older adults and technology

[perditaplum]

What it is about older adults and technology? When do they change from being able to use technology like setting things up, playing games on things like the playstation and so on to it all being incomprehensible to them and asking younger people to do it for them ? They were younger people once and got asked to do it by older adults then!

@Motnight

Oh goody another ageist thread.

It goes with the one 'How patronisingly do you address the elderly'! These posters do realise that we were them a few years ago and they'll be us sooner than they think.

I'm 58 and have just completed an IT module at uni. I am excellent with technology!

In my 50s.
Half the stuff these days I just don't want to do.

e.g. computer games, social media, streaming music.

I'm capable enough if I'm motivated enough.

I worked in software for 20 years but am definitely a late adopter rather than an early one.

@rslsys

I'm 65, retired after 40 years in IT. I'm bloody sick of my children and grandchildren asking me to set up and troubleshoot their tech! Work it out yourselves! We had to - no manuals or Youtube when I started out in the 'wild west' days.

Exactly our generation we learned tech the hard way, it was all new, you had to keep at it till you solved it. Mid 60’s me &DH are a whizz with tech, Oh look at us doing - online banking online travel setting up new mobiles smart TVs. I can fault find a non functioning CCTV camera, DH business. However, in future years there may be sight or health problems to make it difficult. Our grandkids call us - techno blazers. -:)

I’m not that old, 37, but amazes me how my young DS can pick up a new piece of technology & just know how to use it instinctively. Whilst I’ll have to read instructions etc

Got Insta tik tok fb & twitter apps. Need to see what our youngsters are up to -:)

My DP are late 70s, the have a PC and have zoom meetings for their various committees, we all WhatsApp regularly and keep in touch using FaceTime. I will admit that my DB does have to fix things when they have ‘broken’ it, but they manage daily.
DH and I are in our 50s and both use technology for our jobs, our 20 something D.C. come to us for advice.
I can’t using a gaming console as I have no interest in them so have never used one, but if I can set up computer systems I am sure I’d manage.

@FloraButterCookie

I’m not that old, 37, but amazes me how my young DS can pick up a new piece of technology & just know how to use it instinctively. Whilst I’ll have to read instructions etc

I think it because their brought up with tech. It’s like a language learning to them, tech language. Our little granddaughter 2 will pick up my iPad I’ll open it and see can find YouTube app click it usually last used by her and find cocomelon, if she wants another story she delicately move the side bar down till she see an interesting to her episode and touch it. Very pleased with herself.

God alive, stop making out those of us who are older can't cope with tech.

I'm mid 60s, and I bet you I can do more than a lot on this thread. I rarely ask for help, I find out myself. I have 3,000 twitter followers, I use social media, I can root a phone, there isn't much I can't do.

Do not assume we are useless at all of this. I'm interested, curious and use tech as much as anyone 20 years younger. in fact... more in some cases.

OP, what age are these 'older' people you are talking about? Because it ain't me, and many others I know, including my DH who is older than me.

It's not just people some would consider 'older'.

My friends are in their early to mid 40's and half of them don't have much of a clue.

I think people who weren't that interested in tech just don't want to particularly learn anything beyond the basics.

But then...5 years later they decide they want to do something new but the way the tech works has moved on so much they're not sure what to do anymore.

I am absolutely positive this won't happen with me. I bloody love a gadget and am waaaaay better at tech than my husband.

My mum just can’t be bothered with it. It’s not just tech either. She just can’t be fussed with anything much anymore. As I get older I can sort of understand why.

I bloody love a gadget and am waaaaay better at tech than my husband

I get this, because it's me too! Although my DH is pretty good at it, but he used to work in IT so his level is different.

I just knew years ago that I either had to embrace it big time or be left behind and I get a bit obsessed by it all !

Define older for a start!

I’m 50, I’ve been setting up & using computers since 1996. Setting up tech these days is a piece of piss in comparison, pretty much everything is plug & play

My parents are in theirs 70s and more than happy to set up their own tech as well

It’s not an age thing!

I think it's very similar to the way I deal with London. If I'm on my own, I nip around on the tubes, find the best shortcuts and generally have no problems travelling to even obscure bits of the city.

Put me with someone who knows London inside out and I just blithely follow them without any real idea of where I am or how I got there - it's easier.

Doesn't mean I can't do it, just means I choose not to when someone else is happy to do the faffy bits for me.

I'm 34.

In my family I think it’s down to how to learn. My FIL expects to read the manual, like he did with the VCR. My mum wants instructions. Neither of them would be confident just pressing buttons to experiment or selecting a YouTube video to learn. I think some (not all) older people find this change hard.

In a reverse, my dad is shocked that I don’t know how to wire a plug. My view is I would just google it.

I’m trying hard to follow my kids and learn how they learn, so I can stay competent. Many older people have done this just fine.

It's harder to learn new things as you get older. Also you need to use it a lot to get the hang of it. My Grandad is doing brilliantly. He is 92 and managing to work zoom, his tablet and smartphone most of the time although he does mute himself accidentally. My dc (teens) are much better with devices than me. I think a lot of it is that I very rarely use my phone or tv remote so it's taking me longer to become good at them. I'm much better on my pc and tablet which I use all the time.

I’m 31 and I’m a massive technophobe.
I hate it when things don’t work and get really worked up about it and start panicking.
I’m absolutely useless with it and wish I could combat my fears of it because technology is such a massive part of modern life now.

@Samcro

Thats why you have kids. Its only in covid times i have set up thigs like a new i phone, before that ds would just come and do it.

Some of us don't have kids so we have to do it ourselves. Keeps us on our toes.

When I was 16, the internet didn't exist, no mobile phones, nothing was digital, not even remote controls for TVs. The capacity to learn new things diminishes with us all in time. It’s not because we’re getting more stupid!
However, I can change a fan belt on an engine, complete 5 digit multiplications in my head, calculate my tax, skin a rabbit and make a pie with it (I know), knit, make my own clothes, crotchet, make a pair of curtains, make a full blown Christmas dinner for 20 from scratch and a myriad other practical things.

I wonder if it's not the technology but a general can't be bothered with it or maybe the advantages aren't enough to be bothered with it. I could learn the cello if I could be bothered but I can't - maybe it's the same with some technology?

I dunno if I count as older - is early 60s 'older' these days? - but totally agree with this. The returns on the investment in time are becoming less and less. I used to be one of the Go To people in my area to set up email and other services back in the days of manually configuring STMP and POP accounts and using FTP clients to up-load web sites hand-coded in HTML and all the other alphabet soup. Steam engine stuff by today's standards, hideously easy to miss something and screw it all up and - and you know what? It was FUN. It's no fun any more. It's boring overly complex because it's all been made moron-proof (by idiots). Drag drop click. Where's the challenge in that?

And for what?

The reduction of political and cultural discourse to the pointless, endless, bickering of Twitter has just made me give up trying to 'keep up'.

I guess that's why I guess I like this site. If I close my eyes a bit I can almost convince myself I'm back on Usenet. (Go ask your gran.)

What I loathe about modern tech is:

• The way it has a mind of its own. You pick up your laptop because you want to USE it, and it says "installing updates..."
• The built-in obsolescence. The way that it's now DESIGNED to be useless in so little time. My grandmother kept a twin tub going for thirty-five years, machines were made to last in those days.
• Ongoing subscription charges for everything. You rarely actually own the technology or media these days.

I ve been in Comms all my life, Analog, Digital, now IP but what i don't get is how young people type so fucking fast with their thumbs, i mean its not natural is it?

Its SMTP and you still have to set it up (or IMAP/POP) with port addressing to configure mail to your phone etc

If you don't want auto updates, click "Download but don't install"

Twin tubs were total shit.

Ageist twaddle.
Bill Gates is 65.
My in laws are late 80s and can manage perfectly well with new technology, when it suits their lifestyle. They aren’t interested in Spotify but can Zoom, iPlayer, FaceTime, WhatsApp with the best of them.
I’m just setting up my own website. I use numerous databases for work and spend an amount of time teaching younger staff to run data analysis reports and even to use Excel spreadsheets for more than listings.

I'm in my sixties. I can build web sites, use Photoshop, run a group from my laptop. I can find things on line more quickly than some of my younger friends (who ask me!) I don't have a smart phone, just a simple pay as you go. I have no wish (after being on call for years) to be in constant contact with everyone while I'm walking the dog, standing in a queue etc. I don't use sat nav either, as I don't see the point of it (and yes, I've tried it, and I hated it) It's as if "technology" is the be all and end all. I often wonder if so many people are lonely because all they do is use their phones, and never have a conversation with someone.