Actually, if you step back from your personal issues and look at what he actually said, he is using it correctly.
I think that limited in academic progress with respect to computers is exactly what he was indicating.
Do remember that many times words have more than just the commonly used definition.
Yep, this is pretty much what I was going to post. Saved me the trouble. 
mmm
I too find it hard to understand how a 20 year old would not have pretty decent computer skills. Shit, my now 22 year old was teaching me how to use the internet and stuff when he was just 7 or 8 years old (the other kids were older and even more computer literate, but came to the conclusion I was unteachable 
) Kids in Australia are introduced to computers and IT technology in prep class when they’re five, so a 20 year old without a comprehensive understanding of computers would be considered a freak in our community.
My only guess is that your college student might have come from a religious background that doesn’t embrace a lot of modern technology, or might have been home-schooled by parents who wanted to shelter their child from the evils of the modern world. IOW, probably no television, radio OR computers.
So, it might be in your best interests to desist from belittling for her ignorance, and perhaps guide her towards a Computers: 101 course to help her get the best from her future education.
Or, she might be feigning stupidity 'cos she wants to get in your pants.
You pick
What? For one, nerdiness is much more accepted among teenagers than it was just five years ago.
For two, computers stopped being nerdy the second every kid in the world joined Facebook. Every kid might not be “computer literate” in the strictest sense, but not a one of them is going to look down their nose on someone who is, because knowing how to use a computer is important.
I had the same reaction to your thread title. The word is a slur against disabled people and it’s not “hypersensitive” to identify it as such.
These days, I am surprised about 20-year-olds who don’t understand computers, at least not being able to describe what they click on to get onto the Internet. And I can see the “it’s not a Mac, so it must be a PC” reasoning - Macs are very distinct-looking, while PCs are so different from each other in outward appearance. The only thing I could think of would be someone who grew up rather poor and went to schools that didn’t have good computers/didn’t really get Internet time.
I had a coworker several years ago who decided she didn’t like how “cluttered” all of those folders on her computer were, so she planned to make some new folders and move into them all those files that didn’t seem like they were something she used. You know, stuff like operating system files. Fortunately, she told me of her plan before she actually started moving files, so I was able to convince her that this wasn’t a good idea.
I didn’t have the same reaction to the thread title, and as I also know someone who knows someone who has a child with a mental disability, my post out-trumps yours.
OK, if this thread is going to degenerate into a PC* vs Non PC battle, then the use of the word RETARDED is indeed a non PC word. It’s used in a derogatory fashion to denigrate people who are intellectually disabled, and the word ‘retarded’ has been verboten for many years now in Australia at least.
I personally** HATE** the word retarded because it harkens back to the olden days when kids who had a disability were herded into the ‘Retard Homes’ and rode the ‘Retard Bus’ to school. Those were frigging obnoxious times, and I’m glad we have grown up since then
*Politically Correct, not Personal Computer. 
Yes, well there are probably more retards to be offended in Aussie.
ps. Obviously not per sq mile, as no fucker wants to live in the vast majority of your country, apart from roos and dingos.
We call them sq km here. Who’s the retarded one now then, eh?
Touché, you douche. 
As computers become more sophisticated and ubiquitous, I’m wondering if computer literacy is actually declining. Kids used to build their own radios out of little more than cardboard tubes and copper wire, but damned if I’ve looked inside a radio in the last few decades. I just push the right buttons. Computers may be comparable.
[WARNING: Enormous time-suck!]
Computer Stupidities
[/WARNING]
The OP might be ripe for a pitting.
EXACTLY.
A typical male teen or twenty-something in the 50s & 60s tinkered with cars. A male teen now knows how to put gas in one. And probably can’t check the oil, much less change it. Cars have become balck boxes for most people for most purposes.
Somebody (of any age) who was avidly using computers in the 90s had to learn an awful lot about what’s behind the browser.
Somebody who started using computers in the last 5 years doesn’t need that. And siunce most youngsters have been seeing a computer as an entertainment device, not a productivity tool, the focus has been on the entertainment, the result. Not the process. Knowing how to click a favorite to go to google or youtube or facebook is not computer literacy. it’s computer illiteracy. But its enough to get a lot of folks up to college freshman status.
For a typical 21st century consumer product, computers (even Macs) require a lot more care and feeding than any other device folks own. And that’s a bad thing.
The majority of people would be happier with something like a giant iPhone. All locked down guaranteed safe apps, simple single-mode UI, no user serviceable parts in the hardware or the software.
Using a computer productively in an business or academic setting is a very different thing. You wouldn’t expect to hire a factory worker who just picked up operating stamping presses in his/her spare time. The same thing is/ought to be true for computer use for productive purposes.
Bottom line: 20 years of browsing does not produce Excel gurus. Nor should anyone expect it to.
Hey, I’ve made a discussion thread for the word “retarded”. Feel free to discuss your opinions there. It’s in IMHO, not the Pit, though.
Is it ever acceptable to use the term “retarded” when referring to a dumb person?
What I wish people would understand is that being ignorant about the technology they are using makes them vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Case in point: I have a friend that recently messaged me in a panic because he was trying to get data from a GPS device, and he got an error indicating that he needed to install the correct driver for the device. He did not understand this message, mostly because he doesn’t know the difference between a driver and a device, and he doesn’t know what USB means, so he was searching the Web for a special USB driver cable or something. I tried to explain to him that all he needed to do was to go to the Garmin website, download the correct driver, and he’d be good to go, but he just couldn’t quite figure this out, and since he’s geographically distant from me, I couldn’t just go do it for him, either. He finally signed off, and later told me that he had gone to a local computer shop where a helpful guy had sold him the correct cable that he needed and “cleaned up his computer for him” for the low, low rate of $30. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he just got charged $30 for a $2 cable and a free driver installation.
One of the things I am running into where I work is people who need technology in order to maintain their non-technology jobs—e.g., someone who went into nursing to satisfy a desire to take care of people and now has to use a computer to enter and keep medical records. This is someone who never wanted to use a computer, who now has to. The number of people in this situation is surprising and having to start all the way back at “‘point and click with your mouse’ does not mean that you pick the mouse up and point it at something” poses some real instructional challenges.
That seems to be the case with my wife - don’t get me wrong, I love her to pieces, but when we first met I was a card-carrying nerd and had been using computers for 20 years by that point (starting on a TRS-80). She had very limited, if any, exposure to computers. She sure didn’t have one at home, she didn’t have email access. She was also in her 30s by that point. Even though we do have a computer at the house now, she doesn’t use it that much, just for her job searching, resume writing, and email basically. She needed my help the other day to move her cover letter from her old resume to her new one (copy cover letter, insert page break on new resume, paste, touch up formatting, done!) took her quite a long time before she asked me. My email program (Pegasus) is a bit antiquated, but the main reason I’m loathe to change (probably to Thunderbird mail, as FF is my main browser and I like it) is because I’d have to teach my wife all over again how to use email. (For some reason, even though I mainly use FF, she mainly uses IE, which makes me grind my teeth every time I see her using it.)