Why "older people"?

diddy1, I'd go to an optician for any advice to do with eyes or eye ointments whatver my age.

i think people are maybe missing the point here: there are countless reasons why people don't have internet access, including but not exclusively that they haven't mastered the technology. i am often irritated (nay, incensed) when internet access is assumed to be had by all ~ life can definitely be made more difficult than necessary by this assumption.
anyway, some of us choose to avoid the internet, and some live in areas where the connection is so intermittent it just isn't worth the aggravation. what i would like to see is the people who charge £9 to give a phone number being charged £9 to get the essential order number of every item they want to buy, including a pint of beer in the pub or a pint of milk in the shop.

My mum is 92 and uses the internet. Has just got a new laptop as her steam powered PC gave up the ghost. She is finding it hard work but persisting. Her memory is great and she knows phone numbers of family and friends off by heart. I have them all in my smartphone and know only a very few off by heart. Maybe we're losing the ability to remember stuff because it's too accessible? What will we do when the internet crashes? Not pay £ 9 to rip off merchants if I can help it but maybe have no alternative?

I have a friend who uses a library computer as her husband flatly refuses to have anything to do with modern technology! They only got a flat screen tv last year, have a corded phone, just the one, in their draughty hallway, as he only feels safe talking on the phone when the message is coming down a physical cord and not "floating around for anyone to pick up"!!!! Wont have a micowave as they "dont trust the waves"! He is just 70! He got conned by a cold caller offering him a "too good to miss" investment opportunity and they have lost in excess over £50,000 which the police say they will never get back! It pays to be technologically savvy, whatever your age!! A very condescending bank clerk asked me years and years ago "Do you have anyone who can access the internet for you?" To which I replied, in the haughtiest tone I could muster, "Yes, me!"

I'm a younger nanny as I'm only 52 with parents in their late 70's. They have a laptop and both have smartphones. Since I told my dad not to turn off the modem I don't get 'Kasey we've lost the apps on our phone' comment anymore though they still have no clue what mobile data is

I have a laptop, tablet and smartphone and frankly would be lost without them - I've been using computers at work since 1997

The point of advertising computer classes for elderly people is probably to save them from feeling self conscious amongst a lot of youngsters. I am fortunate that at 81 I may not be a computer whizz kid but am quite able to manage my banking, deal with the council and utility companies, book flights and hotels and buy from internet sites.

Loved your post Diddy1 - the very idea - fancy going to a GP to ask for advice!

The young 'un in the Chemist should be a bit more savvy though - after all, pharmacists probably know more about drug interactions than your average GP.

Bluesmum - don't tell your friend that her 'wired phone' is actually 'rung' from the local exchange by a computer and network switch/router.

That said, I was 'offered' a 'fibre optic modem' (there's a contradiction) by a well known service provider to upgrade mine - but we still only have a copper cable to the local 'street box'!!

Good for you Tizliz

There are a few sites on the web to find who has called you from an unknown number. If you simply put the number into google, several sites come up and you can take your choice. Those numbers which come from regular cold callers will give lot of details.

I'm in my late 70s and use the internet for work, mail, shopping etc. FaceTime is a wonderful way to keep in touch with distant family.
However, I suppose I still think of directory inquiries and asking for an alarm call as they were, not as they are now, costing a fortune!

NannyKasey Tue 09-May-17 18:23:14

Our 30 something tenant upstairs called in to use TWICE saying something was wrong with the boiler. He'd not had a combi before and the sad lad was turning the entire boiler off every night. It's in an area where he can hear it and didn't want the noise and didn't need night-time heat. We explained very carefully...

Don't turn the boiler's main switch off we said, just the switch for the radiator, that leaves the HW available and the pilot light lit but that way the boiler won't kick in unless you open a HW tap so you will not hear a thing in the night whilst asleep.

The irony is he has masses of technology and expensive kit...some people need to get the basics!

That is a racket. £9! Used to be free back in the day. Haven't used them for years. But someone should investigate those charges.

Kids nowadays grow up using computers from toddlerhood. "Older people" did not. Therefore it's not unreasonable to assume that there will be a higher proportion of "older people" who don't have internet access at home than of younger people who don't. That's all the quote in the OP is about. It does not mean that there aren't plenty of "older people" who do have internet access at home and who use it happily on various devices.

I think people just get in a tizz when age is referred to as having any effect on anything. Goodness knows why! ?

This is from the ONS. Only 38.7% of people over 75 have used the internet recently (within three months) and two thirds of women over 75 have never used the Internet. In contrast, 98.8% of people aged 16-44 had used the Internet within the past three months. www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2016

Gransnet won't be representative because we're all using the internet to be here.

Your comment made me laugh as I had just given my DH the same "warning"

Quite right to be annoyed. If your hair is grey..." Would you like help with your packing?". Sooo very patronising if you're over 50. Not all of us want to be connected to the moronic internet, social media etc..what a total waste of life. Talking to virtual friends etc no wonder mental health is on the rise!
I'm not interested but know I need to keep abreast and that's all I'll do...but will also converse with my fellow grandparents on here for a good bit of banter!

My friend, same age as me, is terrified of anything like the internet, won't touch it. Even using the cash machine at the bank, she starts shaking and has to ask me to help. It's just her nature.
Anyway I'm the same if I need to argue with someone on the phone, especially if it's in french I start to shake before picking up the phone.

Before I retired, I was the IT co-ordinator for my school, managing over 100 PCs, laptops, smart boards, security etc. I also served on many IT working parties, piloted new software for LEA and was termed a "Masterclasser", from whom staff in other schools could ask for help.
Technicians, contractors etc, would come into school asking for the IT co-ordinator. The expression on their faces was so funny, when this wee elderly lady would appear, when they were expecting a young, tech, savvy whizz kid.

inishowen
I don't watch Corrie so I didn't know they were turning Audrey into an unsavvy technophobe!
Sue Nicholls is only a year or so older than me, she was at school with a couple of my friends!

My Sis-IL, however, 10 or so years older than me, refuses to use a computer even though she used one at work (apparently she hasn't got time).

I first used a computer 30 years ago at work, had a computer at home over 20 years ago and internet access nearly 20 years ago. I agree being retired means I am no longer constantly having to learn new software packages as I did at work but I do spend a lot of time on my laptop.
However, when I retired four years ago, I joined two classes for retired people and everyone in one class and most in the other, had never used a computer and had no wish to do so. Most of these people would be 75+. The tutors are struggling to accept that the newer, younger students are online.

I'm a silver surfer and have been for years . There's a lot I don't know but with instruction I soon pick it up. My local library has computer lessons twice a week. It's always the retired that have enrolled in these courses. I also have a tablet and a smart phone so I'm fully electronic ?

My mother (in her 70s) is uses the internet for just about everything, my father on the other hand wouldn't know where the on/off button on a computer was.

I do not know where this idea that seems to be current among younger people that nobody over 60 is familiar with modern technology came from.

Many of our friends, in their 70s like us spent their whole careers working in IT so their children grew up with their parents using computers, as did ours. Our eldest was 9 when we bought our first home computer, the ZX80 and we progressed smoothly from there, getting our first pc in 1984.

I know people in their sixties who used computers in the workplace for many years, but who haven't a clue how to use them on a personal level, and have little or no desire to learn now!