I was talking about something similar the other day, about people who “don’t read sms”, and I absolutely don’t get it. This (Gam Gam) is the same: how the fuck do you manage to use Whatsapp, or any other messaging app, and not another? They’re essentially the same! Apart from not having the old chat history, there’s no difference!
It’s just mental laziness, IMO.
You’re speaking like someone who doesn’t have elderly relatives…
The brain’s ability to adapt decreases with age, to the point where it becomes very difficult to teach an elderly person anything new, and eventually even for them to remember or be shown how to do the things they’ve done for years but have now forgotten. It’s very frustrating for everyone involved, and expecting them to adapt is expecting them to do something they simply can not do.
Okay, how does this explain the Boomers and up who seem to only be capable of using Facebook?
Like, if it’s about adaptation, they had email and SMS long before Meta started their “clean” version of MySpace that has gotten so much worse than what it replaced.
I’m stuck with a yearly Christmas card from a lot of older relatives because they can’t manage to step back an use services they did use before the big tech algorithmic fuckery took over.
They sunk their time and effort into something that offered intuitive ease of use and photos they wanted beyond occasional messages. To just sit on an iPad and tap it like a rat hitting the feeder bar in a laboratory takes very little additional effort to learn. Scroll until you dopamine centers light up, tap for more, tap all red notifications. It’s easier than using email or WhatsApp or Signal because they’re using it like a steam of consciousness.
If you ask Granny on FB to fine a direct message from a month ago, it’s possible that’s too challenging a task because it’s not right there.
There’s dementia and then there’s a lifetime of intellectual laziness and incuriousness. My great grandfather and his brother lived into their 90s and coped with the changing world just fine. My grandparents are getting up there and they’re still sharp-witted and active and aren’t afraid of new technology. Many people aren’t lucky and lose their faculties through no fault of their own but complacency is like giving up on your future.
I was talking about something similar the other day, about people who “don’t read sms”, and I absolutely don’t get it. This (Gam Gam) is the same: how the fuck do you manage to use Whatsapp, or any other messaging app, and not another? They’re essentially the same! Apart from not having the old chat history, there’s no difference! It’s just mental laziness, IMO.
You’re speaking like someone who doesn’t have elderly relatives…
The brain’s ability to adapt decreases with age, to the point where it becomes very difficult to teach an elderly person anything new, and eventually even for them to remember or be shown how to do the things they’ve done for years but have now forgotten. It’s very frustrating for everyone involved, and expecting them to adapt is expecting them to do something they simply can not do.
Okay, how does this explain the Boomers and up who seem to only be capable of using Facebook?
Like, if it’s about adaptation, they had email and SMS long before Meta started their “clean” version of MySpace that has gotten so much worse than what it replaced.
I’m stuck with a yearly Christmas card from a lot of older relatives because they can’t manage to step back an use services they did use before the big tech algorithmic fuckery took over.
They sunk their time and effort into something that offered intuitive ease of use and photos they wanted beyond occasional messages. To just sit on an iPad and tap it like a rat hitting the feeder bar in a laboratory takes very little additional effort to learn. Scroll until you dopamine centers light up, tap for more, tap all red notifications. It’s easier than using email or WhatsApp or Signal because they’re using it like a steam of consciousness.
If you ask Granny on FB to fine a direct message from a month ago, it’s possible that’s too challenging a task because it’s not right there.
There’s dementia and then there’s a lifetime of intellectual laziness and incuriousness. My great grandfather and his brother lived into their 90s and coped with the changing world just fine. My grandparents are getting up there and they’re still sharp-witted and active and aren’t afraid of new technology. Many people aren’t lucky and lose their faculties through no fault of their own but complacency is like giving up on your future.
except they’re not the same. at all. one comes with the phone she got from the walmart with a prepaid card and she’s not even really logged into it.