Why I Love Older People and Loathe Technology

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Most of our neighbors are older and a lot are retired. I don't socialize too much with them, but it's sometimes enjoyable when I do socialize. I got to thinking why older people are pleasant and came up with a few thoughts:


Their cell phone doesn’t ring during your conversation because they don’t have a cell phone.

They don’t need an app to know when World War II was fought because the either fought in it or they're related to somebody who did.

In the rare event that they leave a message on your phone, they don’t say, “…It’s about 10:43 am and 30 seconds on Tuesday.”

Their blackberry is in the pie they made yesterday.

They don’t need another app to calculate a tip because they learned something called math.

They get out their camera and take one picture of you. You see that picture 2 months later.

If they’re not home, you have no idea where they might be.

They ask you the time. You tell them it’s quarter after 9 and they know exactly what you’re talking about.

No matter their age while watching TV, they’re still sharp enough to know that no device can pause live action.

Multi-tasking means driving a car and paying attention.

Social networking is the 50 year high school reunion.

[laconicsax]

1. Apparently, you don't loathe it enough to not use it when it suits you.

The irony of someone making an anti-technology post on the Internet is rich.

[RandomThoughts]

3. According to the Star Wars The Old Republic game.

The tech planet of Voss also has force users not part of the tech. So access to tech does not make you a Gormak.

Voss is a planet of more questions than answers, Discovered by accident shortly after the Treaty of Coruscant, its rocky plateaus, unspoiled peaks, and verdant forest were at first thought to be inhabited only by the Gormak, a tech savvy but pre space flight species of extremely hostile natives. When the second much less populous species on Voss made itself known, however, the galaxy was thrown into turmoil and the war almost restarted.

Primarily isolated on one tall peak and outnumbered by millions of their enemies, the non-Gormak natives use the same name for themselves as for their World. Voss. Locked in a losing war with an implacable enemy that sees them as a violation of the natural order, the hard pressed Voss have survived centuries of Gormak Assaults through the disciplined training of their Commandos, the placement and fortification of their mountain city and the infalible(hehe) guidance of the Voss Mystics.

The Voss Mystics are Force users of incredible power, Both the Sith and Jedi agree on this one point. The Voss do not . Voss know nothing of the Force and are uninterested in outsider opinions. Mystics have visions that are never wrong. The Voss follow these visions and survive. When the Sith Empire schemed to conquer Voss, the Republic sought to defend the planet, but the Mystics foresaw both plots and in the end a fleet disappeared an Empire was humbled and two mighty powers came to Voss peacefully to win favor.

http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/planets/voss

[laconicsax]

10. Thank younger that insight. n/t

[Sal Minella]

4. The OP doesn't strike me as an anti-technology post so much

as a pro-old-people post.

It's just observations, not opinions. But what do I know -- I'm an old people.

And frankly, I love getting a real card in the snail-mail, with a note written inside in real handwriting and really signed with someone's real name.

But what else could you expect of an old fart.

[laconicsax]

9. The anti-technology component is right there in the title.

"Why I Love Older People and Loathe Technology"

Seeing how most of the lines are more about a disdain for the prevalence of digital technologies than the virtues of age, I took it as more anti-technology.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. When communications technology replaces personal communications

it SHOULD suck.

[laconicsax]

14. As argued on an Internet discussion forum. n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. do you somehow mistake this for personal communication? nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. You talkin' to *me*? nt

[laconicsax]

30. It's communication between people...I think.

I hope I haven't erred in assuming there's a person on the other end of the tubes.

Internet discussion forums may not be a traditional form of personal communication, but the line is blurred more and more as time goes on. Where do you draw it?

[Donnachaidh]

19. also pro *no diversions* -- technology keeps people scattered

Toys make sure you can't focus on the important things -- like watching as corporations dismantle the country. There are plenty of people who don't *need* the toys in order to live their lives. But there also seems to be a lot of toy owners who go ballistic when their *gadgets* are called toys.

Says more about the tantrums *techies* are having just on this thread alone. :shrug:

[El Supremo]

2. + One Greatest Generation.

And they know how to converse in understandable sentences.

[_ed_]

20. I really hate the fetishization of "The Greatest Generation"

"The Greatest Generation" is nothing more than a marketing strategy designed to help a corporate media newsreader to sell books and enrich himself.

That generation of Americans is exactly the same as every other generation of Americans. Some are good, some are bad, some do good things, others do horrible things. They are individuals. Even more, the concept of a "generation" is meaningless. If you were born one minute past the cutoff for "the Greatest Generation," are you less great? By how much? How is greatness measured? Are the rapists, child molesters, and murderers of this generation also great? Why not? What's the cutoff?

Look objectively. When these "greatest" people were young, Jim Crow flourished, women were second class citizens, and immigrants (like my family) were abused. Yes, they sacrificed greatly in the depression and WWII. But, if they were so "great," why didn't they solve all the social problems in our society? Even today, these "greatest" people are more likely to be (1) racist (2) bigoted towards gays and lesbians and (3) conservative. They voted overwhelmingly for Bush and McCain. Are these "great" attributes? If not, why not?

They are just people. Not superheroes.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. You want to look at that?

"When these "greatest" people were young, Jim Crow flourished, women were second class citizens, and immigrants (like my family) were abused."

And what generation do you think ended Jim Crow? What generation of women went into the factories, and into the world, and refused to go back to the kitchen when the crisis was over? I don't know your particular story, but this country has always been hard on immigrants and is probably harder on them today than at any time since the turn of the last century. OTOH, before, during and after the war this country accepted a great number of immigrants, from refugees fleeing the Nazis to German and Japanese (and everywhere else we went) war brides, which made this a far less parochial nation than it had been before the 30s.

This was the generation that built the unions. This was the generation that became the best educated in our history, due to the post-war GI bill.

Even the overwhelming numbers of the Boomer generation has been unable to overshadow the influence of the Greatest Generation on our culture (and you might remember, many of the Boomer icons were of the Greatest Generation - Timothy Leary was not born in the 50s, nor were Alan Ginsberg, Jack Keroack or J.D. Salinger).

Something tells me, however, that you aren't even a Boomer, but at least a generation younger than that - just a kid with no sense of history.

[_ed_]

25. You completely missed my point

I made the point that the idea of a "generation" is meaningless, and saying that a group of people that large is "the greatest" is an absurd oversimplification made by a corporate newsreader to earn money for himself by preying on the average American's ignorant sense of gauzy nostalgia for the "bygone era." Saying that this "generation" is any better than another is a stupid oversimplification.

You, evidently, buy into this nonsense. You said:
"Something tells me, however, that you aren't even a Boomer, but at least a generation younger than that - just a kid with no sense of history."

Can you tell me why you need to classify humans into your arbitrary age categories? What does being a "boomer" tell you about someone, other than vague age? People are individuals. Perhaps it might help to stop classifying groups of humans as having characteristics that they all can't possibly have.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. You've never heard of the concept of 'zeitgeist'?

People are shaped, as individuals, by their experiences. When great numbers of people share the same experience, the entire culture can be shaped.

There are generational experiences that people of other generations cannot comprehend. I can recognize the power of the shared experience of the great depression and WW2 without experiencing it myself, but I will never really know that experience. The generation that followed mine will likewise never really 'get' the 60s, the cultural tumult, the revolutions, the riots, the assassinations that shaped our perception of the world. Likewise, I am sure I will never 'get' the plugged in, instant communication current generation - sure, I could have all the cool electronic toys so I will never be out of touch or out of reach, but why would I WANT to? I just don't get it. That is the zeitgeist of the current generation.

Yes, there are differences within any generation in how they respond to these cultural influences, but that does not change the fact that the "greatest generation" in America faced overwhelming challenges and created the world that the boomers were raised in. Your paean to the individual is all fine and well and perfectly fits in the American mythos, but the fact is the world is shaped by mass movements much more than any individual. Mass movements are engendered by the zeitgeist of their generation.

That's why such nonsense as the tea party doesn't particularly worry me - look at them. They are a minority of two earlier generations that were left behind - 'greatest generation' and 'boomers' who were on the wrong side of the zeitgeist of their own generation. IOW, old farts who had no influence in their own generation about to be permanently marginalized. Where is the current generation reflected in their movement? It just isn't there - that means this movement has no staying power. When you have masses of young people joining up in a fascist movement, then it's time to worry. But back to my main point, although these same people were around 20, 30, 40 years ago, only in THIS generation could the tea party movement be created from these cultural rejects.

Pretending there is no such thing as 'generations - just people', is like pretending there is no such things as 'nations - just people'. It is patently silly.

[doc03]

5. They sure left us a mess to clean up n/t

[applegrove]

6. My 103 year old grandmother asked that we send her a turkey wing over the internet at thanksgiving.

That was about 8 years ago when the internet was really new. She's was joking until the very end.

[Iterate]

7. I love them as well: they know things, they've done things.

My grandmother would de-tune her new color TV to black and white. She thought the color to be distracting, and I suppose it gave the dramas she watched a film noir quality, though she never would have known that term. Every week my father would faithfully and laboriously re-tune it. They carried on that dance for twenty years.

[Boojatta]

8. "they’re still sharp enough to know that no device can pause live action."

I saw a trailer for a movie involving a device that could pause live action. I figure that by now somebody has probably built such a device. Of course, it's just in the prototype stage, so it's not yet available at Walmart.

[Chulanowa]

11. Well, with al lthat cane-waving you're doing, I should hope you love older people

[pansypoo53219]

12. i gladly say i am a 40-something luddite.

i never felt young. i accept my inability to text. hell, i embrace it. always liked old people more.

[no limit]

17. Aren't there some kids on your lawn you should be chasing away?

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[grace0418]

21. It's not technology I loathe, it's people who use it rudely. I love being able to take

a photo and post it on my Facebook page immediately. The photos in my camera have a way of sitting in my camera until I forget about them.

I love having apps that tell me information on the fly. It sure is handy when you're not at home and can avoid wasting time/gas/money because you can look up where something is located, or find out whether it's open.

My cell phone was also really handy when my elderly mother-in-law was battling cancer and we could coordinate who was where, who could be with her, who could make sure Dad was okay, etc. When my husband's uncle died unexpectedly and my husband was asked to help with the arrangements because the uncle's family were recent immigrants, his phone helped him coordinate with me and the rest of the family. He said more than once "Thank goodness for cell phones, this process would have been exponentially more difficult without them."

I can and do figure out tips in my head because I'm pretty good at math, but I bet there are some waitresses out there who are thankful that the math-challenged can figure out a tip using an app.

I love that I don't have to wonder where my elderly mother is when I call, because she can take her cell phone with her. And I love that she's comforted knowing that she can call me, my siblings or 911 at any time.

I love that I can look up several blackberry pie recipes and print my favorite one out without having to dig through multiple cookbooks. Then I can save it on my hard drive and not have to wonder where I put it.

I love that I have GPS on my phone and don't have to worry about getting lost. It was especially nice in Hawaii, where it was difficult to navigate even with maps because the street names were so long and usually started with H, M, L or K.

I have no plans or desire to go to any of my high school reunions, but Facebook has allowed me to keep in touch with so many friends and relatives I don't get to see as often as I like.

I love that I can video chat with my best friend in LA and see her little ones. I'd love to live closer or visit more often, but at least I get to see them cooing and giggling, something a photo can't capture.

I love that many of the old people I know have embraced technology because it has enhanced their lives. They can communicate more easily (handwriting is often difficult for someone with arthritis), video chat with growing grandchildren, be in touch with loved ones and caregivers so they feel more secure and we don't worry so much. Some friends have even started their own blogs and websites, or gotten into genealogy, or found online communities that allow them to connect in ways they couldn't have done before.

Of course there are always those people who can't seem to put down their cell phones to save their lives, and use them very rudely (or even dangerously, like while driving). And there are those who are addicted to the internet and never do anything in real life anymore. But those people don't stop me from appreciating what technology has done for me.

Hell, I'm a graphic designer, so I wouldn't be paying my mortgage if it wasn't for technology.

[Sal Minella]

24. Nicely said. n/t

[grace0418]

27. Why thank you.

I have to say I think it's a bit odd to be complaining about technology on an internet forum, but whatevs.

[Sal Minella]

29. otoh, it reaches more people than writing on the sidewalk with chalk . . . n/t

[grace0418]

31. True, but something about it seems just odd. Like calling someone to tell them how much

you hate talking on the phone.

[Faryn Balyncd]

23. great read

:kick:

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

28. People shape history and vice versa.

Thought I should make a post lest anyone think I’m the Unabomber Part 2 (ha ha).

People shape history and history shapes people, but I do agree with the poster who talked about creating generations for marketing. The reason I believe this is because I tried to classify and categorize my subsequent generations and was not able to do it. The members of generation x, y, or abc or whatever are about as varied as any other. Sure, you can have shared experiences that shape a large demographic in a generation, but that is limited in a country of over 300 million people. I work in publishing and that industry is consolidating. Their goal is always numbers, so it makes sense for them to shape or even manipulate their own demographic.

The best contemporary example I can think of is someone’s example of the tea party. I really did not know what these people did until asking this man some detailed questions the other day. The man finally told me that they are a fund raising group to elect candidates to political office. I actually think of them more as a clownish troupe that keeps people on their couches and provides paychecks for cable TV news and radio personalities.