Seniors and technology

On the other hand, I’ve been writing on a computer for 31 years — over half the 54 years I’ve been conning editors into paying money for my words. I set up my own website almost 20 years ago, coding it in HTML for a year before I switched to a program that simplified the task. I’ve worked with six different word processing programs, two spreadsheet programs, two web page editors, and miscellaneous items like Microsoft Publisher. My hard drive contains over 50 spreadsheets I’ve created to handle budgets, taxes, business affairs, and arcane matters like the orbital periods of imaginary planets. Ninety percent of the books I’ve read in the last three years have been downloaded onto a Nook e-reader.

As for my reliance on my grandson — he was on the technical support team when he was in high school, and he’s acquired some expertise in troubleshooting computer glitches. I took advantage of his knowledge in the same way I might call on a relative who could repair bicycles or help me save an ailing houseplant.

The widespread assumption that “the elderly” don’t know anything about contemporary information technology belies common sense. Any office worker who reached retirement age in 2000 had probably been working with a computer for 10-20 years; many had been routinely accessing the Internet since the 1980s. Most of the professional and white-collar workers who’ve retired since then have been working with computers for half their working lives.

There have been surveys, in fact, that indicate retirees are avid computer and Internet devotees. They use the Internet to keep in touch with their families, and a third play video games and computer games at least once a week. An hour with a good shoot-’em-up is a lot more fun than shuffleboard.

Not everyone needs a smartphone

So why don’t I carry a smartphone? Primarily because I don’t feel the need. Smartphones and tablets appeal to two groups, as far as I can tell: people who’ve been buying computers so they could access the Internet and professionals with jobs that keep them on the move.

The first group doesn’t need a computer with all the potential of a desktop. They don’t buy computers so they can write novels and manage home businesses. They’ve been buying computers so they can share photos with their friends and access the information and entertainment available on the Internet. They can now do that with a tablet without investing in a desktop or laptop.

My computer is primarily a working tool, and my working life is as static as a hunting blind. Salesmen and managers may spend their days hopping from airport to airport; I sit at my desk and hope something interesting will fly across my mind. I don’t fret if I don’t have access to email for a couple of hours because I access it several times a day on my desktop. It’s one of the best excuses for avoiding writing any engineer ever handed the writers of the world.

The young hop onto new technology faster than their elders because they have more time. Give kids a new device that fascinates them and they’ll spend days learning by trial and error and tenaciously perfecting their new skill.

Face to face, not Facebook

They have the great advantage, in addition, that they don’t have to fit the latest wonder into spaces already occupied by other things. If I bought a smartphone and spent my days taking selfies and texting everybody I knew every ten minutes, I would have to spend less time writing, reading, and taking advantage of Philadelphia’s artistic riches.

When I switched to writing on a computer, by contrast, I did it because word processing programs actually made writing more pleasant as well as more efficient. Spreadsheet programs speeded up accounting and financial calculations, email and the Web accelerated communications and research, and game programs let me play games without scheduling dates with opponents. I may decide I have to open a Facebook page at some point, but so far I haven’t been presented with a compelling need to augment my online contacts.

If you want to buy the latest development in information technology because it makes you feel young and cool, go ahead. Why not? But please don’t plague me with techno-snob harangues about the need to stay technologically au courant. Technology is a tool. I buy new technologies because I think they will help me fill needs or satisfy desires. If they don’t, I have other ways to spend my time and money. A good dinner in a nice restaurant, with a nice wine and the right company, is worth a thousand tweets.

For a response by Alaina Mabaso, click here.