Why "older people"?

My dad died 6 years ago, just short of his 95th birthday and had been using a pc then a laptop for a few years. He used to put his photos on it, and used email and also surfed the net.

All I wanted to do was agree with LouP I couldn't sign in correctly, took three goes then I lost the thread, then I lost it altogether !!! Yes I am an older person but wwouldnt be without the internet for shopping and especially christmas. will keep going wish me luck !!!!!!!

I see what you mean, but many of the older people I know have never used a computer or even a mobile phone. My poor old MIL can barely use a TV remote control - and then she only uses buttons 1-4, none of the others as she's scared of 'mucking it up.'
As our generation will get older, hopefully we'll remain reasonably computer savvy - but we may not.

I'm 80 and have been on the internet for 19 years. 1998 to be precise. Friends gave me an old Apple computer - which is now a museum piece and I learned on that and used it mostly to type my prepared lessons and for DH as well We were both teachers.
Sometimes if I get the feeling that the expert in the computer shop is gettig a bit uppity I tell him I was surfing the net in the last century. That shuts them up and I get good service from then on.
He also knows I'm belong to the older people who use the internet. I don't mind being old I can hardly be young or middle aged at my age,
Bye the way those of us who learned on simple computers had it easer than today.

I agree with you LouP. I am 73 and would be lost without the internet and my smart phone. Use them both for absolutely everything. Google for finding out everything is an absolute boon. Also on Facebook so I can keep up to date with friends and particularly grandchildren.

There's no excuse for anyone these days not to be computer savvy. My 90-year old friend was given her GD's cast off laptop and took to online everything like a duck to water.

However, she wasn't enamoured with the local Internet cafe she visited with her friend (93) as the 'stools are too high'

i've been using computers since 1990 when i worked in a school. therefore i had to have a computer of my own at home.
as my guy is a computer technician i've gained a lot of knowledge about computers and progressed to being the proud owner of a desktop, a laptop, a tablet and a smartphone. and i discovered that i can access the internet on my wii and my 3ds too!
when my daughter and grandaughters moved in with me two years ago they brought their technology with them and now we have the grand total of 2 desktops, 4 laptops, 5 smart phones, 3 tablets, 3 kindle fires, 1 wii, 1 wii u, 1 3ds, 2 2ds. and most of them are in use regularly! are we the most tech savvy family?
the problem with having all this technology [apart from the desktops] is that everything needs charging - the number of charging cables that we have in the house and in the car is phenomenal as not everything will use the same charging cable!!

The problem with older people/grandparents is that this encompasses ages ranging from 60 year olds to 100 year olds; a huge age range. During those 40 years there have been so many technological advances. And some embrace it but some have been left behind. There is no general rule of thumb. But we need to cater to both.

My mum will be 94 tomorrow and really struggles with technology. She doesn't really understand the internet and although she has a mobile phone it isn't a smartphone and she has trouble even using that! I think it's a shame as you can make life so much easier and cheaper by doing things online and the very age group that could probably benefit the most from this are losing out.

My OH and I regularly do bank account switching to get extra cash, but they all seem to involve online banking. We also use the comparison sites for our home contents and building insurance, car insurance etc. again managing to get cheaper prices every year.

We do our grocery shopping online and just go and pick it up for free, which saves us the time walking around the supermarket. I rarely buy anything without checking online first to see if I can find it somewhere else cheaper or just to read reviews on things. Without the internet you can't do any of these things.

Like Lupartria we are lucky that we have a lot of technology products in our house and I'd hate to be without my laptop, smartphone, smart tv, mobile phone etc., although when they go wrong it's a real nuisance!

I think, on the whole, us gransnetters aren't really 'older people' yet! Not at heart and definitely not if tech savyness is a criteria!

At what age does "old age" commence? My husband and his golf playing chums are in their '70s, some even early '80s. They all use the internet, they fix up their games, matches etc. by email. They all used computer technology at work so it's been part of their lives for a while. My parents, if they were still alive would now be in their late ninties, they were of a generation that hadn't become savvy with computers. I bought my mother a mobile phone and taught her to use it. I really wanted to get her started with a computer too, just sending emails, nothing too complicated, but like my husband's late parents they were of an age on the tail end of the technological surge which I think they thought they wouldn't be able to get to grips with. I remember arguing with my late father in law that computers were necessary to every day life, even then I did a lot of booking up holidays, tickets etc. on line. These conversations would have been 10 years or so ago, if he was still alive he would be over 100. He was adamant that no one needed a computer, at the time one of my sons was in the stage of applying to universities it didn't matter how many times we told him liaising with UCAS and course work couldn't be submitted by means of a quill pen, he just wasn't having any of it! We also bought him a mobile phone which he chucked in the drawer and refused to use, although his sister, my husband's aunt, still alive and nearly hundred can text on hers

Oh LouP I'm sure that's the way to go. I'm 70 and use my pc and ipad daily. When I become old and decrepit I shall do my grocery shopping online as well as (as now) shopping for clothes and other items. Some of these I have found via GN. Aren't we fortunate that we have this wonderful, universal technology at our fingertips?

My late Mother had a laptop and kept in tough with everyone on it and she passed away in 2010 in her late 80's.

On another point, I remember Directory Enquiries first started charging. I wrote a screed detailing the new "company policy" on use of this service. This involved the use of a company umbrella for use in rain when the callbox across the road, was used! The final draft required all applications to be registered with reception by Tuesday evening so that the maintenance guy could use the public telephone in B&Q opposite the firm. Also required were any items required from B&Q notified to reception to justify his visit there. This had to be done by Tuesday so that he could go over on the Wednesday to make full use of his senior citizen's discount!

I was highly amused when someone printed out my screed and posted it on the company noticeboard! The maintenance guy was not so amused when he kept getting requests for B&Q!

I retired 18 months ago. I am very aware that my IT expertise has diminished in that time. Software I used all the time I use infrequently now, and so have to work hard remembering how to it performs a certain task. I have learned no new IT skills. I assume that as technology moves on, I will be left behind.

I'm 71 and have used computers since the 1980's. As soon as it was possible I used the internet. I think it has more to do with inclination than age. Disabilities may be a problem, blindness for example, but you don't have to be old to suffer from that.
Have any figures been put together regarding financial circumstances? That too can be a factor.

Hm999 I don't use the same software now that I did when working. I still do my graphics and layouts for business and have also moved on to 3D modelling, but I do not use spreadsheets any longer and have trouble when someone wants me to generate a chart put into a presentation from their columns of figures! I now just ask them to send me the file with the chart in it, and then I am OK to adjust the appearance.

Also have lost my edge with web design software as my older version does not work across all devices without updates I've not bothered with.

Enough to do as it is... I leave behind the things I don't really need any longer. Hard enough to keep the stuff I need to know in my head.

Like others... passwords are a PITA!! I used to alternate, but for many sites you cannot recycle ones used previously.

Love reading these posts, especially from the computer vets who were using the technology in early days!

I studied computer science in my third year at university. Up till then there had only been a postgraduate course for graduates in maths, physics or engineering, but in 1964 they decided to accept undergraduates who had done two years of maths. We learnt to programme in Algol and KDF9 Autocode (which was a gooble-de-gook low level language). I think only four of the undergraduates survived the course.

I use the Internet several times a day and love it, especially Gransnet.
This is nothing to do with todays thread, but I must tell you, I went into a local Chemist to ask for some eye ointment, the lady behind the counter said " I am afraid we cant give advice about eye ointment, at your age it is better to go to your Doctor for advice" well when I had recovered and looked in the mirror, I made an appointment today, only to be seen by a Nurse, I think I might have been to young to see a Doctor! Incidentally it was a waste of time, as being a Nurse I didnt get any more advice then I would have given anyone else! So what does one do at "my age?"

I'm 65 and I, too, resent the 'older person' label and all the stereotypes it implies. Everyone is older than someone else, even my two year old grandson! Back in 1978/79, computerised systems were being introduced in the laboratory where I worked as an analytical chemist. Later, as a teacher in the late 1980s, computers were beginning to be used in all primary schools. Younger teachers needed training courses just as older teachers did! Older people provide today's technology and teach children, initially, how to use it.
If older people are unaware of how to find a phone number without bankrupting themselves, someone should tell them! Then the ball's in their court! Take it or leave it.

My late mother-in-law used to call my son to put her TV right after he insisted she stopped calling and paying the repair man every time she pressed a wrong button on the remote. He realised how she was getting into difficulties and wrote a list of steps for her to follow. Problem solved and a lot of money saved!

Not to mention one unscrupulous repair man no longer cashing in!

When I briefly moved to live with my elderly parents the first thing I did was have broadband connected. Someone asked my mum if she had the internet - she replied 'no, but we have broadband!' Bless ?

My sister who is 66 only has a land line and a basuc TV, no recording facility, no mobile, no internet etc, and will not be talked into it.

Today I had to put the sales person in the Apple shop right, not sure if he was amused or embarrassed!

I remember the first laptops in early 80's, you could hardly lift them, now I am using my ipad with one hand

The problem is that all older people are gathered up and assumed to be the same as the group of older people, who are having problems.

Some older people do not use computers or the internet, some cannot use a bath, others have difficulty climbing stairs, but the majority of older people have none of those problems or only one, but everything is rolled up into a group called 'vulnerable older people, or 'vulnerable pensioners' or whatever.

What I would like, more than anything is if people devising aids for older people would actually speak to us and ask us what we want and what we need and not just decide for us. I read an item yesteday by someone complaining about buying a phone aimed at older people that had, in her words, all the facilities younger people thought she wanted and none of the ones she actually wanted.

At almost 80 I would be lost without my tablet,kindle,laptop i-pad and smartphone.
I didn't know anything until my SiL brought me a desktop when they were upgrading their technology at work.
I took to it like a duck to water. That is probably about 6/7 years ago. I needed a bit of help at first but soon worked things out for myself.
I now spend/waste far too much time online.