Why Today’s Kids Aren’t As “Tech-Literate” As Many Believe

Here’s why today’s kids may not be as tech-literate as many studies and parents believe

Today’s kids may have grown up around technology, but they didn’t exactly learn how to use it beyond its purpose. Apps have step-by-step instructions. Video games have compasses and map markers. YouTube has become the ultimate instruction manual for all things lifestyle—including adulting. With that, it’s no surprise that many of the older generation (e.g., Gen X and the Baby Boomer Generation) and Gen Alpha and Beta still rely on the generations between: Generation Y (the millennials) and Gen Z (the early digital natives), who are probably more tech-literate than any other generation.

Millennials: The Digital Pioneers

Everyone hails Gen Z as being the digital natives, but let’s be honest: the gadgets of today have more “polished” systems. And who’s the generation that had to deal with the clunky, less user-friendly versions? It’s the millennials!

It’s what earned millennials the title of “digital pioneers.” As a millennial myself, many of those in my generation witnessed technology’s evolution. We had to deal with these back in the day:

• No Grab or online delivery apps; we memorized pizza or fast-food hotline delivery phone numbers.
• Phones had cords, and some still had rotary dials.
• The first mobile phone was heavy enough to smack somebody. That was the Motorola phone.
• Beepers and call center operators were still a thing.
• If we wanted to replay a song, we had to either hit the rewind button or use a pencil to turn the cassette. CDs became a godsend because now we can just press the “skip” button that goes back to the start of the song or to the next song.

And don’t get me started on how many of us cried and threw a tantrum every time someone called the house because the dial-up internet would get cut while we were downloading something. Back in the day, a 5 MB picture could take an hour to download. That was around PHP10 off those ISP cards, worth around PHP100 for 10 hours.

So, where did they see the evolution?

Only one place showed millennials how technology evolved: media and the gadgets used to consume them. We’re not just talking about the plot and the settings. Even the assets were a demonstration of how technology began to evolve:

• Movies: Star Wars, Zoids, Star Trek, Gundam series, Mazinger Z, Battlestar Galactica, and many others showed just how far the human imagination could push technology. Sure, half the aforementioned series showcased violence and war crimes. But we were more mesmerized by the robots flying around and holograms cooking our favorite food in seconds. It was like magic; only a few looked at the story and genuinely followed the kind of war crimes committed by the show. Parents of today will probably gasp in horror, whereas the parents of back then can only look back and realize that their kid (who is probably a parent or adult now) watched war crimes as their merienda-time show while feasting on their favorite snacks.
• Video Games: This was the “battlefield” of technology. In the name of showcasing how far tech could match reality, companies popped out games with all sorts of mechanics. Simulated card games, being able to dive under the sea, running away from or beating big, angry monsters—video games back in the day competed based on how many mechanics they could squeeze into a 700 MB disc. It’s why some franchises like Final Fantasy became so popular despite needing four discs to play the complete game.
• Consoles and Gadgets: Game developers created specific consoles for that. Sony had the PlayStation. Nintendo countered with the Game Boy. SEGA had Dreamcast.
• Music: Back in the day, it was either buy the cassette or the CD. Windows Media Player and Winamp eventually opened the door to more “digital” music players.

Millennials dealt with technology on Do-It-or-Die mode. Walkthroughs, instructions, manuals—what’s that? We often broke it to find out what tech could or could not do.

This is probably why more than half the millennial generation have a trauma of “breaking objects.” When their parents would see it, they would freak out because four questions would be running in their heads: “What the hell did you do?”, “How the f*** did you do that?”, “Why the hell would you do that?”, and “How the f*** do I fix that?”

While parents back in the day had parenting books by the shelves and droves, they might have preferred a manual on gadgets more. Or maybe a simple guide that reads, “What To Do If Your Child Breaks A Gadget.”

Generation Z: The Digital Natives

Because millennials “tested” the boundaries of technology, Generation Z—otherwise known as the Net Generation or the Digital Natives—benefited from the experiments and the results. It’s why many often say that Generation Z is the most “tech-literate” among the generations (Combes, 2021; Giray, 2022; Rachmad, 2025).

After millennials broke one too many gadgets, software, and hardware giants decided to focus more on user-friendliness. How else would they profit? The ones with the buying power at the time were the ones who didn’t grow up with the technology. So, they started making more “intuitive” systems. ReadMe.Txt files came with most programs. Manuals were often found in the box with diagrams.

But not all those from the older generation liked to read those. They often just threw it at their millennial kids to figure it out, anyway.

So who found the manuals? The Gen Z. They had access to all the instructional manuals and more “polished” systems when tech giants were simply fed up with all the millennials breaking their gadgets and programs.

While it prevented gadgets from breaking, it also limited what they could do with them. Instruction manuals often tell people what to do, not what they can do. Anything not within the manual usually meant it would “break” or “not work.” And considering inflation, nobody wanted to break a gadget over a curious hypothesis.

Gen Z: Living in a Sci-Fi movie

In a way, Gen Z is living in what many of the older generations would call a “sci-fi” movie. Everything’s online. Banking, ordering food, shopping, gaming, and even talking to people—to them and the generations after them, technology was a natural part of their environment. They didn’t have to go through the nitty-gritty and the whole “Oooh, what does this button do?” phase.

In video game terms, they skipped Life and Technology’s “tutorial stage” — the one stage they mess up and had to figure out for themselves what to do. The millennials did that part for them.

It’s why some studies will show that while Gen Z know how to use technology, millennials are more confident in doing so (Euajarusphan, 2021). Of course, some Gen Z may be more tech adept than their millennial older siblings or parents. But that doesn’t mean the millennials don’t have the foundation to learn it.

So, how can parents make their kids more tech-literate?

While many of us love how technology has made life easier, we forget how the hard things that happen are what make us learn. We don’t mean throwing them into war, but just giving them enough discomfort that they have to learn a few things. Here are some ways:

1. Don’t buy them new gadgets right away.

It’s easy to get budol-ed into buying the latest gadgets, but let’s be honest: brands are just adding a few extra thousand pesos for an extra megapixel on a camera or RAM. That’s not exactly life-changing. The only time they’ll probably need a new gadget is if the online banking app they’re using no longer works with their old phone, because the bank has upgraded the app without considering the implications.

Instead, be smart about it. Best questions to ask them to check if their gadgets are breaking:

• Is it making a sound it shouldn’t be making? (e.g., crunching, grinding, hissing, etc.)
• For phones: can it spin on a table? That would mean the lithium battery is bloated, and it’ll go boom.
• Does your gadget get so hot it can cook an egg or bake a cookie?
• Does it hang and die within minutes? Even after charging?

If they say no or “not so often,” then don’t get them a new one.

2. Don’t sync all your gadgets.

Syncing and linking gadgets is for the sake of convenience. Nobody likes having to type their PIN over and over again just to pay for something online.

But that’s why we sometimes end up spending so much and losing some life skills. Because money can be transferred online now, we’ve neglected to train other skills. Online delivery apps like Grab may be able to link with GCash, Maya, or your bank of choice, but that’s why a lot of the kids of today don’t know how to cook or work a simple cooking gadget.

Worse, they don’t know how to use a phone to call up a restaurant for a simple pick up.

3. Don’t troubleshoot for them.

Will they whine if we don’t? Yes. Will they whine if we do? Yes. Either way, they will find something to whine about if the gadget starts doing something that’s not in the manual.

Unless the gadget is shrieking like a nuclear plant alarm or has set itself on fire, then they can probably figure it out for themselves.

4. Introduce the classic games to them.

We’re not talking classic-looking games. We’re talking old school, like games made in the 90s. A lot of those don’t have guides, so they’re forced to figure out how to win. It makes them think while keeping them safe from any life-threatening harm.

The only problem we may have is finding an emulator or a device that can still play those games.

Tech Literacy is not just knowing how to use the tech

Kids of today may know how to use the technology, but to manipulate it is a different story. They rarely go outside the box or think critically because we’re always following instructions. Sure, doing so does save a few bucks and junk on destroyed gadgets. But, sometimes, the mental pay-off is a lot better: they develop a new skill—troubleshooting. Something that nobody, not even workplaces or schools, will be willing to teach them unless they know what to ask and how to describe the problem.

So until kids actually know how to use tech safely in the ways that aren’t in the manuals, they’re still ways to go from being tech-literate.

References

Combes, B. (2021, February). Techno Savvy and All-knowing or Techno-oriented?: Information-seeking Behaviour and the Net Generation?. In IASL Annual Conference Proceedings.

Euajarusphan, A. (2021). Online social media usage behavior, attitude, satisfaction, and online social media literacy of Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. Asian Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Review, 10(2), 44-58.

Giray, L. (2022). Meet the centennials: Understanding the generation Z students. International Journal of Sociologies and Anthropologies Science Reviews, 2(4), 9-18.

Rachmad, Y. E. (2025). The Future of Gen Z Careers: Competence and Certification Replacing Degrees. United Nations Development Programme.

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