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I understand the perspective, though don't personally know any elderly people at this time so don't hear it often. My dad tried to be that way but gave in, and passed at age 81 ten years ago. He was always a bit befuddled, yet not entirely and adapted because that's how he was. Paying his bills online, sharing photos and jokes with the other old folks, etc. started to really sink in by his late 70s and I was somewhat proud of him near the end.
Not sure I would laud anyone who hasn't been on the Internet, but if they managed thus far, wonderful. That slow pace of life to me limits horizons, never expands them. I live in 2021, not 1921. Writing then sending a letter w/stamp makes as much sense to me as riding a horse to the "general store" for some flour, beans, and salted pork.
I'm Gen X and the Internet has made me millions. Probably more to come before I retire. I live miles from one of most influential and massively game changing companies in the world, Microsoft. I'm only here because of them, they literally made my career after being only modestly successful in another part of STEM. While I don't always agree with their tech and find their corporate culture questionable, I pay massive props to Bill and what his vision (and his peers and followers) did for metro Seattle, and the world. I was "there" in 1994 or so when the Internet exploded, and literally in the Microsoft labs in 1998 when Windows started to really mature. I dogfooded earliest versions of some of the products people take for granted these days, and "the Cloud" was fanciful whiteboard musings c. 2007 when Azure started to get rolling.
These are Wild West times, wouldn't trade that experience for anything, and I find it hugely fascinating where it's both been and probably going in the future. The social upheaval is both annoying and exhilarating, vs. sitting on the porch sipping a mint julep. My condolences to those who won't adapt.
Man, I would have given anything to be on the cutting edge like that and have my career take off. Never happened. Instead, I chose the wrong career and it took me a good 20 years to "make it", and by then I was way behind where I would have wanted to be. So not a millionaire like you. But I'm also Gen X and I do get what you're saying. Guess I see both sides. Not sure I'd want to give up a lot of the technology at this point, but social media is awful IMO and I may get off of that completely. Anyway, nice post. LOL at the mint julip comment.
Yesterday I went with my mom and brother to visit my aunt who is 91 years old. Her mind hasn’t slowed down at all and neither has the mind of her 86 year old 3rd husband. She just retired from working at Lowe’s 3 months ago after beating Covid. As I sat there there for two hours with everyone on their hot porch with the fan going listening to stories of old times — something dawned on me....a generation of people uncorrupted by technology short attention spans, social media and the internet is quickly dying out. Her and her husband have never been on the internet and they’ve never even had television other that a few channels picked up by a basic antenna. They’ve lived fulfilling lives in a completely different world than what we know today.
The world that people like this spent the bulk of their life in was a much more slower paced/simple time where everything in a person’s life may have been contained within a 20 or 30 mile radius....their friends, religion, love life, family was all right there...with perhaps the local newspaper giving a glimpse of the outside world.
Anyway, I enjoyed just listening to them chat and if anyone has people like this in their life, I would say slow down and perhaps enjoy listening to them converse before they are gone. I believe they have a unique perspective on things they may will soon be gone forever.
I say this as someone who feels like a first generation person that was somewhat raised by the internet. Perhaps the world record holder for time spent online.
They also suffer from lack of knowledge and a smaller world view. The internet is definitely problematic when used incorrectly. However, it has the benefit of expanding ones world outside of geographical and exposure boundaries.
Anyway, I enjoyed just listening to them chat and if anyone has people like this in their life, I would say slow down and perhaps enjoy listening to them converse before they are gone. I believe they have a unique perspective on things they may will soon be gone forever.
Which is why I suggest you visit frequently and make videos or recordings of them and their stories.
Your aunt was born in 1930. She was a child during the Great Depression, a teenager during WWII, a young adult during the prosperity of the 1950s, etc. She has stories about her parents and grandparents as well.
I appreciate older generations as much as anyone else, and can see the value of their more connected and down-to-earth lives, more organic rather than synthetic / electronic.
But that doesn't mean using the internet makes them "tainted". I know many in their 80's and even 90's who appreciate the advantages of the internet and our modern technical world, such as email, getting weather reports any time of the day, as well as their phones and able to make calls wherever they are, send and receive family pictures, etc.
A person can make wise and positive use of the Internet, without losing valued traditional qualities. This can be a win-win matter. You can have the best of both worlds.
Wow. Granted, I'm not familiar with the OP or his/her posting history,bbut there are a couple of pretty mean-spirited people on this thread.
Anyway, I'm another poster who can understand the OP's perspective to an extent. But the internet is NOT what created a movement away from the more connected world of the past when people (reportedly) socialized more and enjoyed closer interpersonal relationships.
If anything, I think the internet has connected us better than we had been during the few decades prior. What happened between the world of your aunt and the world of the internet? Television.
I think the mass invasion of TV was destructive in a way the internet isn't. That's not to say there aren't negative aspects to the internet; of course there are. But, overall, I think it provides far more positives than negatives - to individuals and to larger society.
My 78-year-old mom constantly complains about the internet, or, more specifically, smartphones, and how everyone is so "transfixed by their phones that they don't talk to one another." Meanwhile, her TV is on almost constantly, day and night, blaring.
My mom doesn't understand that when I'm "staring" at my phone, I'm completing a project for work or communicating with coworkers; reading a good book or article; listening to a book or music; learning a new skill; maintaining important relationships with friends and family hundreds of miles away by talking about problems, laughing, sharing photos; playing solitaire or a word game that hopefully helps keep my brain sharp; paying bills; watching heartwarming videos of real people or animals; building professional networks; etc.
She doesn't understand that the internet is much more interactive than it appears to her, and that TV watching is a more passive, insular, lazy activity.
Count me in as another person who loves the internet. I haven't had cable in years, because with everything the internet gives us, who needs it?
People currently in their 80s-90s are part of the TV generation; they were watching news, sitcoms, soaps, entertainment shows back in the 1950s and 1960s.
Though, they didn't have TV when they were born around 1930; TV became a thing in the 1940s; prior to that, it was radio, movie houses, & record players. And books. They read books and magazines and that's less of a thing in the past 20 years, sadly.
People born since 1990 or so are the internet generation, and since 1995 or 2000 they would be the Web/social media generation.
I've noticed in my 60+ years that yes, we've lost a certain style and pace of conversation, a certain tendency to sit with an idea for a longer time and mull it over, discuss it from several angles.
Today, people are very quick to move on. Present an idea, bolster it with a link or two, then quickly off to the next thing. That was so 5 minutes ago.
Yeah, we've lost something. Perhaps gained other things, though. You don't have to wait to look something up anymore; just whip out your miracle device and tap the name into it. Pretty soon, in fact, I expect you won't even need to tap. Already it's "Hey Siri/Google/Alexa, define ___ for me." Eventually those gadgets won't be round things plugged into the wall; they'll be clipped to your shirt, whispering into your ear all the time.
I've noticed in my 60+ years that yes, we've lost a certain style and pace of conversation, a certain tendency to sit with an idea for a longer time and mull it over, discuss it from several angles.
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Really? I haven’t found that to be true, but maybe it’s who and where we choose to have conversations.
I’ve had some of the same thoughts, OP. I remember quite clearly when my professional peers started wearing Bluetooth headsets everywhere. The lawyer acquaintance who often sat next to my family at church could not put down his Blackberry for even an hour to worship. The line between work and leisure began to blur about twenty years ago, and it hasn’t stopped. Despite our protests that PEDs are the best thing since sliced bread, I don’t think it’s really the case. We’ve lost something that will never return.
My father used to talk about the evils of the internet, until he needed me to look something up. As far as church, I have had classmates receive calls during Sunday school. I don't carry a phone or smart phone, but if I did and a friend or relative tried to contact me during church for any reason less than a dire emergency, I would be having a Come-To-Jesus talk with them.
Overall, though, I see the internet as a big plus in terms of the information and contacts available to us now.
The more I progress on this journey, the more I believe the world would be better without the social media aspect of the internet. People would be forced to talk to each other face to face for one thing.
Man, I would have given anything to be on the cutting edge like that and have my career take off. Never happened. Instead, I chose the wrong career and it took me a good 20 years to "make it", and by then I was way behind where I would have wanted to be. So not a millionaire like you. But I'm also Gen X and I do get what you're saying. Guess I see both sides. Not sure I'd want to give up a lot of the technology at this point, but social media is awful IMO and I may get off of that completely. Anyway, nice post. LOL at the mint julip comment.
Guess I was humblebragging, got caught up in the moment. Real estate purchases in Seattle early on also paid off...never mind.
I chose a scientifically / intellectually fulfilling but not lucrative part of STEM my first seven years out of college. An opportunity came to work at Microsoft and I dropped everything on two week's notice and moved 775 mi north to Seattle. I was 30 and had nothing to lose, sometimes life provides a brass ring (as they say) and one must decide. Many cannot do this. Some will not. I could, and did.
It was a struggle a couple years, then snowballed positively as my experience grew and contacts matured along with me. I could not have been closer to each part of the tech revolution, though from a Microsoft perspective: only someone working for Apple at that time would have been 'closer.' Us worker bees of 1998 are now senior to executive leadership at various firms in Seattle and Bay Area, and that's when it starts to flower in terms of money, nature of the roles, ability to steer the technology, etc. IT is a ruthless business but can pay well, or poorly. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. I "fell seven times, but rose up eight" as the Eastern religions say...perseverance. Never mind.
I'm a nerd then, now, and intend to be when I move into my 70's and 80's as well. Things will be radically different in another 20 years...and I'll embrace it. To the point of the thread...I don't understand others who won't leap boldly into tech changes...
...but yet there they are, and they survive and apparently thrive! Maybe I'm a zealot, a so-called High Priest of the Glories of Techâ„¢
Take care.
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