Teachers say many students, bought up with search features on their computers, are unfamiliar with directories and folders, forcing a rethink of lesson plans
Catherine Garland, an astrophysicist, started seeing the problem in 2017. She was teaching an engineering course … Tweets: @mcsquared96 , @reckless , @gretchenamcc , @gretchenamcc , @gerrymcgovern , @jakelahut , @rachaelkrishna , @gretchenamcc , @nick_viviani , @jason_a_w , @mcsquared96 , @dcseifert , @reckless , @jason_a_w , @russellbrandom , and @dcseifert Tweets: Monica Chin / @mcsquared96 : There's a huge difference between the way today's students understand computers and the way today's professors do. It's starting to cause all kinds of problems for STEM professors, and driven many to rethink the way they teach. I wrote about it: https://www.theverge.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : Replies and quotes to this are fascinating — a lot of people who self-selected into following the EIC of a tech site on Twitter are very confident that everyone uses computers just like they do! https://t.co/XofEi6jy7Z Gretchen McCulloch / @gretchenamcc : I do think it's device-based search that's a differentiating factor (Finder, Windows Search), as well as various app or program-based search (especially Gmail, Google Drive, and phones) I still use folders for certain files, especially shared projects, but not on my phone really Gretchen McCulloch / @gretchenamcc : I don't think it's web search engines (google) that's the issue here a) people have never really organized websites into folders (except in a limited sense as bookmarks) b) I grew up with Google and everyone still used folders then Gerry McGovern / @gerrymcgovern : A consequence of Search culture is that we are losing the absolutely vital skill of information organization. Without good architecture, information loses 90% of its value Kids who grew up with search engines could change STEM education forever - https://www.theverge.com/... Jake Lahut / @jakelahut : “Gradually, Garland came to the same realization that many of her fellow educators have reached ... the concept of file folders and directories, essential to previous generations' understanding of computers, is gibberish to many modern students.” https://www.theverge.com/... Rachael Krishna / @rachaelkrishna : This incredible article reminds me of when during my first job out of Uni I got a formal warning for using the filing cabinet provided with my desk to organise my snacks. https://twitter.com/... Gretchen McCulloch / @gretchenamcc : So pleased to see a full-length article diving into something I mentioned in a sentence or two in Because Internet (people have told me that they find Chapter 3 particularly useful for explaining these kinds of generational divides) https://twitter.com/... Nick Viviani / @nick_viviani : I consciously tried training myself to use search more, assuming “the kids” were onto something, but can't imagine not seeing folder structures. https://www.theverge.com/... Jason Wilson / @jason_a_w : That passage probably makes it sound like these students are simply disdainful of directories but the professors quoted in the piece are saying that their students cannot conceive of directories, which is wild Monica Chin / @mcsquared96 : funny story: When people initially suggested that I look into a story on directory structure, I was like “What's that?” I don't think I've used a file folder since maybe early high school. It's funny how ingrained these mental models are, even to the “tech-savvy” among us. Dan Seifert / @dcseifert : personally, i'm old enough to utilize a folder structure, especially for things like RAW photo archives. but i ditched bothering to organize my inbox into folders or labels years ago — when search is there and it is good, why bother? Nilay Patel / @reckless : Today's college students have never lived without Google and the iPhone - and many of them have no idea what files and folders on their computers are. @mcsquared96 with the Verge-iest of Verge stories https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jason Wilson / @jason_a_w : This is from a pretty great @mcsquared96 story about how current undergraduates do not really understand directories. But it is causing me to break out in hives. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Russell Brandom / @russellbrandom : The concept of a file structure is kind of silly and the kids are probably better off without it, but I am still mad about this! https://www.theverge.com/... Dan Seifert / @dcseifert : fascinating report from @mcsquared96 about how today's students don't just DGAF about your file system, they don't even know what you're talking about: https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Astrophysicist Catherine Garland first noticed in 2017 that her engineering students couldn't navigate file hierarchies — they had grown up on search bars rather than the folder trees their professors assumed everyone knew, and The Verge's piece collects professors confirming the gap has become routine. It matters because directory-and-file structure is a load-bearing abstraction for STEM work: when students can't find what they saved, coursework breaks down before any subject-specific learning starts.
The story also previews a second iteration of the same pattern: as junior developers lean on Copilot and Claude instead of writing code themselves, the foundational skill eroding is no longer file management but programming fundamentals themselves — the interface keeps absorbing the layer beneath it.
First-order effects
- STEM professors like Garland are rewriting lesson plans to explicitly teach files, directories, and saving conventions that were previously treated as prerequisite common knowledge.
- Toolmakers such as Google (Drive) and Apple (Finder) face a user base whose mental model of storage is 'it comes up when I search,' not a hierarchy they maintain.
Second-order effects
- Employers and universities inherit the training burden: if curricula must teach folder structures now, the same institutions will need explicit instruction in whatever skill AI coding assistants displace next.
- Vendors compete to make search and retrieval even more seamless — which further removes the occasions where users would ever learn the underlying organization scheme.
Third-order effects
- If each generation's default interface (search today, conversational AI next) absorbs the previous layer of computing literacy, 'computer skills' becomes a moving target that formal education perpetually trails — and curricula may need to treat interface-dependent assumptions as things to verify, not assume.
- A workforce stratified by which interface they grew up on could split into those who understand systems underneath the surface layer and those who only operate the surface, with consequences for debugging, security hygiene, and technical judgment.
The trend: Each generation's dominant computing interface erases the previous layer of foundational skills, forcing educators to explicitly teach abstractions — file systems now, code fundamentals next — that earlier cohorts absorbed by accident.