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The age that seniors use technology is rising. Used to be that a lot of people in their '60s didn't have a computer. Now it's more like people in their '70s and older. Yet a lot of people in their 70s use computers all the time.
I think pretty soon it will be mostly people in their 80s who don't use computers. But if people were accustomed to them, they're going to continue as long as they are physically able.
If someone has to start and learn from the very beginning, it is difficult when you are in your '80s. But it won't be that long before there won't be many 80 years olds who didn't have to learn computers for their jobs or didn't have a computer at home when they were a decade or so younger. So people in their 80s using computers will be the norm--as long as they are physically able.
Being a third generation techie I'm a bit of an odd out. The other day my Mom was doing an de facto security audit on me ... she's going to be 80 soon. That motherly protective instinct I suppose ... LOL!
I was lucky (I think) that I began working with mainframe computers long before there were such things as PCs. So I 'get' the high tech world - but I don't always approve of it/where it has gone and is going these days. I don't like the societal influences primarily. And frankly I don't care for its 'expansion' into the world of cellphones/tablets, etc. - a phone for me is for voice calling and that is all. So while I am very familiar with computers and most high tech gadgets and the high tech world, I won't use a lot of it if I can help it.
I gave my father (who died at 95 a few years ago) a computer when he hit 70 - and he used a lot of its capabilities till not long before he died. He never 'got' cellphones at all though, especially the so-called 'smart' ones - and frankly I don't get the need for them to do anything more than allow us talk mobility either (but stubborn-ness is my issue, not inability to learn).
Smart phones are just the runts of the computer litter. What a joke.
Fine with PC/laptops for email and for video Skype calls, can download and stream movies, TV. Including hiding IPs when overseas for the latter.
We were the couple who always had the latest technology when we worked. Smart phones just started getting popular when we were retired and living in Mexico for 5+ years where they were not (then) available.
We survive quite well in our active travel-focused lives (Europe and Mexico, at least 3 trips a year to each) with two cheap TracFones (the oldest cost $10 at a dollar store, 10 years ago); a cheap international phone (that we turn off/on as needed); and Skype (have a number with them). We mostly communicate via email.
I resent the cost of smart phones...the devices themselves are pricey (we'd need one each) and the monthly tab for service. Our monthly Tracfone usage costs around $10 bucks a month; the international phone is usually 8 bucks a month (avg over a year) and the Skype-in number plus service is also about 7 dollars a month...so a total of $25 a month.
I have 'borrowed' and played with friends' and family's smart phones and remain unimpressed....screens are too small, typing/keying on them is a joke (for me anyway).
My guess is within a few years, there will be no more printed airline e-tickets....you'll HAVE to download them to a smart phone. I guess that's when we'll bite the bullet and succumb to a smart phone. But not without a lot of kicking, screaming and kvetching!
So called Smart phones are touted as freedom inducing ... great! ... no more need for a 'puter, or, heaven forbid, brick and mortar! Oh but wait ... what will happen when you can't turn off the GPS ... voila ... everyone now has a PERSONAL BLACK BOX subject to subpoena! In fact ... now that I'm thinking about it ... who even needs a smart phone? ... when there are all sorts of nifty new IoT devices. I can see it now ... we no longer give out drivers licenses / Social Security cards / passports ... you must be fitted with this IoT! Ahhhh ... isn't technology grand!!!!
What I passionately hate about new technology is the learning process when something new comes along. The instructions, if any, are only intelligible to a "GEEK". We have 2 desktops, his and hers, but support for the Vista unit will end next April. We have had the W10 for 10 months and it is still a learning chore.
I don't bank online, "if it isn't there they can't hack it". My banking needs are extremely simple anyway.
We have a tablet, but it gets very little use, we both find a desktop easier to navigate. It was useful when we were moving to look at available housing online.
The "kids" gave my wife a smartphone, but my having one can not be justified cost wise.
Most seniors don't get it from my observations, especially the elder ladies.
Note that computers in today's world are really obsolete, except for specialized tasks. You can accomplish anything, usually easier, on your smartphone.
Most seniors don't get it from my observations, especially the elder ladies.
Note that computers in today's world are really obsolete, except for specialized tasks. You can accomplish anything, usually easier, on your smartphone.
Well, maybe we don't "get" how to build one or most of how to repair one but almost all of us under age 75 know how to use one.
And computers are not obsolete if you have work to do. Smartphones are okay for playing games or doing simple lookups, texting--you can do lots of things on a phone, but if you need to write a long paper or do serious research, you need a screen that's big enough to read easily. Keys to type on help too. I would imagine that graphics would need a larger screen too.
.... plus a bionic lower spine, bionic ankle, hmmmm ... let's see what else? .....
For me, bionic knees and shoulders.
I was on the bleeding edge of tech when the PDP-11 was new. I got tired of the constant upgrade race a few years ago, I see less of a need for it now. Win98 was the last OS I actually paid for (M$ gave me copies of Win2k Pro, Server and Advanced Server at a pre-release tech seminar). The only reason I have any newer Win OS copies, is because they were on machines that people chucked out that I resurrected.
Most seniors don't get it from my observations, especially the elder ladies.
Note that computers in today's world are really obsolete, except for specialized tasks. You can accomplish anything, usually easier, on your smartphone.
Very difficult to write anything of consequence on a smart phone. Only good for tweets and sound bites.
I was on the bleeding edge of tech when the PDP-11 was new. I got tired of the constant upgrade race a few years ago, I see less of a need for it now. Win98 was the last OS I actually paid for (M$ gave me copies of Win2k Pro, Server and Advanced Server at a pre-release tech seminar). The only reason I have any newer Win OS copies, is because they were on machines that people chucked out that I resurrected.
I use Linux Ubuntu 14.04 on my laptop(with windows XP in a cage for a couple of important programs). I do have an old iMac(i5Quad 2.7) upstairs running Snow Leopard. Both my wife's and my ThinkPad x200's have SSD drives in them so they are very fast in doing anything we ask them to do(one second for most tasks, and only 8 second to launch the system from cold). We simply have to reason to upgrade to the latest best, when the current works great.
But then again if I should have to get more current for something like doing the income tax, I have an external drive with Windows 10 on it for my laptop. I can plug it into my Linux machine if I have to.
My wife has a 4s iPhone, but doesn't have a clue how to use most of it. I just have a regular completely out of date phone with a slide out keyboard for texting.
Most seniors don't get it from my observations, especially the elder ladies.
Note that computers in today's world are really obsolete, except for specialized tasks. You can accomplish anything, usually easier, on your smartphone.
From my experience the seniors who want to get it, get it both female and male. Younger people don't always get it, I learned that from my former workplace where some of them in their twenties and thirties continually asked me, a person then in her sixties, to do their computer work for them.
The thing is, seniors remember when there where methods of "computing" stuff before there were ever PC's, Smart Phones, tablets etc. We used whatever ways available for information finding or calculating. Young people growing up with today's technology don't have a choice because they are not taught alternatives. Just see if those young twenty-something cashiers can count back change for you without having to use their computerized cash registers to to it for them.
If seniors can get by in today's world without using electronic devices they have other options to fall back on and some prefer it that way. But many want to learn the latest and greatest. Computer classes for seniors is a very popular course anywhere they are offered.
I don't see much of a gender difference as far as use of computers. In my senior complex, I see women with tablets and in the computer room just as much as I see men. In fact, in my writing group it's the men who still use pen and paper while the women all use computers to write their stories.
Everyone has their reasons for using whatever they use. I have a Smartphone but due to the very small characters I prefer to do my typing and reading on my computer. I it do use at times for the Internet but it's much easier, I find, to use my PC.
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