are people over 40 really that uniformed ?

[vibebob]

OK, I see it many times on TV .. yanno, EVERYONE over the age 40 is a complete techno-dunce, I can say this because I'm 48.- A commercial with John Walsh (Americas Most Wanted) talking about children's internet safety, he says "most of us don't know how to program the VCR. How are we supposed to monitor what our kids do on the internet"- the commercial where the guy is hocking computer video training DVD's, they have a middle aged mother that says her daughter knows more about computers than she does and her daughter is 3 1/2.- many TV shows where the kid always knows more about techno stuff than do the adults and the show makes the adults look like morons and the kid is a genius.I don't know about y'all, but I am a techno-phile, not a techno-(removed) and these generalizations get me. so just how techno-stupid are the over 40 crowd.peace out,bob

[Houston]

Quote, originally posted by vibebob »I don't know about y'all, but I am a techno-phile, not a techno-(removed) and these generalizations get me. so just how techno-stupid are the over 40 crowd. I totally agree. I'm 63 and certainly no genius. I have to go online to get answers to my questions, while the folks I know, most of whom are younger, come to me for help with their computer problems. On TV old people are depicted as being real dumbos, but it's only for entertainment purposes.Young folks will be older one of these days and will only then understand where you're coming from.

[jake75]

I'm so close to 63 I can smell it - it seems harder to learn new things but us old folks have some unique coping skills. I can generally find the answer to ALMOST anything. I also have more common sense than a large number of these young folks! Many wouldn't know a timing belt from a jumper cable. Don't understand that you shouldn't run transmission fluid for 120,000 miles, or to inquire about changing coolant.

[mcgusto82]

yes. my 52 yr father just found out how to e-mail. he spams me now. good thing my mother doesn't know how to.

[JohnC]

Guess I am no techno-wizard...acidently started a new thread. Here is what I was trying to post...My dad is 74 and I would put him up against any young techno-nerd. He builds/flys RC planes, does all kinds of computer crap, has every new electronic gadget that comes along weather he needs it or not. His latest is an after market Maggelan GPS for his truck. The guy goes 24/7.

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by vibebob »so just how techno-stupid are the over 40 crowd.I don't know if it's an age deal. I think some people "just don't get it".A guy I work with admitted he couldn't get down to the bottom of a page on the computer because his mouse ran out of cable....

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by cohocarl »A guy I work with admitted he couldn't get down to the bottom of a page on the computer because his mouse ran out of cable.... Oh my god... someone take the computer away from him. He's a danger to himself and others!--I'm not in the >40 age group - but I can't stand the generalizations either. People only learn what they want, and just put up brickwalls so they don't need to learn what they don't want.Excuses like "I'm no whiz" "I'm no computer genius" "I hate these things, I know they're smarter than I am..." and all the other thousands of idodic blatherings.How about:Sit down, shut up, listen, and follow along. When I'm done or I ask you a question - then you can speak.If you don't listen when I'm helping - the call ends with a "I'm sorry, but if you refuse to follow my instructions or continue to interupt - I will end this call without warning and help the next person."I'm lucky that my current job isn't primarily phone support - but once in a while you get the people who just want to complain about how much they don't know - but never want to learn. If my 50+ mother in law can jump online and search for updates and patches for her sewing machine's software (yeah - that's hardcore sewing there!) without one ioda of a problem... there's plenty more out there that can be just as savvy if they just shut the eff up and learn.

[JustinVGT]

I agree somewhat with this. I'm the most tech savy one in my family of five boys. My parents always come to me for any computer problems, home theater setups, pretty much anything to do with technology. When I was a kid, when my dad had the Apple IIC (I think that's what it was) and then a 486 computer, I didn't know much about computers and I thought my dad knew quite a bit. I learned a little bit when he got some newer PCs, but wasn't that savy. Once I got into college and bought my first computer, I really taught myself a lot by just experimenting and reading up online on what you can do and how things work. I then built a few computers for myself and my family. To me, it's very easy; it really isn't that hard. My brothers aren't even that tech savy. They like their video games, but if something goes wrong with the computer, they don't know what to do. When I go visit, I'll check/fix their computers. I taught myself most of my tech knowledge by just figuring out/trouble shooting things myself and by researching online for help. I think a lot of it also depends on your personality. I enjoy figuring out how things work. I'm hands on and enjoy building things from model planes starting when I a kid, to working on the Vibe these days. With this being an online forum, I'm guessing that a lot of us are going to be more tech savy since we're already using the PC and Internet to be in this community.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by binary »How about:Sit down, shut up, listen, and follow along. When I'm done or I ask you a question - then you can speak.If you don't listen when I'm helping - the call ends with a "I'm sorry, but if you refuse to follow my instructions or continue to interupt - I will end this call without warning and help the next person."I have had dsl service for perhaps 5 years. When it goes down I call tech support and they always insist that "the trouble in my set". They treat me like an idiot. They have me change this setting, change that setting etc. They blame my cordless phone, the fact that my monitor is too close to my modem, say I have a hardware problem, or a software problem, and on and on. One even asked me to reverse my dsl cord, i.e. place the end that was in the modem into the computer and vice versa. The problem has always been on their end. One time I insisted on speaking to a supervisor and that supervisor found that there was an outage in my area. So that is why I "interupt" and no longer will spend 3 hours of my (and their) time on useless "assistance". I just want to report the outage and have them check on it.

[jimincalif]

I'm 47, I'm actually fairly techno-literate, at least where I want to be. I can build and or fix most anything on a PC, I can wire a house, I can do some programming, etc. I've even set a VCR to start recording at show at a later time. If I need to know something, I usually google it first.My 17 yr old son can run circles around me on a computer, but when he got a flat tire he was completely flummoxed. I got out the jack and the lug wrench, and he looked at me like I was from another planet! That was fun!

[Charlievibe]

My mom is in the over-50 group and went back to college and got her master's degree in computers. Honestly though, she has been into computers ever since she first took a course in programming Basic and built our first computer from scratch. For the old-timers, it was a 256K. Man that was a great computer.My Uncle was in the over-50 group when he worked for Seymour Cray on the Cray supercomputers. Today, after Seymour's death, he has moved on and is doing much bigger computer related items than that. I really agree with everyone that it isn't an age factor, it is more of a desire to learn.

[mcgusto82]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »I have had dsl service for perhaps 5 years. When it goes down I call tech support and they always insist that "the trouble in my set". They treat me like an idiot. They have me change this setting, change that setting etc. They blame my cordless phone, the fact that my monitor is too close to my modem, say I have a hardware problem, or a software problem, and on and on. One even asked me to reverse my dsl cord, i.e. place the end that was in the modem into the computer and vice versa. The problem has always been on their end. One time I insisted on speaking to a supervisor and that supervisor found that there was an outage in my area. So that is why I "interupt" and no longer will spend 3 hours of my (and their) time on useless "assistance". I just want to report the outage and have them check on it.that's because DSL sucks. haven't you seen the cable commercials??on all seriously. DSL is unreliable as a teenager in a rave.

[cieglo]

Quote, originally posted by mcgusto82 »that's because DSL sucks. haven't you seen the cable commercials??on all seriously. DSL is unreliable as a teenager in a rave.I disagree. I've had DSL for 4 years (ish) now and love it. The only problems I ever have (this refers to an eralier post on this thread) is when someone has the cordless or cell phone too close to my wireless router...lol...that drives me NUTS! But anyway, I love my DSL and because the shifting IP address screws with my VPN from work - it gives me a great excuse to avoid work when I'm at home...Have I had problems with it? Of course, for about the first 72 hours after I first had it installed, but that's about it. And yes, it goes out when the phone lines go down. But, I would not trade it for cable-service for anything! (of course, I don't have cable...)

[mcgusto82]

i've had cable internet sevice in VA for over 3 years. it never went out. not once. when i moved from my apartment, to my last house. the switch took less than a week.now here in NY. cable has gone out 1 time in the past 5 months.cox cable was great (not their tv service. inflated like a mofo)optimun is alright so far but we'll see.p.s. there is a website that can tell you your conection speed. i can't remember what it is, but last i check optimun. my speed was over 8mbps. that's about 10x faster than DSL (on a good day)

[johnsoax]

My 90 year old Maternal grandfather does email, as does my 75 year old paternal grandmother. It's purely a "I don't want to learn it" kind of thing.

[redlava]

You have to look at how people have been raised in the different time periods. I am 27, and when I was a kid we had our Apple II computer that we played Oregon Trail on and I learned to type in High School on a computer, not a typewriter. My Father, who is 58, didn't have those things growing up. The whole techno-savey thing is purely the times we live in. Everything is run by or on computers now, a lot of the info we get is off of the internet, we are used to it, and we have to learn and adapt to constant changes in technology. My Father grew up in a time where you got your information from the newspaper or to a lesser extent the TV. If something broke, you fixed it yourself. Not some Geek from Best Buy for $75 an hour. With a little help and encouragement older people can really get into this stuff. My Dad ownes a computer and does a lot of E-mailing. Because of his Civil Air Patrol involvment he uses GPS and Digital cameras. My Mom used to shop online like nobody's business. If there was hope for her than there is hope for anybody.

[Toolman]

It really has nothing to do with age, it has to do with how open someone is to change. I am sure that technology will keep on bringing better and more complex things, whether or not we learn and keep up with it depends soley on willingness to change.

[Merzbow]

I know enough about computers to figure out certain problems. I hate them though. Allways showing errors that mean nothing to me...I can't even program a VCR and I'm 18 so I don't thnk age has anything to do with it Like people have mentioned above, I think it takes a certain "want" to learn things. I could sit down and read the instructions on how to program a VCR and I could learn it in 10-15 minutes but I'm too lazy and I don't have time, nor do I need to learn how to program one.

[russ257]

i totally agree it all has to do with the person and what they want to do. Here at work i am on the rollout team for some new web interfaces for our dealers to use. Some adopted it and ran with it. some didnt. i have personally visited dealerships and had them tell me they werent gonna use it and that we were giving them more work. i sat with them for a few hours and converted them. they realized we were enpowering them and not forcing them to do more work.

[mspalmer]

This is a quick aside to this thread. Isn't it amazing how leaving out one letter can change the whole meaning of a sentence. The way I've been reading alot of the titles of these posts: people over 40 are wearing uniforms thus they are uniformed . I know this has nothing to do with the thread. In fact, I'm getting closer to 40 then I care to admit and I still get along fairly well with the newest technology.

[mcgusto82]

Quote, originally posted by redlava ». If something broke, you fixed it yourself. Not some Geek from Best Buy for $75 an hour. i need to be geek at best buy then. i can go back to school and pick up more on computers.

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »I have had dsl service for perhaps 5 years. When it goes down I call tech support and they always insist that "the trouble in my set". They treat me like an idiot. They have me change this setting, change that setting etc. They blame my cordless phone, the fact that my monitor is too close to my modem, say I have a hardware problem, or a software problem, and on and on. One even asked me to reverse my dsl cord, i.e. place the end that was in the modem into the computer and vice versa. The problem has always been on their end. One time I insisted on speaking to a supervisor and that supervisor found that there was an outage in my area. So that is why I "interupt" and no longer will spend 3 hours of my (and their) time on useless "assistance". I just want to report the outage and have them check on it.I used to be on the other end of that call... you may have been the only person that week to check the modem for lights/connections before calling.I agree - sometimes I started off simple, but if I was talking to a tech savvey person - I'd ramp it up. Some people can't or aren't supposed to. Some support services have scripts to read from. And those people suck.I worked for 18 months on a support desk - and I got every major example of stupidity three times over every week. Dsl doesn't work - root cause: phone was disconnected for non-payment, and they were calling from their cell because their phone didn't work. Power was out, but their laptop worked. DSL modem was supposed to be wireless - why do I have to plug it in?A group of us used to keep a dry-erase board with famous quotes from customers and famous root causes.Best quote ever: "The damn intarweb ain't workin' cause the dog done pissed on the LSD box ya'll sent me. I need a new one tonight 'cause I got a hot date for dat there online poker site. I think she's comin' for a visit next week!"Best root cause ever: Customer took the DSL modem with him on vacation to Disneyworld so he could use it in his hotel and get high speed without paying the hotel's internet fee. Ended up using the hotel's power supply from their in-room modem and costing himself $150 for a replacement.

[Mavrik]

Its a love/hate thing sorta but sometimes this is funny and sometimes its not. Automotives are changing every year, new technology and what not. I get customers (most of them 40+) with the same attitude. "I've owned cars for years and I've never had this problem before. Or hows that normal? My last cars never did that." heh... well these are new cars and your last one bought 12 years ago did not have these options or computers and such.