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Opinion: Due to the speed at which technology advances, a large % of people over age 50 have become mostly useless. (2 Viewers)

bigmarc27

bigmarc27

Footballguy
Discuss. 
 

Quick caveat: no I don’t think all older people are useless and I chose age 50 as a random line of separation. 

Anecdotal evidence: Older people I work with have increasingly become unable to keep up with the technological demands of their job. People who were perfectly capable of working in a white collar field at the turn of the millennium, now spend hours trying to figure out how to find use excel or update apps on their phone.  This doesn’t even include the people who come up to me asking about random spam emails and how that person knows their name.  When I tell them the emails aren’t coming from real people, you can actually see their brain melting. 
 

There seems to be pushback in this demographic to adapting and they feel like their tenure should keep afloat. It’s a problem now and will be a huge burden in another decade. 

 
I was in the Apple store last week and saw a "class" going on.  Maybe 20 people.  Youngest was about 60.  I was pleasantly surprised that they wanted to learn.  My wife, on the other hand...

 
50 is a terrible baseline to use.  It is that age group that started work just as email, and the internet and computers all took over.

In the end though, age is meaningless.  I help people with the most basic tech issues every day at the library.  Old, young, male, female, there is no one group that is more confused than the other.  Some people's brains just don't understand technology at all.

I was dealing with one lady last week, maybe mid 20's, who could not understand what a hard drive was on her computer.

 
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And to be fair, a lot of "young ins" don't know jack about anything prior to their existence and don't care to learn either.  

 
NewlyRetired said:
50 is a terrible baseline to use.  It is that age group that started work just as email, and the internet and computers all took over.

In the end though, age is meaningless.  I help people with the most basic tech issues every day at the library.  Old, young, male, female, there is no one group that is more confused than the other.  Some people's brains just don't understand technology at all.

I was dealing with one lady last week, maybe mid 20's, who could not understand what a hard drive was on her computer.
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50 can be a terrible baseline. I just used an arbitrary year.  I also agree that people’s brains work differently, but I do see a distinct grouping of people completely unwilling to adapt to new procedures. 

 
bigmarc27 said:
50 can be a terrible baseline. I just used an arbitrary year.  I also agree that people’s brains work differently, but I do see a distinct grouping of people completely unwilling to adapt to new procedures. 
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I agree.  I think it is fair to say the older you get, the more set in your ways you are, for the majority of people.  That goes well beyond just technology of course.

I mean just look at all the complaints we get in here when the software is updated.  People in general are resistant to changes.

 
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bigmarc27 said:
Discuss. 
 

Quick caveat: no I don’t think all older people are useless and I chose age 50 as a random line of separation. 

Anecdotal evidence: Older people I work with have increasingly become unable to keep up with the technological demands of their job. People who were perfectly capable of working in a white collar field at the turn of the millennium, now spend hours trying to figure out how to find use excel or update apps on their phone.  This doesn’t even include the people who come up to me asking about random spam emails and how that person knows their name.  When I tell them the emails aren’t coming from real people, you can actually see their brain melting. 
 

There seems to be pushback in this demographic to adapting and they feel like their tenure should keep afloat. It’s a problem now and will be a huge burden in another decade. 
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I think what you described is not a recent phenomenon - it happens all the times with advances in technology and other areas.  You'll have some that adapt, some that are drug unwillingly, some that will just not do it, some that will retire, etc.  As a couple others have mentioned, I know many over 50 folks that are very technical and know as much or more as I do.

I have to admit, as someone who is closing in on 50, I absolutely see the appeal or the day when I will be like "I don't care to learn this stuff any more" - whether that means I move more in to management or move to another area is TBD but I think everybody deserves to live life the way they want.  I don't think it should be required that folks adapt.  If they aren't good at what they do it's on the company to train them, put them in new roles or move them on.

 
I'm 51 and I work in IT and most of my co-workers in IT are also 50+, after spending the weekend working on a technical issue with my other co-workers, child please.  It's as bad or as stupid as people whining and moaning about these "damned millennials" which is another baseless, stupid stereotype.   One of my co-workers is a millennial and he runs rings around many other people I work with in and out of my department another one of my co-workers is a millennial and he's completely useless.  One of my co-workers is 50+ and he's utterly useless others are 50+ and I'd be in a world of hurt without them.

I have the 20% 80% rule and I find it applies across the board on many levels and areas of things.  80% of the people are good with change and you spend 20% of your time on those people.  20% are just confused. . . about everything . . . all the time and you spend 80% of your time holding those peoples hands through everything. . . all the time.  And that's just the way it is whether it's HR, IT, whatever the case may be.

 
AAABatteries said:
I think what you described is not a recent phenomenon - it happens all the times with advances in technology and other areas.  You'll have some that adapt, some that are drug unwillingly, some that will just not do it, some that will retire, etc.  As a couple others have mentioned, I know many over 50 folks that are very technical and know as much or more as I do.
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Again I just used 50 as a line for the sake of discussion.

I agree with what you said above. The difference I see now is that technology is advancing at a substantially faster rate now than in the past.  We’re past talking about just efficiencies and onto entirely new rules for which work is accomplished.  With that premise in mind, the gap has widened. 

 
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bigmarc27 said:
Again I just used 50 as a line for the sake of discussion.

I agree with what you said above. The difference I see now is that technology is advancing at a substantially faster rate now than in the past.  We’re past talking about just efficiencies and onto entirely new rules for which work is accomplished.  With that premise in mind, the gap has widened. 
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50 back when the iPhone was created or before that when the browsers were starting is a better line. Those people are 62+ now. I’m in my late 40s and very technical so you’ll keep getting posts about 50 being a bad line as people at 50 were late 30s when the iPhone was created and mid 20s when HTML, Internet and Browsers were pretty common place. Late 40s/early 50s women use this #### out of social media. 

 
Back when I started my career, we had a guy who was like 75 years old and the most tech-savvy person I'd ever met.  One time I asked him in a casual conversation why he was always so up to date on technology, and he explained that in his view, no matter what you do for a living, keeping up with technology is the only way to keep advancing.  He'd seen colleagues come and go, let the industry pass them by due to reluctance to change, become obsolete, pass away, etc.  He refused to let that be him.  It's always stuck with me.

 
I'd bump this up to about 65/70ish but I think it has NOTHING to do with technology.  It seems to me a very large portion of "older" people simply don't want to learn ANYTHING new as they get older.  Seems like the general attitude is "#### it, I'm old and don't care anymore"  Like they can't be bothered by X.....then insert lame excuse why they aren't trying.  It's like they are now traveling backwards on the education track and are that middle school kid attitude where they make excuses at all turns for why they can't do something.

 
careful.   If you're age 55 to 50 you are the first generation to have computers in school, at home, in your business.  We started this, and we know what we're doing.  We were programming BASIC at age 10 or 11.

i would say age 60 and up, you have a point regarding computers in general.   

 
Steve Tasker said:
Back when I started my career, we had a guy who was like 75 years old and the most tech-savvy person I'd ever met.  One time I asked him in a casual conversation why he was always so up to date on technology, and he explained that in his view, no matter what you do for a living, keeping up with technology is the only way to keep advancing.  He'd seen colleagues come and go, let the industry pass them by due to reluctance to change, become obsolete, pass away, etc.  He refused to let that be him.  It's always stuck with me.
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So he was into pron, huh? 

 
My technological skills are not up to date for say coding/languange and standards. Meaning I learned say java 10 years ago and we upgrade to the newest approved java but are day to day functionailty has not changed so any new uses of said technology I am way out of date on.

Im sure I can learn it if need be.  

If that makes sense

 
i wil say i have fallen behind when it come to like cord cutting, harwarde and other various apps that are getting used now adays.

BUT i know how to hack my phone

 
The Commish said:
I'd bump this up to about 65/70ish but I think it has NOTHING to do with technology.  It seems to me a very large portion of "older" people simply don't want to learn ANYTHING new as they get older.  Seems like the general attitude is "#### it, I'm old and don't care anymore"  Like they can't be bothered by X.....then insert lame excuse why they aren't trying.  It's like they are now traveling backwards on the education track and are that middle school kid attitude where they make excuses at all turns for why they can't do something.
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To play devil's advocate here - I think as people age they realize what's really important to them.  Staying up to date on technology isn't the end all be all.

 
AAABatteries said:
To play devil's advocate here - I think as people age they realize what's really important to them.  Staying up to date on technology isn't the end all be all.
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In my experience, it doesn't seem to be unique to technology.  Politics, science, general knowledge, you name it.  They don't seem interested at all.  I too know people like bigmarc27 describes above, but they are BY FAR the exception.

 
The Commish said:
I'd bump this up to about 65/70ish but I think it has NOTHING to do with technology.  It seems to me a very large portion of "older" people simply don't want to learn ANYTHING new as they get older.  Seems like the general attitude is "#### it, I'm old and don't care anymore"  Like they can't be bothered by X.....then insert lame excuse why they aren't trying.  It's like they are now traveling backwards on the education track and are that middle school kid attitude where they make excuses at all turns for why they can't do something.
Click to expand...
To play devil's advocate on this, for someone in a white collar job in their 60's or older, why should they have to bother with learning new tech?  People who've reached that stage of their career aren't doing any of the grunt work that newer, younger employees handle, whether tech related or otherwise.  If my work requires me to use a new application of some sort, I want the IT guy and my staff to install it and understand how to use it so I don't have to.  If its something I absolutely have to learn and use, OK, I will put the time in to do so, but that's not my first choice solution.

 
Apparently doing a crappy job of getting my point across, so apologies.  My point in my initial comment is I don't think what bigmarc27 is observing is because of technology per say.  I think it's a general attitude in life at that point and is not isolated in any fashion to technology.  I just think there is a large group of people that reach a "#### it....I don't care to learn anything new" stage of life.  People stop challenging themselves for whatever reason they choose.  

You guys raise good points about technology and not caring.  It doesn't seem to stop there though....that's my overall point.  

 
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bigmarc27 said:
Discuss. 
 

Quick caveat: no I don’t think all older people are useless and I chose age 50 as a random line of separation. 

Anecdotal evidence: Older people I work with have increasingly become unable to keep up with the technological demands of their job. People who were perfectly capable of working in a white collar field at the turn of the millennium, now spend hours trying to figure out how to find use excel or update apps on their phone.  This doesn’t even include the people who come up to me asking about random spam emails and how that person knows their name.  When I tell them the emails aren’t coming from real people, you can actually see their brain melting. 
 

There seems to be pushback in this demographic to adapting and they feel like their tenure should keep afloat. It’s a problem now and will be a huge burden in another decade. 
Click to expand...
Someday you're going to be the old fart that can't figure out why his driverless car won't swerve into homeless people on the sidewalk.  

 
My dad worked till 80. He'd still be working if he hadn't had a stroke. Being an engineer he loved figuring things out. Some tech was useful for his job, making things easier. Other was a pain in the ### that did not add anything positive.

I think it depends on the person and the technology in question. If it actually slows people down without adding much benefit, what's the point? Nowadays it's cool to have the latest. I laugh at my fam who line up for apple whatever is the number now. Do you really need those new bells and whistles? How the hell did we survive before? 🙄

 
Steve Tasker said:
Back when I started my career, we had a guy who was like 75 years old and the most tech-savvy person I'd ever met.  One time I asked him in a casual conversation why he was always so up to date on technology, and he explained that in his view, no matter what you do for a living, keeping up with technology is the only way to keep advancing.  He'd seen colleagues come and go, let the industry pass them by due to reluctance to change, become obsolete, pass away, etc.  He refused to let that be him.  It's always stuck with me.
Click to expand...
On the opposite end.....I remember when I started in public accounting out of college, there was one partner who didn't even have a computer in his office.  He was probably in his early 60s at the time and super sharp.  He's since retired but I don't see how he would be able to keep up now without a computer.  I think the secretaries handled his e-mails back then (early 2000s).

 
The Commish said:
Apparently doing a crappy job of getting my point across, so apologies.  My point in my initial comment is I don't think what bigmarc27 is observing is because of technology per say.  I think it's a general attitude in life at that point and is not isolated in any fashion to technology.  I just think there is a large group of people that reach a "#### it....I don't care to learn anything new" stage of life.  People stop challenging themselves for whatever reason they choose.  

You guys raise good points about technology and not caring.  It doesn't seem to stop there though....that's my overall point.  
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think I'm also doing a bad job explaining my point too.  I'm saying I don't see anything wrong with folks have a "I don't care to learn" attitude to a degree.  We only get one life to live.  If somebody doesn't want to learn X then I don't have a problem with it.  They may not be interested in it or see how it will impact the time they have left in their job or in their life.  Look at it the other way around - there's not many young people who spend time learning things like how to fix their own car or grow their own food.  They are essentially saying the same thing - "I don't care to learn THAT".  And I think that's a perfectly valid response as long as it's not impacting their work (or whatever - I'm just using work since that seemed to be where marc was going with it).

 
Keerock said:
BTW I'm over 50 and I personally take umbrage with your premise.  I'll put my "technical" skills up against any Millennial (including my kids).  But, stay off my ####in' lawn! 
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I agree with my unfrozen caveman lawyer friend here.  My kids can teach me a thing or two regarding facebook and how to find an imoji, but I've been in the technology field for almost 30 years.  I will say, though, that I have a double corner lot and it does irritate me, if only a little bit, when some young punks walk across my lawn when the street corner is right there.  I mean it's right there!  A few more steps.   :coffee:   We need a gramps imoji.  Maybe my daughter can find me one.

 
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As an old person (in years - not mind), I tend to become annoyed with the new hot stuff that comes out and then goes away in short order. Who knows how many apps I've tried to use to do things that in 6 months are no longer used. Since I've seen a few things come and go  I tend to be more prudent before hopping on a new tech. Something else comes along, newer and better anyway, so I know I can skip a few things knowing that they will be replaced without letting you young punks shame me.

BTW - just passed AWS Certified Architect Professional - the new exam version and I'll let you know it's a tough one. On my 6th birthday the Beatles made their Ed Sullivan debut. As Keerock said - GTF off my lawn.

I also worked with an older gentlemen when I was younger - he was near 80 - gave me great advice when I asked him why he continued to work - his answer "What am I going to do sit around the house and have my wife b#$#$ch at me all day to do something?"

 
Folks age 50 are pretty much at the peak.  Massive amounts of experience and expertise in their field, but still motivated to advance.  The last group I would single out for "irrelevance".

Unless one's view is confined to app development, which is basically just interior design for cell phones.

 
I'm 52 and completely disagree with your opinion. More from the standpoint that you seem to be measuring value based entirely on their ability to be handy with new technology. Those in their 50's know and understand a lot more practical issues and generally have a keen sense of the business/industry they are working in. Maybe you should lift your head up from your i-phone and have a conversation with them and realize all the non-technical things they know.

Just my opinion.

 
mini-hijack - I forget who I was having the conversation with (I think my son and it was a long time ago) - who was trying to say Apple is for more tech savvy people than Android because Itunes interface.    Some young people think because you know how to use a new app that makes you tech savvy.  When I showed him how I could pre-load all sorts of stuff on my phone - his head exploded, when I started on with apks.

It was just a fun moment in time.....

Like the Paypal vs Venmo argument

 
A couple of years ago we adopted a totally new system for creating teacher web pages.

We had this big training session in the computer lab to show us how to use all the different features etc.  

The first thing we had to do was to log into the system using our usual usernames and passwords.  My log in info would not work.  I just kept getting an error message stating "invalid user name".  Of course I double checked that I was entering everything correctly.  

After the 10th time I tell the tech guy "I can't get in."  He was busy helping someone else so one of our deans came over to help.  Then the other dean.  Then the principal.  Then the guy who teaches the computer class.  They are all in their 20s and 30s.  I sat back and let them take over the keyboard.  

Here's how it went with every one of them:

"Is this your normal log-in?"
"Yes"

"Are you sure that's the right password?"
"100%"

"Are you really sure?"
"Yes.  I just used it to log into my email to double check.  Username and password are absolutely correct.  Trust me."

"Did you try closing out the page? And trying again?"

"Yes.  I also restarted the computer.  No dice.  This is NOT a user error.  And I'm not Grandpappy trying to work the DVD player."

It was all very condescending.

Finally, the tech guy came over and tried.  Then he called our tech department.

Turns out some 22 year old tech dude skipped half a page of staff names when enrolling people in the new system.  

I just laughed but wanted to say "You dip-##### realize I was using Basic on a Commodore 64 before most of  you were born, right?"

 
McJose said:
A couple of years ago we adopted a totally new system for creating teacher web pages.

We had this big training session in the computer lab to show us how to use all the different features etc.  

The first thing we had to do was to log into the system using our usual usernames and passwords.  My log in info would not work.  I just kept getting an error message stating "invalid user name".  Of course I double checked that I was entering everything correctly.  

After the 10th time I tell the tech guy "I can't get in."  He was busy helping someone else so one of our deans came over to help.  Then the other dean.  Then the principal.  Then the guy who teaches the computer class.  They are all in their 20s and 30s.  I sat back and let them take over the keyboard.  

Here's how it went with every one of them:

"Is this your normal log-in?"
"Yes"

"Are you sure that's the right password?"
"100%"

"Are you really sure?"
"Yes.  I just used it to log into my email to double check.  Username and password are absolutely correct.  Trust me."

"Did you try closing out the page? And trying again?"

"Yes.  I also restarted the computer.  No dice.  This is NOT a user error.  And I'm not Grandpappy trying to work the DVD player."

It was all very condescending.

Finally, the tech guy came over and tried.  Then he called our tech department.

Turns out some 22 year old tech dude skipped half a page of staff names when enrolling people in the new system.  

I just laughed but wanted to say "You dip-##### realize I was using Basic on a Commodore 64 before most of  you were born, right?"
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YEP - been there

 
AAABatteries said:
Yeah, I think I'm also doing a bad job explaining my point too.  I'm saying I don't see anything wrong with folks have a "I don't care to learn" attitude to a degree.  We only get one life to live.  If somebody doesn't want to learn X then I don't have a problem with it.  They may not be interested in it or see how it will impact the time they have left in their job or in their life.  Look at it the other way around - there's not many young people who spend time learning things like how to fix their own car or grow their own food.  They are essentially saying the same thing - "I don't care to learn THAT".  And I think that's a perfectly valid response as long as it's not impacting their work (or whatever - I'm just using work since that seemed to be where marc was going with it).
Click to expand...
Don't disagree at all. I will say though,  a major difference between the two is influence. I understand that both can have that attitude. Grownups being uneducated is much more impactful than kids in our day to day lives

 
bigmarc27 said:
Again I just used 50 as a line for the sake of discussion.

I agree with what you said above. The difference I see now is that technology is advancing at a substantially faster rate now than in the past.  We’re past talking about just efficiencies and onto entirely new rules for which work is accomplished.  With that premise in mind, the gap has widened. 
Click to expand...
Is it really though?  I'd say there was a pretty big jump from the mid/late 80's to the mid 90's when the internet became common place.  I can't imagine a bigger technological jump for most people than that.

 
NewlyRetired said:
50 is a terrible baseline to use.  It is that age group that started work just as email, and the internet and computers all took over.

In the end though, age is meaningless.  I help people with the most basic tech issues every day at the library.  Old, young, male, female, there is no one group that is more confused than the other.  Some people's brains just don't understand technology at all.

I was dealing with one lady last week, maybe mid 20's, who could not understand what a hard drive was on her computer.
Click to expand...
I'm in IT and some folks tell me "these young'ins grew up with technology and can run circles around the older IT people".  I've not found this to be the case. At all. Yeah, all younger people can play around with apps on their phones all day long. They're very knowledgeable about Snapchat, Instagram, the best messaging apps, etc. But that's not technology as it relates to employment. Ask your average 20 year old if they can script or know their way around an F5 or Palo. My guess is you'd get mostly blank stares, or they'd whip out the Goog to look up what the hell all that is. 

 
Jobber said:
I'm in IT and some folks tell me "these young'ins grew up with technology and can run circles around the older IT people".  I've not found this to be the case. At all. Yeah, all younger people can play around with apps on their phones all day long. They're very knowledgeable about Snapchat, Instagram, the best messaging apps, etc. But that's not technology as it relates to employment. Ask your average 20 year old if they can script or know their way around an F5 or Palo. My guess is you'd get mostly blank stares, or they'd whip out the Goog to look up what the hell all that is. 
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I agree.

There is an enormous difference in knowing how to use technology and actually understanding the technology.   Too often people confuse these items.

The entire reason social media exploded is that they came up with technology that was so incredibly easy to use that every one could do it.

 
I have kids in their 20's and I'm still the IT and AV guy in the house.  

I did have clients in their 50's who said that they don't use a computer and don't even have email.  I told them that they had at least another 20 years of life ahead of them and that they are already 20 year's plus behind the curve.  If you are unwilling to even get an email address, there is no hope for you going into the future.

 
D-Day said:
I did have clients in their 50's who said that they don't use a computer and don't even have email.
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what time frame are we talking about, was this 20+ years ago?

I would have an near impossible task of finding any 50 year old today who did not have an email address.   

 
Keerock said:
BTW I'm over 50 and I personally take umbrage with your premise.  I'll put my "technical" skills up against any Millennial (including my kids).  But, stay off my ####in' lawn! 
Click to expand...
Alright old man

 
NewlyRetired said:
what time frame are we talking about, was this 20+ years ago?

I would have an near impossible task of finding any 50 year old today who did not have an email address.   
Click to expand...
This has been within the last 5 years.  They just don't like using computers or smart phones.  

 
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