The digital world and OAPs ..

[Anna B]

I too have passwords that my computer remembers automatically and I used to rely on that alone, but it's not foolproof as I have had to change mine a few times for various sites, even this one. I was once asked on here for my password and didn't have a clue, but when I tried to change it I couldn't because forum emails would not reach me as I disabled the constant notifications of posts. So although it shows I am a relatively new poster I have been on here since 2012 under a different username which is now closed. Also , if you buy another computer you may have to do everything all over again Now I always have everything written down as back up.

 

Don't get me started on new computers...

 

Each time I change computers I lose the ability to do something I probably took for granted on my previous one. At the moment I can't print anything out on my expensive new super-dooper printer which needs a pilot's licence and a degree in engineering to make work...

[Jomie]

On the subject of passwords, some years ago I tried a free password manager and couldn't be doing with it. More recently I tried a paid for one and stuck it out for a few weeks but ended up uninstalling it. Can't remember the particulars but it repeatedly tried to generate a new password every time I went to a particular site that I used a lot. I tried to solve it but this was how it worked and there was nothing to be done about it.

 

I find password managers too intrusive and unnecessary. I stick with the system that I have used for years and it works well - it is a table in a password protected Word document. The password to the document is written down and put in a safe place, just in case I forget it. Not perfect, but then nothing is.

[Annie Bynnol]

Dear young people who are reading this,

 

You are being conned. The new generation of OAPs are quite capable of dealing with computer stuff its just that they prefer you to do it for them.

 

The new generation of OAPs are the most computer literate of any age group, after all it is they who were the first to use home computers, deal with the introduction of computers at work and the growth of the internet.

 

This new generation of OAPs were the only(until very recently) ones to be taught computer programming at school and became self taught in problem solving connectivity and peripherals.

 

This new generation of OAPs were also the ones who first saw the impact of computers on society and able to evaluate the promised benefits of computers-most of which were pointless. Forty years of trying to get us to operate house lighting remotely! Forty years of trying to persuade is to talk to a computer!

 

Fifty years later this generation is struggling with digital dependency in social media and retail -why? Because there are too many imperfect solutions driven by fashion and commercial gain.

 

Mind you there were always a few who couldn't change a light bulb, wire a plug or operate a video recorder.

[davyboy]

Well if things did go seriously wrong with computers, it is our generation with our education in mental arithmetic and problem-solving skills that would lead the way out of the mess. LOL.

CS Forrester wrote a short story long before computers, its called The Machine Stops and is about a future where the whole World is run by a machine and then it stops working and everybody is walking around in circles, trains stop running etc. etc. Makes one wonder eh? The whole World is running on a bloody machine right now and it's only going to get more so as we move on.

 

I can't see the use of calculating:12 things at a penny three farthings each.

 

Even the answer is no use: one and nine pence.

Thank you Miss Thearle, teaching 2nd year infants 1946-7

If I'd known it would go into the dustbin of historyI wouldn't have bothered learning it

 

---------- Post added 10-09-2018 at 09:59 ----------

 

[/b]

 

Don't get me started on new computers...

 

Each time I change computers I lose the ability to do something I probably took for granted on my previous one. At the moment I can't print anything out on my expensive new super-dooper printer which needs a pilot's licence and a degree in engineering to make work...

 

Because some software won't work on High Sierra I've had to partition my drive and install Mavericks on the second partition.

The next "upgrade" in OS will screw my expensive scanner and photoprinter.

I've even bought a laptop from e bay with XP on it so that I can run the LDS 1881 census.

I don't connect to the internet .

Edited September 10, 2018 by davyboy

[Padders]

[/b]

 

Don't get me started on new computers...

 

Each time I change computers I lose the ability to do something I probably took for granted on my previous one. At the moment I can't print anything out on my expensive new super-dooper printer which needs a pilot's licence and a degree in engineering to make work...

 

Same with tellys, I"ve just bought a new smart tv, son in law has rigged it me up to the internet, you tube, Netflix, catch up, ETC. I have"nt got a clue what I"m doing, in fact I"m scared to press the buttons on the remote, I just stick with channel 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. what ever happened to the horizontal and vertical hold.

[GoGo_dancer]

There's definitely a knowledge gap between the 'new' and 'old' OAP's. My Grandad was born in 1929 and worked in manual labour roles all his life, never had a need for or a desire to use a computer at all. The closest my Grandparents came to having a computer was an Atari console (and they only bought that for the grandkids to play on)

 

It's fair to say he has a phobia of modern technology and without me helping him out he'd be totally lost. About 8 years ago we convinced him to switch from VHS to TiVo and it still traumatises him now! I get at least one call every week to say it's broken or he's deleted something by accident!

 

I manage all of his finances online... the other day I sat with him to pay his water bill and it totally blew his mind..."so how does the water company know to take the money?"..."how does the bank know to release the money?"..."what if they take too much money?"... bless him.

[Anna B]

There's definitely a knowledge gap between the 'new' and 'old' OAP's. My Grandad was born in 1929 and worked in manual labour roles all his life, never had a need for or a desire to use a computer at all. The closest my Grandparents came to having a computer was an Atari console (and they only bought that for the grandkids to play on)

 

It's fair to say he has a phobia of modern technology and without me helping him out he'd be totally lost. About 8 years ago we convinced him to switch from VHS to TiVo and it still traumatises him now! I get at least one call every week to say it's broken or he's deleted something by accident!

 

I manage all of his finances online... the other day I sat with him to pay his water bill and it totally blew his mind..."so how does the water company know to take the money?"..."how does the bank know to release the money?"..."what if they take too much money?"... bless him.

 

Whereas my Dad is 92 and is an absolute whiz on his computer. Taken to it like a duck to water. He loves it, and shows me how to do things.

 

Mind you his new TV seems to have foxed him. I think he's pining for an 'on/ off and a volume knob that you turn...

[Ontarian1981]

Same with tellys, I"ve just bought a new smart tv, son in law has rigged it me up to the internet, you tube, Netflix, catch up, ETC. I have"nt got a clue what I"m doing, in fact I"m scared to press the buttons on the remote, I just stick with channel 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. what ever happened to the horizontal and vertical hold.

 

Love your last line, I had 4 surgeries for a detached retina on my left eye and none went well. When I describe the vision to people my age I always say "Remember the old tellys with the vertical and horizontal buttons, well when you are almost there( but not quite) with the all the twiddling, well that's what the vision is like in my left eye" I try to omit the word crap . lol

 

---------- Post added 10-09-2018 at 12:16 ----------

 

I can't see the use of calculating:12 things at a penny three farthings each.

 

Even the answer is no use: one and nine pence.

Thank you Miss Thearle, teaching 2nd year infants 1946-7

If I'd known it would go into the dustbin of historyI wouldn't have bothered learning it

 

---------- Post added 10-09-2018 at 09:59 ----------

 

 

Because some software won't work on High Sierra I've had to partition my drive and install Mavericks on the second partition.

The next "upgrade" in OS will screw my expensive scanner and photoprinter.

I've even bought a laptop from e bay with XP on it so that I can run the LDS 1881 census.

I don't connect to the internet .

I used mental arithmetic for working out the odds for three winners in a round robin eg: 13/8 x 100/30x7/4 in tanners. That would even take a computer ages, by the time you punched all that information in, I would already have the answer.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Ontarian1981