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Original poster

How do people who are not online navigate life?

77 replies

Featuredcreature · 11/02/2022 00:37

Honestly it really baffles me, life these days especially in covid times is complicated and intricate. I kind of had a taste of this by being very depressed, for a long time I just didn't deal with anything, ignored bills and just got through each day by the skin of my teeth.

I'm literate (supposedly) fairly used to computers and online life and its a mare. I am recovering slowly, sorting things out, although I'm skint i am able to get by.

How do people who are not literate, nevermind online literate navigate all this crap? I spent a bit of time on jsa and was sent on many pointless courses, obviously they were tedious as fuck. I met many lovely people who were so vulnerable. I'm not sure if the cessation of these (EU funded, alas gone) courses is a good thing or not. I am glad that that frankly inadequate and sometimes fucking sleazy and odd course leaders are out of a gravy train, but the people involved are probably now extremely isolated and forgotten.

What happens to those people now?

OP posts:
Original poster
Featuredcreature · 11/02/2022 00:50

Not all of the courses were pointless, I completed a health and social care course which was pretty good. Well, OK I suppose, we were in a classroom together for 2 weeks and at the end of that had an interview for a dementia care home. Quite a few passed the interview and had trials at the home.

Tbh it was a fun 2 weeks, then the trial was fine. Obviously it was all zero hours, no good for me I was a single parent with children at school. I doubt there is anything like this now. Brexit has fucked poor people over even more than people know.

OP posts:
Monopolyiscrap · 11/02/2022 00:57

With great difficulty. Older people may simply have adult children who do things for them online. But anyone who truly cant access online services even with someone doing it on their behalf will have a tough time.
I live in a County with one of the highest proportions of people not online. Lots of the County is rural and poor with farmers and labourers. When the pandemic hit, the local radio station phone-ins were full of people asking for information that others could get online.

I wonder how the many people who are not functionally literate manage these days as online requires a certain level of literacy.

BeckonCall · 11/02/2022 01:00

People with any kind of support network - family, neighbours, social workers, friends - rely on them for help and questions.

Illiterate or computer illiterate people who are not connected to a support network can suffer badly and can end up homeless or extremely lonely and impoverished.

Monopolyiscrap · 11/02/2022 01:01

And I worked in a job for a bit where we would get lots of vulnerable people dropping in. They were often needing basic help that we were not supposed to be providing, but if I wasn't too busy, I would always help. Sometimes this meant writing or reading a letter to someone. Society really isn't set up to help vulnerable people.
I also understood why there are people who will never get or hold down a job. And will never be able to navigate getting benefits as being unfit for work.

Scarby9 · 11/02/2022 01:02

Woth great and ever increasing difficulty, and lots of support.

Monopolyiscrap · 11/02/2022 01:03

The vulnerable people who dropped in sometimes talked about other places that would help them. A local cafe and a church with a great Minister. There are kind people about. But I agree these people are at risk of being street homeless.

Monopolyiscrap · 11/02/2022 01:05

And I hate threads on MN about how anyone should be able to be online e.g. my 90-year-old granny learned how to use an iPad. It shows zero understanding of the challenges some people face.

BeckonCall · 11/02/2022 01:12

Society really isn't set up to help vulnerable people.

It sounds twee but this is the reason we should all be looking out for each other, not just family members. No social safety nets can catch everyone, so I think it's really important that each of us keeps an eye out for neighbours and elderly relatives and makes offers to help where we can.

And if we can pass on those values to our children it creates a better society for everyone.

dipdye · 11/02/2022 01:21

My dad (late 60s) cannot work a computer. As in, he cannot even turn it on. He has no interest at all. My mum does anything necessary online, doctors scripts, etc. They pay all bills by direct debit/ banking is still down in person.

It flabbers my gast

dipdye · 11/02/2022 01:23

Just to add this isn't due to lack of funds. It's lack of interest / ignorance

Nightlystroll · 11/02/2022 01:23

Brexit has fucked poor people over even more than people know.
But you thought the EU funded courses were useless and a gravy train. So if they're no longer being held, then surely that's a positive thing about Brexit. And the funding for these waste of time courses might have come via the EU but that EU money came from the UK initially.

MangyInseam · 11/02/2022 02:34

I work in a library in a village with a lot of seniors. We get quite a few who use the library computers for their internet needs. A few do so regularly, some only from time to time as necessary. Some need help and don't really know how to use the internet.

Mostly they get along find in life, but there are some things the government does that makes it much more difficult for them. During the first lockdown here they closed the libraries and I really wondered how many of them got on. So many government services information resources are only online now.

MangyInseam · 11/02/2022 02:36

We also regularly have courses about how to use the internet, and they are quite good. Some innovative programs to give seniors tablets and help them learn to use them.

But sometimes what gets missed out is many of them would prefer not to have to - they aren't interested and while they will do it if they have to they'd prefer a person or paper or even the phone. They don't want to waste their time online and spend their income of a computer and internet.

TulipsTwoLips · 11/02/2022 03:12

They fall through the cracks basically. And it's not just about the elderly. Being young does not necessarily mean you have the literacy ability or skills to cope with the vast amount of information out there.

SquirrelG · 11/02/2022 04:15

I wonder that too OP. Cheques are obsolete here so I have to do all my DF's online banking for him, which is fine, but it must be difficult for those who don't have family or friends to help. They must be forever at the bank trying to sort things out. So many young people don't have any tolerance for older people who aren't online, but it's not as easy as they think. As a pp said, it's not just older people who are affected either. So much in life bypasses some people, through no fault of their own, and it's wrong.

HelloBunny · 11/02/2022 05:12

My dad’s the other way around, dipdye. He sits in his “office” all day long at his computer, as if he was still working. Comes out for lunch & dinner, which my mum makes.
Uses his tablet / smartphone at all times, at the table, when out... He’s unable to socialize & enjoy normal life. He’s permanently twitching to be online. I worry about what it’s doing to his mind... He barely talks now.

MangoSeason · 11/02/2022 05:27

I have a relative who is in his mid-forties and not online. Smart phones and computers trigger his paranoia and mental health issues so he doesn’t use them.

Off the top of my head-

  1. Hasn’t been to the GP for over 3 years after being told off by the receptionist for going in to the practice to book appointments rather than using the app
  2. His great love was music but he can’t listen to much anymore as his new car doesn’t have a CD player and he can’t stream music because he can’t go online
  3. He is a farm labourer and the farmer wants to bring in iPads for workers to manage crop rotations and irrigation. His job of 15 years is under threat as he refuses to use these devices
  4. He has to travel 80km to the nearest town to do banking in the actual branch. His parents have access to his accounts on their internet banking and manage his bills but they are very elderly so this will end soon
  5. He doesn’t have a smartphone for his Covid vaccine certificate and is too embarrassed to use a paper certificate so doesn’t go out at all now.
  6. He misses out on family photos because he doesn’t have email or a smartphone. His parents occasionally mail him hard copies but that’s it.

His world is tiny and shrinking every day.

CanadianJohn · 11/02/2022 05:28

My wife, age 80, absolutely refuses to have anything to do with online anything. She uses her iPad to play games, but won't use a credit card, or a bank card. I go and get cash for her every week. She simply refuses to use a bank machine to get cash.

SaskiaRembrandt · 11/02/2022 06:08

@CanadianJohn

My wife, age 80, absolutely refuses to have anything to do with online anything. She uses her iPad to play games, but won't use a credit card, or a bank card. I go and get cash for her every week. She simply refuses to use a bank machine to get cash.
There are a lot of people like this, of all ages. I used to do a voluntary role which involved teaching people internet skills and came across a surprising number of very young people who would have been described as technically literate but whose skills began and ended with opening up preinstalled SM apps on their phone.

It's not enough to know how to connect to the internet, people also need to know how to navigate online banking, benefits, healthcare, etc., and how to search for and use information. Anyone who can't do these things is at a massive disadvantage.

V1tam1nSeaBee12 · 11/02/2022 06:09

The Internet provides people with more choices
Example
Any insurance eg home, travel or car
A person can auto renew
Or
A person can perform some comparison searches on the Internet which may provide 1000+ choices & probably better deals, which may include cash back, vouchers or other perks

We also seem to be moving to a cashless society

The world via the Internet is fine, until technology breaks down

There are also lots opportunities for Internet scammers

Soundwave · 11/02/2022 06:32

Definitely agree it's not just older people. Just look at lockdown when schools had to hand out laptops and ipads because parents didn't have the resources at home.

You've got the daughter of a peer who bought her house 30 yeears ago telling you to forego your smart phone and you'll be able to afford a house. Love, I literally could not function in todays society without a smart phone. All communication from my kids school is by email or seesaw app now. All life appointments (GP, dentist as well as cosmetic like hair) I need to book online. Banking online. Taxes online. Benefits online. Shopping online. I even WFH. Imagine if I had no Internet. I'd have no job.

V1tam1nSeaBee12 · 11/02/2022 06:40

I've used the paper covid vaccine pass to gain entry to concerts & other places. I have not been turned away.

Restrictions are due to be lifted soon any way

EishetChayil · 11/02/2022 06:51

My MIL isn't online. She uses the phone a LOT, and has struck up relationships with certain shops in her town who do phone delivery for her. She reads a paper newspaper, and writes a lot of letters.

ChiefInspectorParker · 11/02/2022 06:54

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

WhatNoRaisins · 11/02/2022 07:04

It gets harder to access services and there is a lot of frustration. I've experienced a lot of service users who won't even get a basic mobile get cross because we can't give exact times for callbacks and they need to go out to the shops.