Does it feel like the fediverse is exclusively used by older tech nerds?
The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:
~30 years old or older
tech enthusiasts/workers
linux users
There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.
I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?
I would say lemmings age are 25 to 45. People in this range are, in my experience, the most technologically educated.
Gen Z is somehow terrible with anything outside basic android/ios.
I saw an old friend post a few years ago asking if anyone else's students didn't know what file directories were. And I don't mean freshman in a general class. This was a summer interns in a hard science. The responses to the post were essentially "yeah they only know how to search for files."
I really started using computers for more than gaming with windows 95, and it wasn't until college when I switched to Linux that I got serious about file directory hygiene, but even in those win95 days I knew where everything was on my computer. I fundamentally don't understand how you can use computers without understanding that.
A lot of students use phones and chromeOS, both of which obfuscate file system. Remember majority of gen z are still in college or school.
And even after you graduate - how many job’s actually require you to interact with the FS? In my company for example people are supplied with a laptop with everything already pre-installed. Majority of folks would just use couple of the apps they need for their job and a web browser.
As for files - they just have an endless list of stuff in their downloads and desktop folders.
These days even Minecraft mods are one click to install hundreds at a time. The average person can get by with nothing more than folders on their desktop.
Most Gen X people I know from work (developers), hate to use new stuff. For example, Slack or GIt doesn't exist for them, and use call/sms and usb/email instead. Some of them learned facebook and stayed on it.