Old folks reject new stuff out of wisdom — not ignorance
One of the many pitfalls of getting older is not keeping up with (or even having much interest in) new technologies. Not me, of course. I recently acquired one of them newfangled low-angle bevel-up wood planes from Lee Valley Tools to go with my antique bevel-down Bailey-pattern planes, so no one better go accusing me of being a Luddite, thank you very much. But you know what I’m talking about.
There’s a whole genre of comedy dedicated to young people mocking older folks for their lack of savvy with modern gizmos, including how Morty and Helen Seinfeld and Frank and Estelle Costanza are depicted on Seinfeld to Amy Schumer recently mocking her fictional mom’s inability to turn on her computer. Not to say that those bits aren’t comedy gold.
“I just think that machines don’t work around me,” says the mom character as Schumer looks on, vibrating with frustration.
While many technological advancements are clearly fabulous, wise older people — who are often mocked in our culture, ironically, by the same younger generations who heap praise on how First Nations honour their elders — may be on to something in not always vacuously embracing whatever new product someone is trying to peddle.
While I may love my laptop computer and be thrilled that we live in a world filled with ingenious contraptions like CT scanners and fuelefficient high-bypass turbofan engines, a lot of the time I think that old stuff is better than new stuff.
Take smartphones — particularly their texting function and what that’s done to courtship.
I watch young people I know — who shall remain nameless to protect their privacy and my safety — trying to set up dates by text and it seems to be the most inefficient method imaginable and fraught with endless opportunities for misunderstanding.
When I was young, if you wanted to ask out a woman, you phoned her. Everything was clear, most importantly your intentions. You proposed some activity that you would both hopefully enjoy, like rebuilding an engine, and quickly arranged a time and place to meet. Nowadays, with texts, these conversations go something like:
Person 1: “S’UP ... We should get together some time.” Person 2: “Totally ...” Person 1: “You doing something this weekend?” Person 2: “I may be free.” Person 1: “OK, let’s text Friday.” Of course, these vague messages can be separated by long stretches of time and often don’t lead to anyone ever actually meeting. And even if they do, does anyone know if they are on a date or just meeting up? All that confusion would drive me nuts. I’d take nervously dialing a gal on the phone over the ambiguities of texting every time.
As well, apparently the rules have become so warped nowadays that it is considered creepy in the, “would you like to come and check out my white panel van” sense for a man to call a woman if they are not already in a relationship. And to think that many singles complain that it’s hard to meet someone these days.
Lots of old stuff is better than their modern equivalents.
While modern cars are certainly safer and more fuel efficient, they’ve become so blah. A Honda Civic may be sensible, but it’s never going to be as sexy as a 1970s Alfa Romeo Spider or even an MGB.
What about records? Years ago, people excitedly bought vinyl albums, took them home and played them over and over from start to finish. We read the liner notes, memorized the lyrics and admired the cover art. Now we download digital singles that are vaporous by comparison.
The same is true of photography. While digital cameras have vastly increased the number of images being captured, we hardly ever save them in photo albums so they can be enjoyed for years, preserving family memories.
I could go on and on. Cast-iron frying pans that last basically forever versus their cheap modern aluminum equivalents that are chucked out after a few years when the non-stick stuff wears off; modern air travel versus the gong shows and possible body-cavity searches that await us at airports these days; old wooden furniture versus the particleboard crap they sell today ... the examples are numerous.
Next time you see an oldster refusing to embrace some modern gizmo, instead of looking on with disdain, consider them an elder with the wisdom to know better.