The Home Computer Generation
The flip-side of this decay in the richness of the experience is that things are more idiot-proofed for mass consumption.<p>I believe that's the driving factor behind grandparents saying "kids these days are so good with the computers" etc. Older generations grew up with machines that you could actually ruin unless you read the manual, leading to hesitancy and trepidation with the new stuff. (Which often eschews documentation entirely.)<p>In contrast, younger generations are more likely to assume (often correctly) that they are free to try randomly poking icons and twiddling dials until something looks promising. Seen from the outside--especially by that older generation--this confidence can be mistaken as expertise.<p>(This is similar to how some people will consider you a magician if you open up a command-line prompt.)