Don’t fear computers at 75, Jane. I’m using one at 88!
I was intrigued by the story of Jane Brooks, the 75-year-old greatgrandmother sacked from the charity shop where she had volunteered for 29 years because she couldn’t use a computer and electric till. Did anyone at the charity offer to give her a few lessons in IT or suggest she join a local computer class? It’s easy enough to learn. I’m 88 and use a computer regularly. Courses are often inexpensive or free-of-charge, and I’m sure a youngster like Jane could get the hang of it in no time. and there are plenty of inexpensive laptops and desktop models on sale. I was first confronted with a computer in a local store in the late Eighties when I was in my 60s. as curiosity overcame my apprehension, I struck some letters on the keyboard but nothing happened. Disconcerted and afraid that if I tried again the machine might blow up, I asked a passing boy of about ten to show me what to do. at that time I was the sole carer for my handicapped son and also cared for my elderly, infirm parents, who lived with me, so I did not have the time to take up a course of instruction. after their deaths, my son and I were able to attend IT courses and soon became hooked. In the Nineties, I read of an american experiment in which ten top-end computers were set up and 200 senior managers observed to see how they interacted with them. The majority just looked and only a few plucked up the courage to sit down and play. To a man (or woman), they sat down and asked: ‘what do I do?’ But when the same test was run with five-year-old children none of them asked: ‘what do I do?’ — they just did. Exposure to computers and other modern technology is occurring earlier and earlier. For many children it starts before they are even a year old. Computer knowledge is acquired in the same way they learn how to throw, write, walk and eat. It is absorbed like language and becomes intuitive. It’s not surprising, then, that these children feel comfortable with new technology at the age of five and that by ten they are skilled and capable. so what chance for those aged 75 and over? I hope Jane decides to learn how to use a computer, even if she chooses not to return to the ungrateful charity shop. I know she would discover that it is certainly worth the effort.
BARBARA MacARTHUR, Cardiff.