But, what if you are not, or even don't want to be, on the internet?

Like many people I am quite happy using the internet to book holidays and buy things from reputable companies but do not bank online. Mobile phone wise I still use a dumb phone for calls and texts which suits my needs. However I appreciate that at some time soon I will need to get a smart phone so that I can download particular apps. Many pubs/restaurants that have recently re-opened want you to order using you smart phone. Just a question of if/when to keep up with the times.

I prefer to make the internet my friend and not my enemy. If you don't keep up with the modern world you have to take the consequences.

Doing things online is usually easier and cheaper than resisting and trying to find another way - but the longer you fight against it the harder and more frightening it becomes.

I understand its necessary to have a mobile phone registered in the UK to access a UK banking app. Is this correct ?

perhaps the very old eg 90+ might not have had the opportunity
Furret Hang on! How many more "verys" have you got in mind!? I'm 93, retired at 65 just when desk-top PCs were taking off and I'm still learning! Lots of opportunity and loved it; absolutely essential, particularly these days.
Good Health

Come the day when I have to use remote cameras with my doctor, there's no way I am going to show him, or the world, my haemorrhoids
Spangler And I bet he'll say "I'll drink to that!"
You need what us Oldies call a "Selfie," taken with a very remote camera because no one's going to volunteer to take the pic for you!
If you do manage it, please don't post it here. The image of your pot-belly recently still haunts me!
Btw; thank goodness spell checkers can handle "emmeroyds"
Good Health and stay away from doctors!
OoRoo

Well said Rufus on both accounts! You are a shining example that being over whatever age doesn't stop you learning new skills! Cheers!

I never have wanted to learn computer skills.
My brain does the equivalent of fingers in ears and "la la la, I can't hear you" when someone mentions online things.

Ladymuck you were lucky that you had to wait for the repair to be made overnight. One Friday morning last year a silly man managed to cut through the overhead cable whilst tree pruning. This meant that several villages were without internet access but it also meant that over the weekend the bank cash machines couldn't dispense money, the petrol pumps wouldn't work and we could only pay for shopping with cash or a cheque. This is France and we are a little behind.

I think that the internet is a wonderful tool. I can post on GN and email friends whenever I think of them, often in the early hours. It's surprising how many other people post at odd hours.

Internet banking is very good - money is transferred from one of my accounts to another (all UK) instantly. If I check my French account and find that I need to transfer funds I can organise the transfer immediately.

I watch You tube quite a lot. Last week it was 3 different versions of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. Other times it's Leonard Cohen, or The Traveling Wilburys or the Mavericks, whoever.

Most of all I like that I can access information quickly. You know how it is - having a discussion about films, or music and no one can remember someone's name - a few seconds and you've got the answer.

I recently moved house and most of the business was done on-line e.g. Solicitors/Estate Agents/Utilities etc.,

My OH has never used the internet and doesnt text on his phone, this is because he struggles with literacy. He taught himself to read (basic stuff) after he left school when the teachers convinced him he was stupid! He can now read a bit but really struggles to write and as for filling in forms thats a big no no so I do all that. A friend of ours is the same and comes to me to read her letters and write anything down.
I know its different now in education but not unknown. I was in Adult education until a few years ago and came across it many times. All lot of traveller children struggle with literacy and before anyone jumps on me my OH is from that backround as the friend I mentioned before.

How adorable is this woman trying to use Google?! According to her grandson Ben (who tweeted the photo), this Nan thinks that every search is fielded by an actual person, so whenever she Googles something, she never fails to use polite language when inputting her requests.

Google U.K. was even kind enough to respond on Twitter, saying, "Dearest Ben's Nan. Hope you're well. In a world of billions of Searches, yours made us smile.

That's lovely.

My husband recently changed his car and had a tax rebate for the old one.
Despite paying the tax online originally, and the fact that refunds should be made by the same means the bill was paid, the DVLA have sent him a cheque for the refund.
So tonight he's making a special trip into town to pay it into the bank.
He thinks they do it deliberately to make it awkward for people, in the hope that some won't bother.

MissAdventure
You say that you have never wanted to learn computer skills.
Your here now ? You post links ? and you sell on eBay?
I would say that they are computer skills.

Yes, they're all things that benefit or interest me.
The other, boring stuff? Nah.

I'm horrified by the mess of the DWP, and how difficult it must be for anyone without a computer and printer.

Their methods are a mix of online, paper forms to print out and return by post, and phone calls involving waits of an hour or more to speak to someone who then usually says the system is down.

I have a relative trying to get a mistake (made by the DWP) corrected and has had to get Citizens Advice to help.

People on any sort of benefit face a nightmare situation in trying to deal with the DWP, even with a computer and being very computer literate, as my relative is.

I can vouch for that.
Add stoney faced, unhelpfully glib staff, and it's the stuff of nightmares.

MissA

At the risk of going off the original subject, FarNorth, my wife just reached 60 two months before the change in retirement age for women. However, her employer, the NHS, asked her if she would like to work on, which she agreed to do.

This somehow caused the DWP to think that she had deferred her state pension. Just as you and MissAdventure experienced, contacting them was akin to climbing Mount Everest.

What I did for her was to hand write a letter, outlining all that had occurred and asking them for a response. I put a stamped addressed envelope in with the letter and three days later they replied.

They thanked my wife for the letter, apologised for the misunderstanding and reassured her that full payment had gone into our current account.

And to bring this back on track, if I had internet banking I could have checked it out, as it was, I withdrew a mini statement from the cash machine that verified the payment.

I'm certainly not suggesting that letters are better than email but I think they picked up on my wife's concern because of the request for an answer and the supply of a stamped addressed envelope.

Of course, when you're under the guidance of a dwp "work coach" you have to give them your email, so they can log into the account you had to make, to check how your job searching is going. (And sanction you - that means stopping your money)

How that is progress, I'll never know.

It certainly does nothing to help a demoralised person.

I think you and your wife were lucky Spangler.
It's just as likely that your letter could have been never heard of again.
Sorry if I seem to be derailing the topic.
My point was that being computer literate, or any other kind of literate, doesn't help in dealings with the DWP which seems deliberately designed to obstruct people.

We are in our seventies.We are online for everything. We have ipads, smart phones, a desktop and a laptop. We live part of the time in Ireland where everything to do with the government is online. It is virtually impossible to live here without internet connectivity or someone to do it for you. It is not only an age issue but also a financial issue; fibre connectivity is not cheap. I have no idea how you can function in society these days without being online. It is not right but that is how it is.

That's it.
I feel railroaded into it.

I can't get my head round Siri, Apke's virtual assistant! Just unbelievable how he replies in a natural human voice to various questions and requests! Not 100% sure how it works, even though it has been explained to me before