"It's not age, it's mindset" I've actually come on thread to say I've an 18 year old DAUGHTER like this!
I'm trying currently to get her to use a shared calendar app - it's taken 4 days to get her to download it! She has an all singing all dancing phone but asks me to google things and sometimes order online shopping if the website isn't VERY user friendly. I've lost count of how often she's said her tablets broken when she's just swiped to a page where no app icons are there, even Netflix took a few days for her to "get".
She much prefers using pen & paper (but then loses the notes) it's murder!
My mother - in her 70's, was first in family to get an iPhone & tablet, uses them for EVERYTHING and always sending tips & shortcuts to use them - despairs of her as we all get frequent blank texts & pocket calls!!
It's like she's a Victorian in an 18 year olds body! Drives her friends nuts too! Bff calls her a time traveller on occasion as it really is like teaching someone from another century!
My mum was in retail admin most of her working life and only retired a few years ago, what some may not be aware of is that the retail industry were quite early adopters of IT earlier than even some other admin areas (don't get me started on banking!) so she's been using "computers" in some form for almost 60 years! (A fact she and I've had some people try and tell us isn't possible as "computers weren't around then" yes they were just home computers weren't).
My dad though was army and in a "tradesman" type role so didn't really have admin at all until he reached a certain rank and then had to start doing appraisals reports which was really just basic word processing and he struggled even with that. He could literally build you a home in a forest with a latrine, shower etc from only stuff found in nature so not daft or impractical by any means, but the number of times I've had pocket calls at 2/3/4am (actually him having fell asleep with the mobile in his bed), he's amazed that I can find and have delivered to him obscure books on his trade, army & regiment history, retro sweets he's mentioned in conversation the next day, that I can just click a few buttons and view my monthly bank statements...
Although mum has to deny she does online banking as he's paranoid about them getting hacked and robbed and while he's not completely wrong of course I think he thinks it's a lot easier than it is.
Part of it is also that he's very ill and some of his meds mess with memory formation and generally just make him a bit foggy and out of it.
But dd - seriously I have no explanation for that, an 18 yr old who isn't a fan of/can't do tech. No ld or anything by the way just a very old soul.
"My 70-something parents spend their days trolling politicians and their supporters on Twitter." I kinda love that 😂
"I think he's reached a point where he just can't be bothered with it all" I think at 93 he's earned the right to decide that tbf he's about the age my grandparents would be and if you think how utterly HUGE the changes from the 1920's (when not even all houses had a radio!) to now (where we're almost at driverless cars being no longer sci fi realms) have been it's understandable he feels he's done his bit
Gets harder to learn new stuff as we get older too.
Silverysurfer - I'm only 46 but my first degree and admin job both it was using a typewriter rather than computer as while computers were around they were still quite expensive (first admin job was very small family firm they wouldn't have felt they could justify the expense at that point) this was late 80's/early 90's.
I do think people forget just how crazy fast it's all gone in the last 20 odd years.
"Grandmother also won't use an ATM. She insists on cash back at the supermarkets That's understandable. People tend to become more risk averse as they get older, and the problems with "skimming" at ATMs are well publicised" unfortunately cash back at supermarkets is also open to fraud with duplicate transactions.
And our attitudes are not a new phenomenon either when my gran put a telly in my great grans bedroom (very sick lady, bed ridden) great gran was very wary but seemed to enjoy, once when hoovering though it was bumped and poor great gran apparently basically ducked and covered - she was sure it was going to explode! This became an "amusing family anecdote" but the poor woman must have been genuinely terrified! It seemed to have been forgotten that this then 80 odd year old lady was in her 20's before she lived in a property with electricity!
Witchend - Re hoax stuff I've an aunt & uncle who are siblings the uncle keeps posting that crap - and tags the whole family every time - and the aunt is CONSTANTLY getting irritated and posting the snopes and other links showing its a hoax in response, every few months she gets really fed up and posts a total rant on the latest post and he's like "but it MIGHT be true and then I've warned you" and the whole thing plays out on the post but they then end up arguing about stuff happened 50 years ago like him borrowing her records or her dobbing him in for ditching school to my grandparents - it sounds bad but it's actually hilarious and they always make up.
As per pps comments there is a serious side to this too though, people who've never had to use a computer of any kind suddenly having to try and get to grips with them in their late 50's plus in order to access things they need.
I've 2 uncles who've always worked in construction and not even skilled work at that, one I suspect may have ld, certainly he struggles every with literacy, they're both starting to feel their age physically and worried sick as they can't continue until state pension age in their current roles but neither feels at all confident in even APPLYING for non-manual jobs - neither has even formally applied for a job in decades! Let alone if they have to apply for benefits, I think they'd really struggle with UC requirements, the family would of course rally round as much as possible but those that live near them also work full time and have families etc so they'll help as much as possible but they can't sit with them all day 5 days a week to walk them through online job searches and online applications! It's just not feasible.
And I despair at whichever thoughtless twits think that it should be ONLY online applications for things like oap bus passes!
My aunt has poor eyesight and I know when she got her iPhone I helped her set it up so the text and icons were much bigger for her to see, I can't remember how now, but I vaguely remember we contacted maybe rnib for advice? Quick look on my phone now and it's easy enough to increase size of lettering for texts etc but I cannot remember how I did it for the icons etc.
I'm only 46 myself and hearing regularly tested yet I struggle to hear people on the phone sometimes and the volume is at max - that's absolutely something the phone companies could improve there just isn't the will.
"Also remember things like a decent smartphone are not cheap. If you are on a state pension, no wonder people not used to using one would prioritise other expenditure." I get your point but it's not true for all pensioners many are comfortably off if not wealthy.
Plus contracts are getting cheaper all the time. (Here's where I get flamed) I'm on benefits and have an iPhone - not the latest model and wasn't even when I got it, that was partly cost but also preference as I don't like the very big phones. I have small hands and a smaller phone is more comfortable to hold and use. It was to replace the phone I had previous which was also an iPhone but 2nd hand from a trusted friend and I had that almost 5 years, it was still in good condition hardware wise but I could no longer update the software so it became unusable. I've now had this one just over 2 years which was the terms of the contract so I'm now only paying for the "airtime" (and yes I know that ages me but I don't know what else to call it) and to be quite honest I get heartily sick of the criticism of those of us on benefits who have such tech yet even the govt expects everyone to have Internet and the ability to access and use their web pages! My health also has me housebound at the moment and I have no support for various reasons so I'm pretty dependent on online services for many things (dd works full time has a disability herself which knackers her and only recently turned 18 - SO many things can't be bought/done by someone under 18)
I also look after my stuff! Good sturdy phone case, screen protector & wrist strap which I use - another bone of contention with dd.
Wanderings - I also agree there's a SHITLOAD of stuff in products now that nobody bloody uses! There's over 20 programmes on my washing machine ffs! Totally unnecessary! How many of the built in apps on phones and tablets are ones most people will NEVER use! Why is there apps for stocks & shares? An additional way to get to contacts than the green receiver most use? Or a compass? Total nonsense!
And yes! To being annoyed by the CONSTANT updates of apps and operating Systems UNNECESSARILY! I'm one of I suspect quite a few sainsburys customers with a visa debit card that's been unable to use the site or the app since an update that seemed PURELY to piss about with fancy graphics (spinning pumpkin for Halloween) and now almost 5 month later they STILL haven't managed to fix it - they must have lost a lot of custom/ers as a result and several call handlers have admitted even they're getting fed up with the additional pressure on the phone lines (some are calling through whole orders, others like me have found they can fill the trolley online just not pay for it! So have to sort the payment over the phones). It's a ridiculous situation.
"Just because people in their 40s and 50s have enthusiastically embraced computers and smartphones, that doesn't necessarily mean you will continue embracing all new advances in your 60s or 70s." True but another thing that seems forgotten is that those of us of this age were the generation that were teens/twenties when home computers became popular, it was our era so we're familiar with it/them in a way generations either side aren't.
"FIL turns off the internet at night 'to stop people sitting outside in cars stealing it all'." He's not completely wrong, certainly when wifi first came in there were lots of problems with piggybacking causing high usage bills and hacking.