Noise in the Generational Technocracy Gap

I'm becoming more and more aware that degree of familiarity people have with technology (and by extension the ease with which they adopt it) has less to do with age or generation. It seems that the young and "techno savvy" people who are all about the very latest handheld devices are at a total loss when it comes to functions on a computer (PC or Mac). Also, there seem to be a number of "older" folks who manage to get through the latest gadgets and computer issues with graceful ease, thus defying the adage of the retiree that can't program a VCR.

So what does techno-savvy-ness correlate to if not generational exposure to technology? It's a mixture of logic and experience. Of course you see many bright people struggling to comprehend the basic operations of a cell phone-- but that's hardly surprising. I suppose the situation just strikes me as odd. It seems that more often it's the retirees that are out-pacing the kids at understanding and manipulating technology. Sure the kids know how to make their phones do neat things an how to play video games... but it's the people who were in the technological trenches-- the dark days of the DOS Prompt-- that understand what's going on inside the box, and how to fix it.