Old people vs. technology

[bull]

So like 90+ percent of the world we stayed up past midnight last night and then played a card game and watched a movie. It was probably 3 am or so before I got to bed. Fast forward 5 1/2 hours and the phone rings and wakes me up. It's a guy from the place that monitors my mom's home alarm system telling me that her alarm went off, they were unable to contact her and they sent a city cop over to have a look. This isn't the first time this has happened so I thought little of it and went back to sleep.

Finally got out of bed at about 11 am, had some breakfast and then tried calling my mom. No answer. Tried again a few hours later on both the land line and cell. Still no answer. Then I called the city police to ask them what they found when they went to her house. Nothing unusual really other than her cold car was in the driveway and she didn't answer the door. I kind of figured someone must have picked her up for church and she would be gone until early afternoon, unless she went out to eat. I continued trying to call her every hour or so until about 9 pm when she finally decided to look at her cell phone (another thing she can't figure out) and call me back.

Anyway, long story short, she had gone out to feed a neighbor's cat and the silent alarm went off. The cops had come to her house while she was gone and left before she got back. She later found out that the alarm had gone off but didn't bother to call me or my brother or answer her phone all day or return messages. When I asked her why she didn't just shut the alarm off when exiting she told me a strange story about how she forgot to hang some hat on a door knob to remind her it was on. I didn't understand that but it sounded to me like Uncle Billy with all the strings on his fingers to remind him of things.

I just don't get why she needs an alarm system in the first place. She's survived 70+ years without incident and she lives in the middle of a gated community mobile home park surrounded by retired people.

Hopefully she never gets a webcam like these two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcN08Tg3PWw

[Fred]

What stumps me the most are the texting abbreviations and I did ask for member's help regarding them but  I'm not going there again I got so much help that my head was so full of jumbled letters that no ammount of concerntrating could make any sense of. And in the end all that help didn't help at all! With the exception of a few basic abbreviations, I'm right back where I started from! 

[RallyeMike]

Here is quote from me forward in time 30 years:

"Look, sonny, I survived all these years without all this crap. Who needs it....... this new-fangled stuff is just a pain in my ass!"........ "eh.... have you seen my glasses?"

[Old Moparz]

Bull, I think it depends on who has their paws on whichever technology item that ultimately screws it up. My boss is the same age as my parents & can run circles around lots of people with cell phones, computers, etc. I've had to deal with almost the same thing as you with my own Mom. I got her a cell phone & had to write out the basics of how to turn it on & off, how to answer it, how to text, etc.

I once called her on it & heard her answer, but she never talked. She left it on & put it back in her purse where I could listen to her having a conversation with someone about going to bingo. I kept talking & saying to turn off the phone, but it never happened.    When the text messages came, she thought they were limited to only 3 words each because that's the way the phone displayed them when they came in. I had to send her 7 or 8 texts so she could read 1 full sentence.  

Sometimes I am part of the technically challenged crowd, but it's mostly because I hate having to learn how to operate a new item that just replaced a new item that had previously replaced an almost new item, like a cell phone or a camcorder. I had a nice JVC camcorder that used the mini videocassettes. After just a couple years the batteries wouldn't hold their charge & I had to find a replacement. Of course the replacements weren't available anymore so I had to hunt for a new camcorder & bought a digital one that I had to learn how to operate all over again.  

Sometimes each company uses a different word or phrase to describe a simple task, like my wife's old cell phone from Verizon. She wanted to mute the ringer & couldn't figure out how. I assumed she was missing something simple, so I told her to take out her manual. After 45 minutes of searching the book, arguing with me, & me looking through the book, we found it. Did they call it the obvious? Of course not. It would be way too easy to call it "MUTE" or "RINGER OFF" so some nimrod computer engineering geek chose to call it "MANNER MODE" instead.

And by the way, on my phone it's called "AIRPLANE MODE" instead of mute or ringer off. Lack of common sense from the people creating new technology doesn't make shit any easier.   

[RECHRGD]

I'll be 64 next month and am comfortable around computers and cell phones, but, admittedly don't keep up on all the new gadgetry that we're flooded with.  Last year I bought my wife an Ipod touch for her birthday because I thought she would enjoy listening to music when working in her garden.  Well, she never got into it at all.  Last week I decided to play with it and plugged it into the computer to download all the latest software upgrades for it.  Geeeeze, the thing is a fricking computer!!!  I love it.  I can send/recieve Emails, visit all the websites, google anything, download games and yes, I can download every CD I own and a gazillion more.  The new stereo deck I put in the Charger last year has an Ipod input, so now I won't have to carry around all those CD's when traveling.  I love it, but it's already outdated....

[elacruze]

Marketers prey on fears, particularly those of older people. Maybe she saw a commercial for the alarm, or just watched too many episodes of 'Cops' before going to bed.

I figure in the long run, a shotgun is a lot cheaper than an alarm system.

[bull]

Some people don't understand their limitations and will keep trying but never get it. Others just assume they can't do anything techinical even though they never bother to try. There seems to be no middle ground.

My mom also bought a laptop about four years ago and from day one the thing has been covered with Post-It notes that tell her how to conduct various tasks from simply turning it on to opening a file. The Post-Its eventually turned into a notebook when she got private tutoring on how to operate it from a guy in trade for house cleaning but she still can barely post things on FB or send an email. And once she knew enough about how email worked she became just dangerous enough with it to begin sending copies of those cataclysmic, urban legend messages to as many people as possible. When she does actually write something it's typically written in all caps.

[Chargen69]

Okay, I'll ruin you all for something that after it was mentioned to me one time, now I see it everywhere...

Old people on a cell phone that is on speakerphone, but holding it to their ear like normal.

[RECHRGD]

Okay, I'll ruin you all for something that after it was mentioned to me one time, now I see it everywhere...

Old people on a cell phone that is on speakerphone, but holding it to their ear like normal.

What?  WHAT?

[Fred]

Okay, I'll ruin you all for something that after it was mentioned to me one time, now I see it everywhere...

Old people on a cell phone that is on speakerphone, but holding it to their ear like normal.

What?  WHAT?

Are the batteries in your hearing aid not charging properly? 

[bull]

Which is worse, the techno-challenged person who always struggles to understand it or those who understand it too well and become hermits.

[Budnicks]

Which is worse, the techno-challenged who always struggle to understand it or those who understand it too well and become hermits.

neither , it's people like me, that know just enough to get in trouble & have to call a friend, that's a guru on tech stuff, to help get you back up & running properly again...LOL... I'm only 52, but in my youth, computers were the size of a 2 bedroom homes, no one had them, until I was well out of school, I was kind of lost on the tech stuff, for many years & didn't need it, or even want it, if it wasn't for automotive related stuff, now I use & need it every day & can't hardly live with out it, especially for news & buying/searching car stuff... Oh Well, I still hate cell phones & most of the people texting & talking on them in public all of the time....

[Tilar]

Old age and treachery overcomes youth and endurance any day!

[Budnicks]

Old age and treachery overcomes youth and endurance any day!

I love that old saying & use it often 

[Inked_Ghandi]

"And by the way, on my phone it's called "AIRPLANE MODE" instead of mute or ringer off. Lack of common sense from the people creating new technology doesn't make shit any easier." 

That is weird that it is airplane mode to mute it. On my phone it disables all wireless communications so it "won't mess up the airplane tech"