I could not agree more with the authors point of view on older people giving up on adapting and making excuses about how stupid the technology is or how they don't need it. I work at Best Buy and this is constantly the most grueling interaction of the day. An old couple wants to buy something they are familiar with but when you explain to them technology has changed and you can do so much more than before than tune you out and say I just want what my old machine did and nothing else.
My grandparents are in Hawaii and during a visit, I tried to show them how to use Facebook because in their words " you darn kids spend too much time on those fancy phones and not enough time with us" They wanted us to keep them informed and up-to-date by visiting Hawaii as much as possible and tell them in person. I explained that with Facebook, they could see what we were up to or the latest family pictures. It is an instant way to stay on top of all the happenings of the family. They hesitated but then agree to let me show them. 30 seconds in they were done. What do you mean I need to make a username. Why do they need my name, why is it so hard to set up. I was guiding them through the process and without giving any effort, they immediately got into the mind set of this is to difficult for me so I am not even going to try.
I have to admit that I have had a couple of instances where I did not feel like adapting and it does frighten me a little that I may be becoming an old man. I have absolutely no interest in Twitter. I think it is stupid and I don't need to know your opinion every second nor do I need to see updates on what you are doing minute by minute. My friend tried to sign me up and I refused to even let her show me how it works. It is the same way with the new Facebook Timeline. I am not even going to attempt to set it up because I like the familiarity of my Facebook and it seems to daunting to set up. I like the way things are and I don't want to stray away from that.
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