Old Dogs and New Tricks: Senior and CMC

The mantra: you can’t teach an old dog new tricks has already been disproven when it comes to computer mediated communication and seniors.  Seniors are more adaptable, and more willing and able to learn than they are given credit for.  This is what the experts and academics say but, in my life I see that yes, old dogs can learn new tricks, however young dogs learn new tricks faster.  Why is it that my 10 year old cousin can use an iPad better and more efficiently than my mother (who is not a senior citizen yet).  No one would say that this child is more intelligent than an adult.  Seniors must be empowered and given space to learn and adapt, but it must be realized that some people may not want to for whatever reason.  I am apprehensive to technology becoming a way of life that symbolizes a “good” or “better” way of life.  People were happy before, so people can be happen without it.  Seniors must be encouraged, but not forced to adapt.  Adaptation happens naturally over time.  My grandparents don’t need me getting sassy with them because they don’t know how to work their smart tv.

Given all that I think it’s great to see that number of seniors using Facebook on the rise- up 150% since 2009- and the number of people over age 65 using the internet at 53% in 2012.  The number of seniors with gadgets like cell phones and e-readers has risen since 2012 and 2010 respectively.  If these numbers mean people are trying new things and having their golden years enriched then these rising numbers are very promising.  I have grandparents with cell phones, but they won’t text.  I have grandparents with desktops or laptops, but they won’t email or Facebook.  That is to say there is progress to be seen and it should be appreciated accordingly.  I wouldn’t think to expect to see every 70 year with a smartphone and a tablet by 2020, I think that will be not the seniors of today but the 40 year olds of today maybe. 

            I think I like to see seniors engaged with technology so much is fear of what my older years will look like.  Technology moves tons faster than I’ll be aging. Will I be able to cope with how technologically advanced of a society we will become.  To some extent I think I will be able to cope better than my parents and their parents because I got a younger start.  I appreciate the fact that my generation was the last of American kids who lived with and without all the gadgets and fancy things kids are born into today.  I think it fosters a different mindset when you are basically coming up at the same time as internet based technology, as opposed to being born into a world and culture where the technology is already there.  Obviously there will be new technology that I won’t be able to understand but I don’t want that to be a result of apprehension, or think the old way is always going to be better.