? a question? "Uhmmmmhhm uhhhwaauhhh I need to scan, uh can I scan? How can I scan? I mean what do I do, what is an electric stapler, how can I scan with the staple?? No How do I use the stapler? can I hole punch? after the staple or before? ahhhh Nnnn god I'm so anxious please god strike me down I want to die, fuck"

Old (old) people just like "I can't log in, I can't reset my password, what is a web browser, I can't find a search bar, I can't get to the right website, my email used to just be right here, it's gone. what's my email, I don't know it used to be here, I don't know what a screen name is like my Facebook login or my email? I don't know either" then turn around and oops whole 900 malware downloaded

 

[Snekposter]

Yes they do. You just don't realize how addictive angrily screaming at printers is.

Feels almost as good as finally getting it working right.

gen z is not what id called tech savvy
tech dependent? sure.
tech savvy? absolutely fucking not.

Yeeeeep. One of the most horrifying things I read was an article about how people going into STEM don't even know what folder hierarchies are thanks to their smartphones just having things pop up out of thin air at the touch of a button.

Debbie can fuck right off. The amount of money I see younger people spend on tech is ridiculous. And when the latest, greatest doesn't work perfectly out of the box, they get rid of it. Most of the time they don't even return it. Older people aren't spending more. They take care of the things they buy and if there is an issue with it, they spend more than 12 seconds trying to get it to work. They also happily will take the "worthless" things that younger people dispose of.

Damn straight.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Winner. They possess absolutely zero problem skills. I won't power level too hard, but anecdotally I've noticed the COVID school year they spent online made the problem exponentially worse.

I've seen it happen with idiot students that couldn't do things like solve for the vertical intercept of a straight line. They didn't lack the math skills, they just shut down immediately and start whining to be walked step-by-step through it, no willingness to try to figure something out.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

the amount of shame younger colleagues experience may be a result of things like a lack of disposable income to afford better hardware and internet, versus older more seasoned employees, who are more likely to have higher wages.

It's not shame, it's jealousy.

They're pissed that the guy whose spent 20 years in the company makes more than their ass, whose worked there 2 weeks and half the time they're on break.

I've seen that shit all the time.

Of course, I've also seen a coworker break down in tears because the copy machine refused to do anything.

On account of the OUT OF ORDER sign on it.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

I've noticed the COVID school year they spent online made the problem exponentially worse.

COVID has done this to everyone who wasn't very very self sufficient, the number of people who seem blatantly incapable of doing anything for themselves has increased even with older people.

 

[Bakarina]

I occasionally have to help one of my coworkers with the copy machine. He fried a bunch of brain cells via drugs in his younger years and he was a tradesmen for a few decades prior to the current job, I find it helpful for when I need assistance later on down the line.

Old (old) people just like "I can't log in, I can't reset my password, what is a web browser, I can't find a search bar, I can't get to the right website, my email used to just be right here, it's gone. what's my email, I don't know it used to be here, I don't know what a screen name is like my Facebook login or my email? I don't know either" then turn around and oops whole 900 malware downloaded

You've clearly met my grandfather. What's sad is he was responsible for building and maintaining some of the very first computers ever in existence. Now he let's himself be robbed blind by geek squad after my husband spends hours cleaning up his PC and making it more user friendly.

 

[JosephStalin]

Amazing. Reminds me of starting in the acquisition management job over 35 years ago. I knew little about computers and nothing about acquisition management, but with help was able to manage the acquisition of nine figures in large-scale computer-based training systems. Just put in the effort, asked questions, listened and learned. Tells me a zoomer going into this type of job wouldn't make much of an effort and would be fired. Sure am glad to be retired because would have no patience with some idiot who couldn't even work a printer.

 

[Biggie Smalls' Taint]

Zoomers wouldn't know what to do with tech even if you explained it to them because they're all ESL. Haven't met an under 25 who didn't sound like the taco bell dog or could say anything with more than one syllable at a time. I even tried using my 2 years of highschool spanish with them, but it turns out that they don't even speak spanish! It baffles me to no end.

"Yo, bruh, da printur, bruh. It laik, don work, cuh. Laik, it make noises but laik, the screen laik, give me an error? Like, I don't know- like, bruh... this shi don't- shi don' work, man."

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

I've never understood where the assumption that growing up with electronics will somehow make people electronic savvy. We don't extend that assumption to people knowing how their cars work because they rely on them to drive everywhere, how many people even know how to change their own oil and filter these days. Or homeowners who know how to do home maintenance more complex than surface level cleaning.

These kids grew up using devices designed to minimize mental effort and direct you through exceedingly finely tuned 'guided paths' of user experiences, like infinite swipe feeds. If the application needs an update, it just does it itself. If the phone needs an update, it just does it itself. If you touch the screen, the device automagically wakes up, identifies you, logs you in via facematch, opens your last application, and pushes your last three messages to the top of the screen with quick reply features. You did nothing, the device does everything.

Now compare that to office technology, designed generally to be minimally assumptive and maximally flexible (At minimal cost, so usually in the most brute force, buttons and options way) - so it will avoid doing fucking anything unless explicitly interacted with in a specific way, and will do that reliably with minimal contextual assumptions every time to avoid guessing wrong. If your phone makes a bad guided path guess, you maybe took an awkward selfie by mistake. If your printer takes a bad guided path guess, and prints more copies than you need, that just wasted money and time. So the burden is on you to learn to operate it, exactly as it expects to be treated.

Office tech (and work) requires and expects you to be the brain, and they know fuck and all about how to learn what it expects. Software is getting a bit better at this, but hardware has reason for being how it is. Besides, anything with a print head is automatically cursed and should never be questioned or challenged, lest you get toner bombed by the vile spirits.

 

[Gorillion others]

Frankly I think Gen Z is just retarded when it comes to technology. As as someone from the ass end millenial generation (1996), I still have pretty decent tech skills and remember how to use tech from office settings and the mid 2000s. They aren't that complicated, but melting your brain with smartphones must suck.

Especially really old printers. The kind phased out twenty years ago. Damn, I'm old.

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

I can't tell you how many times I've had zoomers ask me where to print things from instead of having the instinct to log onto the nearest computer and print the documents from there. It's absurd the lack of thought there.

 

[DamnWolves!]

Debbie Irish, HP’s head of human resources in the UK and Ireland told WorkLife that the amount of shame younger colleagues experience may be a result of things like a lack of disposable income to afford better hardware and internet, versus older more seasoned employees, who are more likely to have higher wages. This divide between the old and the new may be why quiet quitting was such a prevalent trend in 2022.

How do these """experts""" still have jobs? I know hobos with internet access; I'm pretty sure that if some kid doesn't know how a monitor turns on, it's because he's only ever used a laptop; not because he can't afford basic technology lmao

Secondly, "quiet quitting" was a trend in 2022 because people were getting complacent with work from home, which is why everyone got dragged into the office, where "quiet quitting" turns into "actually fired" much faster than it does in a WFH environment.

If you want to make lots of money as a young person, learn to code. For everyone else, you'll have to put in your time, just like your "older colleagues" did.

I dunno how to operate a fax either, but I can learn after one or two fuckups.

It's a photocopier that teleports your copy to another machine specified by a phone number. Put your document in the top, dial the number, and press "fax".

 

[robobobo]

I've done tech work and had kids show up with computers every bit as fucked as grandma's. Just because someone uses various apps or websites on the regular doesn't magically impart knowledge about how things actually work.

 

[GunCar Gary]

there’s a bell curve of people who know how computers work that peaks somewhere in the 2000s. if you’re too old or too young you only know how to press enough buttons to access porn and social media. low level computer tech is fading back into the realm of autistic nerds

 

[870EVO]

So what made young people computer savy in the past. Was it writing out basic computer games on the c64?

Unironically, kinda. I grew up using pulse dialling rotary phones, VHS and Beta tapes, Audio Cassettes, Vinyl, Spectrum ZX, C64, MS-DOS, Windows 3.11, 5 1/4 inch floppy disks. Cartridges. And as you got older, you had to learn to use CD's DVDs, Windows 95, MacOS, Wireless Remotes, Analogue to Digital TV and Radio, Mobile phones etc etc

 

[stupid orc]

Garrett Bemiller, a 25-year-old New Yorker who works as a publicist, told The Guardianthat “things like scanners and copy machines are complicated,”

these are the people earning more in a year then I earn in 5. why because they went to the right schools? because he has the right politics? because he’s better with people? fucking bullshit, everyone who works in an office deserves the coming economic crisis.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

these are the people earning more in a year then I earn in 5. why because they went to the right schools? because he has the right politics? because he’s better with people? fucking bullshit, everyone who works in an office deserves the coming economic crisis.

What I was thinking is how did these people even get the job? Seems like it would come up in an interview or would be listed in skills sets, or something. 100% these are upper-middle class kids with connections or got in through diversity means, possibly both.

 

[Tanuki Mixed Nuts]

These things aren't hard to understand, but at the same time, modern printers/scanners/copiers are legitimately designed to be the most obnoxious thing to set up in the world. Every single time I try to use one that isn't something I've used with my device before, it takes 20 minutes of messing with drivers and the wifi connection, to then just used the wired connection or give up and use some computer that's confirmed to work with the stupid thing.

I remember when you could just plug in a printer, tell your computer to print something, and it'd work.

 

[Kheapathic]

We need a term that means something like; "Can do basic bitch shit on tech devices, but doesn't actually know how to do shit with them."