Elderly people play hardware, youth play gadgets

Computer enthusiasts are actually getting smaller and getting older. They pay close attention to the power of details, components, machine life ., while young people are interested in "chat chit" software, social networks or video games.

Adults believe that today's youth do not need to know how machines work anymore. " They live faster than us ," said Lyn Goodall, PC User President in Melbourne City (Australia). " They don't care what happens behind the screen ."

People who are passionate about hardware research through computer lifetimes are not much.Photo: The Age .

And Anthony Caruana, a former president of a Macintosh club, thinks the local computer era is about to end because most families are connected to the Internet or buy wireless devices. "The vast online community is making people spend more time thinking about online communication than going into the study of things inside computers," he said.

According to Dick Johnson, president of AUSOM club, in the late 1980s, computers were new hardware and everyone was crazy about it. Now children are basically learning in school so they don't have the same excitement as they used to.

" Society has changed, " commented Noel Jackling, organizer of the iMug program. " People have to work harder so they don't tend to join the club directly. The old people like us have a need to meet face to face and want to be in some organization to discuss. " .