Why "older people"?

mrsjones and that's good enough for all of us. It means that if you find you need to fill in forms online you'll learn how to fill in forms online, and so on, which to me sounds like a good healthy attitude. You don't sound like the sort of person who will sit there helplessly complaining you don't know something and expecting it to be all changed back to suit what you already know.

I only know what I want/need to do and that's good enough for me.

Well the way I see it, if an "older person" can't use a computer, unless they have dementia or a learning disability it's their fault they didn't decide whether to bother to learn or not, no one else's. They've had at least 10 years of the trend to online services to adjust, and it doesn't take 10 years to learn to use it. So why should things be put in place specially to pander to their laziness? Naturally, any person of any age with dementia or learning disabilities should have access to support, so that someone can do their online form filling for them. All the others can just quit moaning and exercise their brain cells.

Always used one, work and personal stuff. Still use one but I find it's not a matter of 'can't' when something new comes out it's a matter of 'don't want to'. I operate on a need to know basis now, if I don't need it then I don't need to know. Guess that makes me old!

I wouldn't have the faintest idea what number to ring for directory enquiries - and I'm sure my older relatives wouldn't either. The really elderly don't tend to need to find a number as they usually have them written down or a family member has programmed numbers into the handset.

I found it very hard to persuade my parents to have a computer (ipad). But since they have been online it has made their lives much better and easier. Now in their 90's they have remained fairly independent by using online shopping, banking etc. My experience was that the first hurdle was motivation rather than ability.

We had a BBC Micro Model A when they first appeared in 1981, and have never been without a comoputer since. We had a BBC model B, and later an Archimedes (which is still in the attic) The first ones had no graphics or sophisticated user interface - you used them by typing in commands in the computer language Basic, so you got used to understanding just what you were asking the machine to do. I remember the excitement when the first GUI (Graphic User Interface) came out, it was even greater than the impact that touch screens has had.

But I can understand how people feel who have never come into contact with computers until they reach retirement age or beyond. It is a new world, and there are so many scary stories of crashes and viruses and trolling. It is like learning to drive a car for the first time in your old age! rthere is controlling the thing itself, there is knowing where you are going to and why, and obeying the Highway Code and watching out for all the other traffic on the road.

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!

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.

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'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 ?

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.

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).

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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! ?

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.

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!

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!

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.

Good for you Tizliz

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'!!