Why are old people so stupid when it comes to technology?

[tanatastic 2,062]

Ok this is the age old thing, granny cant use a cell or work a vcr or even turn on the tv. Why is it that old people could operate tanks and stuff back in the day yet cant use simple common sense with tech? DONT give me the excuse of "They didnt grow up with it." thats horsecrud. I didnt have cell phones as a kid but when a new tech device comes out I can figure it out within 5 min. I didnt grow up with dvd players yet it took me all of 1 min to learn how to use one. I cant stand trying to help my mom figure out basic things on her cell phone. Im sick of the excuses. There is zero excuse other than just plain stupidity. How come when im 65 ill still be able to work the iphone 40 or whatever gadget there is? It drives me crazy. I used to sell tvs bvack in the day. All day old people would come in and act like I was showing them alien tyechnology. Its common sense stuff, being born in the 40s and 50s is no excuse. You adapt to whateverr technology is around you.

[joneo 556]

To some degree. Failing eyesight plays a big part. Also, as you age, you tend to have less patience than when you were younger. "Ain't got time for that" attitude. Makes it tougher to learn new tech.

[Chronic Husker 85]

How come when im 65 ill still be able to work the iphone 40 or whatever gadget there is?

Sure you will.

 

 

I'm guessing you were an awesome tv salesman.

[Voltaire 5,235]

I was at the zoo when the chimp grabbed my phone. It took me two hours of climbing and running around to chase him down and retrieve it. I was exhausted. It's been two weeks now since I got the pone back and I still can't figure out how to delete all the monkey pron he downloaded.

[Djgb13 2,339]

To some degree. Failing eyesight plays a big part. Also, as you age, you tend to have less patience than when you were younger. "Ain't got time for that" attitude. Makes it tougher to learn new tech.

This. Along with the fact as you age your computational abilities diminish as well. The saying "can't teach an old dog new tricks" is relevant in humans as well. As we age our brains cells are dying as well. It gets harder for an older person to perform certain tasks or pick new things up.

[Magnificent Bastard 191]

How about a little patience for the woman who wiped your ass every day? bet she wishes she had those fancy diapers like they have today.

[Djgb13 2,339]

How about a little patience for the woman who wiped your ass every day? bet she wishes she had those fancy diapers like they have today.

They do. It's called Depends

[frank 2,278]

Why are you so stupid when it comes to understanding why old people are so stupid when it comes to technology?

[jerryskids 6,603]

Ok this is the age old thing, granny cant use a cell or work a vcr or even turn on the tv. Why is it that old people could operate tanks and stuff back in the day yet cant use simple common sense with tech? DONT give me the excuse of "They didnt grow up with it." thats horsecrud. I didnt have cell phones as a kid but when a new tech device comes out I can figure it out within 5 min. I didnt grow up with dvd players yet it took me all of 1 min to learn how to use one. I cant stand trying to help my mom figure out basic things on her cell phone. Im sick of the excuses. There is zero excuse other than just plain stupidity. How come when im 65 ill still be able to work the iphone 40 or whatever gadget there is? It drives me crazy. I used to sell tvs bvack in the day. All day old people would come in and act like I was showing them alien tyechnology. Its common sense stuff, being born in the 40s and 50s is no excuse. You adapt to whateverr technology is around you.

 

I think a lot of it is tied to a combination of intimidation and a perception that you don't understand technology, almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. A few years ago my daughter had a friend who, when discussing homework, commented "I don't math." Aside from the cuteness of using math as a verb, I was struck by the comment and thought sadly that she probably never will be good at math, but not because she can't do it, rather because she doesn't think she can do it.

 

I think old people by and large have that problem with computers and computer-like things like cell phones. My former cubemate (74 yrs old I think) used to be a Chief Engineer and could design an engine blindfolded with a pencil and an abacus. But ask him to remember how to find a word in Acrobat, and he'd cower like a scared child. It was very clear the bazillion times I helped him with such tasks that he just was intimidated by software.

 

That being said, maybe there is something to that old person brain thing. I hope not, because I can't imagine not feeling that I could learn something.

[MDC 7,185]

In addition to all the answers here I think just flat out disinterest is part of it. If you're 70 years old and lived your whole life without the internet why bother to figure it out now?

[Voltaire 5,235]

One of the problems I have is that I worry that playing around with unknown with unknown icons and functions will cause my phone/computer to malfunction or release some virus.

 

Another is that I get absolutely so insanely frustrated all the time that it really isn't worth the effort. After years of downloading stuff that looks interesting only to not know where it went or if able to locate it how to open/unzip it. You get that these technology related headaches that you have no idea where it went, how to get it started, if yo do get it started that you'll be able to figure out how to use it, and you know you'll never figure out. You start to realize you were already perfectly happy before all this aggravation occurred and you don't need whatever it is that you were doing without anyways. You get about twelve or fifteen deep in these constant computer related aggrivations, frustrations and failures and it dawns on you that unless it's idiotproof the first time through, any problem that crops up and can't be solved within a couple of minutes after that it's not really worth wasting your time to inflict another headache on yourself with any of it anymore and it can join all the other iles of junk you've downloaded that you can't figure out never to be bothered with ever again, yet another mystery icon added onto your compute that you have no idea what it does and you'll never use.

[Saint Elistan 106]