OAP ageist TV

Sparklefizz we know it’s a TV programme ? and our point is it is specifically about how stupid OAPs are with modern technology. Not only is it ageist, it’s boring and not even funny.

Anja Obviously I get that, but there are plenty of ageist, sexist and completely rubbish programmes on TV. They are made to pander to the lowest common denominator, and our only answer is not to watch them so that their viewing figures are low, and/or to complain to the programme-makers. I saw what it was about and made the choice not to watch such nonsense.

Good Afternoon from OZ. Further to my recent post regarding recognition of us "Senior Cits." we are having a day out on Thurs. organised by our local Council as part of their "Monash on the Move" social inclusion prog. A free coach trip to Point Nepean, entrance to Port Phillip Bay. We visit a place of interest each month. It's nice to know we are remembered and not being left behind. Good Health and have a nice day!

Sparklefizz we know it’s a TV programme ? and our point is it is specifically about how stupid OAPs are with modern technology. Not only is it ageist, it’s boring and not even funny.

Imagine if all the participants were black? And it was making the same point.

The last time I used a self service till I ended up having 3 people helping me?
I was a one woman job creation scheme!

I've just replaced the CMOS battery in my aged laptop (the little coin battery that works the clock amongst other things). The frustration came not from the technology but from not being able to get the screws out of the back. I do find screw drivers and bottle tops a challenge at my age

It's a TV programme. How interesting would it be to see lots of pensioners tapping away confidently on their iPads and Skyping their grandchildren? Even if these Z-list celebrities are in real life pretty good with technology, they will have been requested to look stupid in order to make the programme. Everything is not always as it seems!

Me too. I was in fits with the getting to grips with technology. I am now reasonably good with technical things but have very little patience so could see myself in this. I didn't think it was being patronising or agist and I would be one of the first to shout if I thought it was. perhaps it is my weird sense of the ridiculous

I see Miriam Margolyes has a new programme coming on air. I'm fed up seeing that group of oldies on TV. Yes I know that sounds ageist but I think the BBC is paying lip service to using older people.

I did not watch the programme because I cannot turn on my own TV and have to wait for the DH to do it.

Seriously though, I choose the technology I want to be au fait with and most of it is irrevelevant or a stalking horse for others to gain information about that which one wishes to remain private. Who would have an Alexa or a smart meter?

Good question Laurely.

I disagree with those who make the argument against self-service tills on the basis of job losses.

How many people refused to use supermarkets as they systematically took away the livelihoods of general grocers, greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers, bakers, independent pharmacists, tobaconnists, confectioners and newsagents, off licencees and publicans, independent clothes shops, electrical shops and every other trade they have undercut because their buying power allows them to sell goods at lower prices? People like being able to shop under one roof and take advantage of lower prices.

I don’t remember people protesting about the lost jobs of petrol pump attendants when forecourts became self-service or bank cashiers when the cashpoint machine was introduced. How many people are still willing to queue in a bank for fifteen minutes to withdraw cash at a counter because they are worrying that someone might lose their job? Most will use a cashpoint which takes less than a minute.

People enjoy shopping online for better choice,
lower prices and convenience. This is causing high street closures and job losses too.

There are many, many other examples where things are done differently now and we have accepted these changes as progress. The computers that we take for granted now automated many tedious office and industrial jobs.

I don’t understand why supermarket check out jobs are seen as a special case and an argument against change. My local Every Little Helps supermarket is currently struggling to recruit staff so people are not exactly falling over themselves to do these dull jobs.

Programme, not progress. But working on a different level, it raises an interesting questions.Do self-service tills show a kind of progress that benefits society, or a technological one that benefits capitalist enterprises?

Didn't see the progress. My DH, who was a university lecturer in co luter development back in the last century, once got so cross with a mafunctioning self-service till that he kicked if and swore at it. 'That won't help, sir,' he was told. .

I also have a printer that refuses to work until i literally shout "PRINT THEN!" at it.grin
Nannan; Obviously some "dirty rotten scoundrel" has hacked you and installed the "Voice Recognition" app.! Try shouting P.O. next time!

I haven’t seen the programme but my 91 year old fil is very comfortable with technology. He happily uses laptop or iPad and shops online for all sorts of things, including groceries. The only difficulty he has is with his mobile, but that’s because of his hearing difficulties not the technology.

Haven’t seen the program but at 54 even I feel past it.
I have got Alexa ( but only because it was a Christmas present ) me & dh roll our eyes at it & just use it to play music. I do feel that as we age we just can’t be bothered with all the new technology, not because we’re too thick to understand it, but because we’re not interested. I find anyone who’s obsessed with new technology to be a bit boring tbh whatever age they are, & a 70 year old desperately trying to be ‘down with the kids’ by having the latest iPhone is a bit cringe.
I admire people who don’t buy into all this c**p.
But if the program was presented to poke fun at the ‘oldies’ then that’s out of order, but these older celebrities line up to take part in these self promotion ( probably well paid ) programs.

I didn't see this programme but this certainly does not apply to me. I am a senior citizen and I own a desktop PC, a laptop, an iPad, an iPhone and a printer and I know how to use them all. I am quite sure a lot of other senior citizens can say the same.

Exactly Kim ‘somebody missed the boat’ - most of us don’t mind laughing at ourselves...and there have been some excellent programmes in the past such as the Grumpy Olds, One Foot in the Grave, Last of the Summer Wine.

But this.....????

Have to confess I found it somewhat disappointing in content. I do believe there was scope for some real in depth humour there but somebody missed the boat. Our generation tends to be able to laugh at ourselves and maybe particularly in this arena where many of us settle for 'need to know' level rather than deep understanding or a need to keep up with whatever's new on the market. I speak for myself, of course, and not all you whizz kids out there!

Oh for goodness sake, they were being paid for being silly. I'm 71 soon to be 70... I have Alexa yes she gets on my t.. nerves and also keeps me informed, pills hospital apts etc. I use it for keeping me on time etc. Not for recipes I've got beautiful books for that so much more information in books, Alexa usually says Hmm I'm not sure about that. I ignore her mostly, my DH adores her my DGS does too, but she only talks about the weather or silly jokes to them. No technologies are nowhere near useful just yet, but, they do keep us talking.

I didn't watch it because, although I used to find them quite amusing, I'm a bit bored with the "grumpy old"- type programmes now.

However, I have to admit that I am not very interested in technology and have not bothered to learn much about mobile phones, computers, etc. If that makes me "lazy" or a "dinosaur" then so be it but I don't feel as if I am. I'm just not particularly interested in it and I think a lot of the new technology will be, and is being, misused. It is already alienating people from one another and disabling them. The programme about Huawei and 5G the other night spoke of all the wonderful things that are in the pipeline - people will not have to switch on lights, machines will activate themselves and talk to each other, etc, etc. It seems to me that we will become so dependent on this technology that we will be left very vulnerable.

Watched the program, seemed to be over acted and set up, especially the electric car.
Don't use the self service tills if I have alcohol as you have to wait for someone to verify your over 18.

glammanana I totally agree - I am very tired of seeing supermarkets cut down on staff to save money to give to their shareholders, and then complain that they have fewer shoppers!

We have a friend who will be 100 years old in June. She is a wizard with her i-pad, she texts with her mobile phone and she loves technology.

It's funny (peculiar) how ageism is the one quite acceptable "ism" in the media. I'm quite tech savvy and my mother, at 84, can teach me a thing or two about it. I do agree about cash tills. I can use the automated ones perfectly well but I generally don't on principle.

For some reason there seems to be a trend in comedians to mock old people. Basically, I think it's become politically incorrect to mock certain groups, foreigners, women, disabled, homosexuals to name but a few, one of the few groups left that they can use are old people. I hate the term 'silver surfers', to me it separates older people from the rest of society. Incidentally, I agree with those who don't use automatic checkouts. Just another ploy by supermarkets to cut done on jobs.