The File Abyss

When I was fifteen I got a laptop for Christmas. It was a sleek, light gray Apple Macbook, capable of downloading up to two hundred and fifty Gigabytes of new possibilities. No longer bound to the family computer remaining stationed in the living room, I was eager to start my very own digital life. I could download Minecraft, a popular building game, without the creeping potential of my brother setting fire to my house. I even made an account on Facebook. Thus began my online presence and what I call “The File Abyss.”

For years my computer has faithfully stored years of content. When I open a new document, I know that my computer is automatically adding it to the abyss of files, somewhere within the hard drive. As a student in college, I find the process of uploading my work to educational platforms fairly simple – I only press about 4 buttons to transfer documents between devices, and my computer organizes most of my files for me. Being a younger generation in the digital world has been almost relaxing, given that we’ve grown up with advanced and intelligent technology. But at a certain point do we need to ask, should I know more about my computer?

I recently read an article titled “File not Found”, by Monica Chin. The author sees a clear divide in generations and their abilities to manage files, specifically for younger students in STEM majors. College professors have found that they need to start teaching fundamentals of file management, along with the content of the class. Monica believes the problem stems from the fact that younger generations have grown up during the prevalence of smartphones and technology. She blames the little robots in our computer for doing the work for us. Our mental thought process sees digital storage as more of a “bucket”, then a complex organization system. After reading the article, I couldn’t help but feel as though my generation was being slandered for growing up with intuitive devices, but I also can see the author’s approach to the importance of knowing where your computer stores information.

One of the features that I find extremely convenient on my Macbook, is a built-in app called “Finder”. According to Apple, Finder serves as the user interface for navigating and organizing files and folders within the laptop. Finder lives on the bottom left side of my homepage, he is blue and white and has a friendly smile. Something about his square head and pointy nose makes him appear helpful, like a digital butler ready to organize files. Finder has been a reliable companion for a few years now, automatically storing my extensive collection of media into categories that I do not bother myself with learning. When I open the app, the first category of files has been named Recents. Among this folder I can find a collection of documents that I have recently opened; Notes, a chapter from a book, as well as, a multitude of files that are not “recent” at all. Scrolling through my “not-so-recent” recents, I find a presentation titled “la sociedad ideal” from a spanish class I took in highschool. I also find a screenshot of stingrays swimming through the ocean, a return label for something I bought, and subsequently returned, back in 2019, and about 100 more accounts of random files, photos, screenshots, pdfs, and documents. A sort of file “bucket”, just like Monica Chin had written about.

Feeling a burst of motivation, I focus on the task at hand; Sort through my recents. I notice a set of color tags along the side of my screen. I start to label each color after a class I am currently taking. Then I start the mundane process of dragging documents into each appropriate folder, and a little colored dot appears next to the file. The process has suddenly become satisfying. When I open my “Recents” category, instead of seeing an influx of files in disarray, I see files with little colors next to them, and I know where they belong. After the task is complete, I think back to Monica Chin’s article. Is it necessary for students to learn file management before taking STEM classes? After much deliberation, my answer is No. Computers are constantly evolving, and as time goes on each generation will be equipped with more knowledge on how to use the technology. If there is already a little robot successfully storing and retrieving my files, why should I bother myself with learning how he does his job?