Many computer concepts are brought from the real world. For example like the recycle bin where if on the computer is a place to store deleted files.
In a report from The Verge website that collects some unique and funny stories from several educators, it was found that there are a younger generation of school students who do not understand what files and folders on a computer are.
In sharing the stories shared by these educators, many of them came across instances where students didn't seem to understand the concept of files and folders.
As is well known both of these are systems used in the days before computers, where files are basically individual documents/reports and folders are where users put them to organize them.
According to Catherine Garland, an Astrophysicist who teaches the technique shares her perspective on how computer files are organized versus how her students see them.
"I tend to think an item lives in a certain folder. It lives in one place and I have to go to that folder to find it. But they see it like one bucket and everything is in the bucket," he said.
Of course, this doesn't mean that all young people are ignorant about files and folders, but it does suggest that as we move into the future, it may be time to rethink how we approach computers and their designs.
For example, the concept of 'picking up' the phone or 'hanging up' an old phone that has a handle design. It is felt as a foreign thing for young people who grow up in the current smartphone era.