I asked a relative to look for RealVNC on the Play Store and install it. Once they were done, I asked them to fulfill a basic task inside RealVNC and they were really confused by my instructions. I took a look at their phone, lo and behold, they had installed a different app. I asked them to repeat the install procedure while I watched. They punched in "realvnc" in the search box, two identically formatted results appeared. Their finger instinctively clicked the Install button on the top result. It was an ad. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️🤦

a screenshot of a search for realvnc on the Google Play Store, showing an ad above the real result
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[–] 28 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Is that really the average user? Especially not having internet service at home? I can reluctantly but relatively easily believe the "no computer" bit but, average or not, I don't think I know anyone without some kind of non-mobile Internet.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Nobody in my wife's family has a laptop. Not a single person. They are tech illiterate to the point where I'm not sure they know how to use a keyboard.

    That's probably not the average user either, but they certainly help to set the average as low as it truly is...

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    It's entirely plausible that this is the case for your wife's family and others, but it's hard for me to imagine a household without at least one non mobile computer. However, I can.

    Without non mobile internet, though? Again, I can imagine it ... But it seems wrong.

    It shouldn't be so hard; I was around before the internet was prevalent. My life now involves constant internet access, though, so I guess it's weird to me that some people have lives that don't - and especially that that might be the average.

    One must always remember the words of George Carlin, I suppose.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    We use a fair few shared mobile phones at work and while it has WiFi / unlimited mobile data is used solely as an absence line number because some of my fellow colleagues don't have home internet, actively disable their mobile data (because they use a SMS / Call package only), and really can't get their head around "the nets"/Whatsapp and don't, want to, either.

    Which I agree with to an extent since Whatsapp can suck my plums too. They exist and quite a few of them apparently.

    There is a bonus to this thou since I get to call them names because of their neanderthal ways...

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    To this average person, they have an unlimited plan because that's what they sell you in the carrier store, and they go do a quick cost benefit and go "nah I don't need to pay for another internet plan for my home when I have unlimited data on my phone" Mobile data has gotten good enough and cheap enough that they don't have to care really.

    I agree its very hard for us in tech to imagine. I had a similar discussion with one of my colleagues in IT who was in a similar state of disbelief (in this case it was a person who was recently fired who had been with the company for over 25 years and used his work email for a bunch of personal accounts because he "doesn't have a personal email" a couple of us pointed out some of the thought processes and cost/benefit analysis one might make that can lead to that point)

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