It’s funny labeling this as designers versus boomers/idiots. I’ve never met anyone under the age of 50 who has a serious job who would get totally dumbfounded by how computers work like this.
i dont think its age, people of all ages have no mental model at all about how computers work, they just "never thought about it". I'd be interested in the result of a survey conducted in person on paper wherever the old and the young can be found together.