Why do so many "old" people (some no older than 65) not care about the Internet?

Question

They seem lost and confused if you tell them about a great website...

Answer 1

Simply because we are all different - thank goodness. I hear people discussing last night's T.V. programmes in the supermarket and don't know what they are talking about really because I don't have a T.V. I can watch catch-up T.V. on my computer but I only do so if there's something really special I'd like to see. On average I probably watch about one programme per fortnight.



I know many senior citizens who do not wish to have a mobile 'phone either, in fact I know one lady aged 87 who does not even have a house 'phone and will not allow any of her relatives to pay to have one put in for her.

Answer 2

Many older people just don't want to know about the internet, mobile 'phones or any other technology which came after the television and the landline 'phone.



My two grandsons aged 14 and 10 are fantastic where computers and computer games are concerned and soon learned how to work their mobile 'phones which are quite complicated compared with my old thing.



However, the downside to this is that their hand writing is appalling, so much so, that the older one is now allowed to use a laptop in school to present his work. Instead of someone picking up on the problems he has with writing, and giving him help, they have taken the easy way out saying "At least, this way, we can read his work." His signature is no different from how it looked the very first time he wrote his name in a birthday card to me at age 4 years. His brother's writing is slightly better but not brilliant.



If that's supposed to show that computers are a step forward I think it might be a good idea if we took a few steps backward and started to teach children the basics before the new fangled stuff.

Answer 3

I dont find that to be true at all. It probably depends on how tech savvy you have become over the years, your exposure to the internet and your interest in the new technology. I think the answer to your question may be that seniors even if they are computer literate do not want to do everything online like young people. For example, I still use the phone book and I still write checks and bank in person. I am very cautious about internet security.



I am over 65. I started taking computer classes more than 20 years ago when the first Macs came out. I also took graphics classes with the hope of upgrading my skills which were similar to my type of work I had been doing by hand on my job. Unfortunately it didnt get me a job.



I lived in Scottsdale, Az for a couple of years where I met many retired and professional people taking classes at the local college in the computer marketing classes. I hadnt realized so many women were programmers, software designers and website designers.



I live in an urban area near Silicon valley so that makes a difference. The local library, colleges, adult schools have always offered computer classes. I tutored someone older than me on navigating the internet when we had Netscape Navigator. Remember that?

Answer 4

The answer is as varied as the people! Some folks are just plain stubborn and loathe any kind of change; these are the same sort of people who never rearrange their furniture. Some are still enamored with the "good old days" and tend to romanticize the time when they were young, neatly forgetting all the troubles of that time, and resist embracing the technological wonders of "now"! These are the kind of folks who will bore you silly with talk about when they played football or were the homecoming queen in high school. They look back instead of forward. Some just lack self-confidence and fear that they are too old or too dumb to learn something so different and new.



Reason may vary by gender. Many women of a certain age were brought up to believe that anything having to do with technology isn't quite feminine, the old "girls don't do math" junk. They think computers and the internet are solely for males. Young males, to be exact.



But hey, don't count us out and don't give up on us. I am a 57-year-old woman who adores computers and the internet. I can build and repair a PC and love learning new things. The advantage that I have over young people, in my opinion, is that I was not brought up with all this marvelous technology and communication, so I never take it for granted! Once you can get your favorite oldster connected, show him/her a few interesting places to go (don't forget to make these places where an older adult would feel comfortable) and be available to help if they get stuck, and they may just come to embrace the internet, as I do!

Answer 5

Because most of us managed to do all we needed to do without the use of a computer. We had typewriters and if we wanted more than one copy we used carbon paper. If we made a mistake we used a typewriter rubber (and later on it was Tippex or a wonderful invention called a correction tape) Sometimes the boss would notice an error as he was about the sign the letter and would just amend it with his pen but if we made a terrible mess of it we started again !!



We had phone boxes and house phones and, more recently, mobiles so are not interested in Skype.



We watched all that we thought we needed to know about other parts of the world on the T.V. news (prior to that on the radio) and what we did not know about we did not fret about. We didn't feel the need to have a moment by moment commentary on something happening in a country of which we knew virtually nothing.



We walked or took a bus to the railway station to buy or book a ticket for our next rail journey. Some of us could do that by telephone and send the money in the post, we did not rely on paying via the internet because it wasn't there and nor were direct debits and credit cards.



We lived a simpler, more care free life, innocent of what was happening in many parts of the world but we got on and did what we had to do each day and we did it thoroughly and well and were pleased with our efforts.



Prior to the internet we actually had conversations with our neighbours and we walked to shops and chose our goods and carried them home, possibly on a bus where we talked to yet more people. Now, many don't even know their neighbour because we are all on our computer. No-one says hello at the garden gate anymore because we are all driving out in our cars. Supermarkets take orders over the internet and they arrive on our doorstep by van - no interaction with anyone except the person who delivers the goods.



This is what is commonly known as progress! I wonder?

Answer 6

They are frightened by and nervous of technology. I have a friend of 55 who got the internet and computer as a birthday gift, yet never uses the internet, nor the DVD player my son bought her as a present. She is OK playing the games my other son put on her computer, but that is all she will do on it, even though she has to pay monthly to Talk Talk, all she gets out of that cost is free local calls.

However, when I retired through ill health at 58 and was bought a computer by my son, who then linked it to our router, I immediately joined some evening classes to learn how to use MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher properly and immediately learned how to use the Web safely etc. and joined all sorts of forums and sites that interested me and also learned how to use Outlook for emails. I am now nearly 69 and would be really lost without it, so it's just down to how the "older" person copes with new things or how willing they are to learn something they know nothing about.

Answer 7

I Love the intranet, and so many other sights on the COMPUTER. I am 73, but i do have friends that don't want anything to do with a PC, basically they have had to deal with so many new inventions their whole life they just can't stand the thought of having to learn another gadget that has so many things go wrong with it, can have many costly break downs etc....If I wouldn't have got hooked on the PC in my last years on the job, I probably would not be on it either.

However , I did learn some at my last job, then I took college courses on Windows, and the last time Vista, I have been researching genealogy and I love to pursue Politics on the PC. While others are just as Happy with out it. So I say to each his Own.

I love it and they don't know they would love it if they tried it!

Answer 8

We live in an area that is primarily composed of senior citizens and the internet is an integral part of our lives. If there are any "old" people who seem confused and lost when you tell them about a great website,maybe it's the way you present it.

Answer 9

Because so much of the information that the elderly is interested in is biased and opinionated. About the only thing I can count on to be factual and the truth is sports where scores are reported. Scores can't be faked (not to my knowledge). The rest is all BS from people that only think they know what the score is. As for seeming lost or confused is concerned, that too is only an opinion from someone that hasn't''t been around in life long enough to be able to tell the difference between what might appear to be confusion and the stupidity of the one making the judgment.

Answer 10

I imagine they are bewildered to the fact that so many people just sit and stare at screens and call that interacting with people around the world.



They belong to a time when people themselves were more important. ... They studied each others faces and bodies and listened to the tone of voice to know how the other person felt, what they meant and learn of their experiences and gather skills and knowledge from each other.



A couple of my aunties, they are 74 and 78, sisters, have travelled the world, worked outside the home, had families and share much joy with my family. We could talk for hours about the scene in one photo; who is in it, where it was taken, what happened at the time and it if fun and enjoyable. Neither of them have ever gone anywhere near a computer and do not wish to either.

Answer 11

We're just so used to a stone and chisel. Or at the very least, a scroll.



I got a computer for my birthday last year. Tried to chisel out a few words, and the darn thing broke in half. It's not nearly as sturdy as a good hunk of stone.



In 200 years, what do you think will still be usable? My hunk of stone or your 200-year-old computer?



Us old folks build things to last!



Plus, I hate spiders -- why would I want to see a great website?



We just don't understand you young whippersnappers.

Answer 12

Because all people are not interested in the same thing. I'm not interested in ballroom dancing or bird watching but I know many who are. I don't like eating out but most of my friends do.



I spend hours on the internet each day but I have friends who wouldn't know how to turn a computer on.



That is the fantastic variety of life.

Answer 13

Wonder about that my self - but have noticed friends who never learned to type find computers far more confusing than those of us who have learned how to type early in our life - think there are many who if they got into the computer and saw the information they could get might be more tempted.

Answer 14

This ole lady has one only because I need to get a job and anymore it is the only way to apply. If I could retire I wouldn't have a computer. I just spent a fortune getting mine fixed after it crashed. Everyday a new virus and everyday upgrading your anti-virus! It gets exhausting when you are faster than your computer & trust me I am not what anyone would consider fast! We are all forced to work modern technology, but if I had a choice I'd rather not.

Answer 15

If you're looking for authentic information, you've come to the wrong place. You need to address your question to people whose lives are lived entirely offline. There's not much point in going to an Internet seniors site to ask why seniors don't use the Internet.

Answer 16

Yeah, right . . . I just hate it when I make a mistake typing an e-mail and have to use white-out to correct it.



This whole newfangled world wide web thing just confuses the heck out of me. Are there spiders in this web that us "old" people should be concerned about? Please shed some light on this internet thing to us elders so we are not so lost and confused.

Answer 17

I don't know. Maybe it is fear of the unknown or they no longer have confidence in learning new things.

Our house had a personal computer as soon as my oldest entered high school. I won't say what year it was, but the computer was an Amiga 1000. ;o) Great little machine.

Answer 18

We actually have a life away from computers.Do you know there is a place called "outside" where there is grass and trees, streams,birds and animals,etc.? I'm sure you would be lost and confused if you should ever venture into a place called a "forest".

If you ever decide you want to go on such an adventure I suggest you take an "old" person with you.

Answer 19

Do you think they may have problems with "figure ground differentiation" ?



Figure ground differentiation is the ability to distinguish the main object in a scene that we are looking at, "the figure" and everything else that forms the background or "ground".



In this case the "object/s" are the image on the computer screen and the keyboard itself.



Maybe they didn't grow up with "Where's Wally ?"

Answer 20

The internet first came to the public in the early 1990's and did not become widely used until way later.

Answer 21

Some are not ready to accept new things. The old ways we were taught while young always seemed to be plenty good enough. I suppose, too, that internet can seem complicated and difficult.

Answer 22

My friend is 55 and seems apprehensive about the internet, her husband and teen son both are very good at using a computer but she seems to have no patience for learning it...she had to learn to sign on and have a password to take care of a little business at her workplace but no use at all at the house computer.

Answer 23

They grew up into adulthood without it. They don't feel it's as necessary to use as younger generations think it is. Technology is truly evolving and it is necessary to accept it's presence and pass our knowledge and inventions/tools down to the younger generations. Technology is essential to our society as well as our psychology, because as technology advances, intelligence levels skyrocket.





The age of the internet was truly revolutionary, information can now be shared throughout the world and you can know about almost anything in the world just from doing your own research.

Answer 24

For the same reason that so many young people seem to be addicted to their cell phones and can't be not texting someone for more than 30 seconds. It is what you are used to that makes up your interests.

Answer 25

I have had a computer and on the internet since about 90'.

Cost can sometimes be a problem for seniors.

Sometimes it has been for me.

Answer 26

There is more to life than a computer, for one; and secondly seniors do use the internet, but what you're referring them to probably has no interest to them.

Answer 27

Because they had to take care of the kids, and didn't have time for the internet..=)

Answer 28

why do so many young people care so much about electronic communication when there is a world of people and animals in need. while you are feeding your virtual pet, how about saving a real one, when you are killing fantasy monsters, how about creating a solution for the real ones?

Answer 29

There are allot of things to know about the computers.



Some will get frustrated and say screw it. Because no one is there to show them how to do it.

Answer 30

Your answers make me proud to be a SC! Really good and funny answers.

Older people, (I spelled people out for you) are NOT ALL THE SAME!

Answer 31

Perhaps they quite content without it. It's not compulsory and life it possible without it.



Those who do use the net are usually just as capable as the next person

.

.

Answer 32

It gets them out of their comfort zone. My husband is like that. He's getting his Contractor's license and I told him that all he had to do was have me download the book and he can read it on here. He won't touch it. I downloaded it anyway, just in case.

Answer 33

Because most people have gotten by with out it just fine for years and don't see why they need it now.

Answer 34

LOL....because they have better things to do than sit at a computer surfing the web and clearly have no interest or desire to learn about it. Nothing wrong with that.

Answer 35

I've wondered, too. Maybe it's believing the worse heard. Maybe it's a challenge that feels overwhelming.

Answer 36

Maybe because we class it as one of "them new fangled things" that we will never get used to?...But once we do!, watch out!.....Try Yahoo Senior Citizens,.... Then post that Question!...

Answer 37

They didn't grow up with computers, where as most kids these days have some sort of an online electronic. for them they grew up with TV's and Gameboys.

Answer 38

Because they grew up without it and don't see the need for it.

Answer 39

to hard to learn

Answer 40

I don't know where you get your information but it's not accurate.