I've been helping my own mother with computer problems for a long time now. Recently, for instance, I rebooted her printer, which had gone catatonic in a memory overload. This is the sort of wizardry level at which I operate.
Recently, at her suggestion, I burned a CD for a friend and contemporary of hers who was interested in some of the music I'd been posting lately. So this evening, this woman phoned to thank me for the CD. And tomorrow, she said, her son is coming over to show her how to play it.
Reminds me of the woman who knocked on a neighbour's house recently, saying that she needed to "borrow a man" to do some DIY job or other. I wondered what the reaction would be if a man went to borrow a woman to cook his dinner.
Having been close at hand watching her learn computer protocols, it isn't mental laziness. It's that the past is a foreign country and people do things differently there. Older people are from the past, and they just haven't been exposed to many more recent customs in circumstances that make them intuitively learnable. (Real example: how windows overlay each other on the computer screen; where the borders are and what the shapes mean. It seems so intuitive, but that's only because you already know it. If you don't already know, it's baffling. And if you do already know, it's because you learned it in Windows 3.1, back when it was simple enough to grasp.)
Also, older people's brains are full: with the policies and procedures of the past that younger people have no need to know. I've noticed this in myself, and not long ago made a list.
Being fiftymumblemumble myself, I'm saying nothing! :o)
Computers got pretty much dumped in my lap when I was teaching. No courses, just 'there you are, play with that' so I did! :o)
Hubby has to work 'suited and booted' and still hand knots his ties. He has a penchant for Italian silk ties and leaving them knotted would damage them.
I still play and clean 12" albums being a hi fi geek.
The oldest person on my flist is an Irish chap in his mid eighties- he's a former teacher and a retired member of the Christian Brethren, so celibate- and he can do it all- washing, cooking, ironing, computers. 85 and still willing to learn (and listen to and engage with the views of younger people).
It's easy to be willing to learn. It's another to understand what you're taught* and it's still another to retain it, especially if it's something you use rarely. And that's not just a feature of older people. I first wore a knotted tie at age 14, and I was taught how to tie it; but I then had to be taught over and over again, because I only wore one about once a year. It took literally ten years before I finally had it down flat, but since then I've amazed people with this skill.
*Computer people in particular have an unerring knack at talking way over their users' heads. When the retirement residence facility where my mother lived changed its e-mail system, I went along to the community meeting about this as translator, because I was sure that the tech guy would say nothing that anybody there could understand. Sure enough, someone would ask a simple question like, "Can I use the same password?" and the guy would be off on a long techy explanation about TCP/IP protocols and never actually answer the question.
I popped into Computer World recently to find out about the merits and demerits of Google Chromebox as a system as our PC is at the stage of needing a replacement and was given twenty minutes of, to coin a phrase, bullshit about everything but, along the lines of 'you don't want that, you want this' which guaranteed that I made no purchase at all.
It was much easier simply to Google online for views................
This guy wasn't giving bullshit. What he was saying was, as far as I could tell, accurate, but it was relevant only to an advanced level of mass data transfer. The question wasn't about anything of the sort, it was simply about this user entering her own old password into the new system, and, since this incident predated the ubiquity of password security level gatekeeping, the answer would have been "Yes, you may." The problem was that the tech guy couldn't imagine anyone needing to ask this question.
Another case I've frequently come across is responding to "Do X" with "How do I do it?" which generates a long discussion of complex software issues, when what the question meant was "Which keys do I press on the keyboard?"
That tends to be the trouble with home PC's in general. There's an assumption that we all have doctoral level quals in engineering and higher mathematics and love having to do constant updates and add ons to keep the damn thing functioning.
I am but an humble historian..........................
Do you do absolutely everything on the internet, using a browser?
If yes, sure, consider a Chromebox. As far as I can tell, it's a wireless-equipped, possibly multiuser, Chromebook.
If not, because you need to run Word, PhotoShop, Quicken/Quickbooks, or any other business or personal applications, then No, because the Chromebox won't run any of those.
The answer to the password question is just crazy. The correct answer is "Yes," for any migration scenario I can come up with. Even if it's a completely new system, you can set up your account at the first login to use the same password.
I have no idea why he was talking about TCP/IP. It is utterly irrelevant to end users of email systems. Only networking experts, and by that I mean people working with data-center-sized networks or very specialized networking software or very large-scale connectivity problems, need to think about TCP/IP.
I live in a two-woman household. We both cook, clean, garden. Neither of us is a DIYer as far as home repairs go; we pay people for that.
As far as technical stuff goes, my partner, who has a doctorate in public health and understands statistics and certain other technical areas far better than I do, took six months to learn how to copy a file from her hard drive to (then) a floppy disk or (now) a flash drive. I'm a technical writer who has documented both software and hardware systems.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I've been helping my own mother with computer problems for a long time now. Recently, for instance, I rebooted her printer, which had gone catatonic in a memory overload. This is the sort of wizardry level at which I operate.
Recently, at her suggestion, I burned a CD for a friend and contemporary of hers who was interested in some of the music I'd been posting lately. So this evening, this woman phoned to thank me for the CD. And tomorrow, she said, her son is coming over to show her how to play it.
Oy.
no subject
no subject
no subject
It's a bit like a man who can't cook or iron- it's mental laziness although I'm willing to accept that some of it's generational.
no subject
Also, older people's brains are full: with the policies and procedures of the past that younger people have no need to know. I've noticed this in myself, and not long ago made a list.
no subject
Computers got pretty much dumped in my lap when I was teaching. No courses, just 'there you are, play with that' so I did! :o)
Hubby has to work 'suited and booted' and still hand knots his ties. He has a penchant for Italian silk ties and leaving them knotted would damage them.
I still play and clean 12" albums being a hi fi geek.
The oldest person on my flist is an Irish chap in his mid eighties- he's a former teacher and a retired member of the Christian Brethren, so celibate- and he can do it all- washing, cooking, ironing, computers. 85 and still willing to learn (and listen to and engage with the views of younger people).
no subject
*Computer people in particular have an unerring knack at talking way over their users' heads. When the retirement residence facility where my mother lived changed its e-mail system, I went along to the community meeting about this as translator, because I was sure that the tech guy would say nothing that anybody there could understand. Sure enough, someone would ask a simple question like, "Can I use the same password?" and the guy would be off on a long techy explanation about TCP/IP protocols and never actually answer the question.
no subject
I popped into Computer World recently to find out about the merits and demerits of Google Chromebox as a system as our PC is at the stage of needing a replacement and was given twenty minutes of, to coin a phrase, bullshit about everything but, along the lines of 'you don't want that, you want this' which guaranteed that I made no purchase at all.
It was much easier simply to Google online for views................
no subject
no subject
no subject
Another case I've frequently come across is responding to "Do X" with "How do I do it?" which generates a long discussion of complex software issues, when what the question meant was "Which keys do I press on the keyboard?"
no subject
I am but an humble historian..........................
no subject
Do you do absolutely everything on the internet, using a browser?
If yes, sure, consider a Chromebox. As far as I can tell, it's a wireless-equipped, possibly multiuser, Chromebook.
If not, because you need to run Word, PhotoShop, Quicken/Quickbooks, or any other business or personal applications, then No, because the Chromebox won't run any of those.
no subject
I have no idea why he was talking about TCP/IP. It is utterly irrelevant to end users of email systems. Only networking experts, and by that I mean people working with data-center-sized networks or very specialized networking software or very large-scale connectivity problems, need to think about TCP/IP.
no subject
I live in a two-woman household. We both cook, clean, garden. Neither of us is a DIYer as far as home repairs go; we pay people for that.
As far as technical stuff goes, my partner, who has a doctorate in public health and understands statistics and certain other technical areas far better than I do, took six months to learn how to copy a file from her hard drive to (then) a floppy disk or (now) a flash drive. I'm a technical writer who has documented both software and hardware systems.
no subject