The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think
www.nngroup.com
Across 33 rich countries, only 5% of the population has high computer-related abilities, and only a third of people can complete medium-complexity tasks.

via Michiel

Friends of my generation who weren’t in families with a computer they could play around on have ended up far less comfortable with tech. I would love to see data like this broken out by class background.

I suspect companies have historically been overvalued based on what a techie user could get out of them rather than their intended user. Does this happen with phone apps too?

Are there modes of instruction that help people advance in these skills? They seem like they ought to have a lot of impact, and yet I don’t think I see training around me.

How does good/bad UI design impact this?

    • MayaOP
      1·
      4 years ago

      I mean, if making user interfaces simpler really could allow such a large portion of people to realize the productivity gains of such basic computer skills, I’d be all for it. Really I think it shows that there’s so much of a disconnect between software’s designers and intended users that we need a lot more research into why it is that people aren’t managing this stuff.