On Wed, 30 Apr 2008, Bill Steele wrote:

In article , Windswept@Home (J)
wrote:

I was clueless then and am clueless today.

Exactly. Show me a senior citizen who can't work a VCR and I'll show you
a citizen who couldn't have worked a VCR at age 20.

That's my point. There are lots of clueless people when it comes to
technology, but chances are good they've always been clueless in
that area.

Last year, there was an article in the paper about some teenager who
had a small business helping people with their computers. It started
with
"Baby-boomer parents are well aware that if they need someone to
tweak their home computers, the best people to ask are their own
teenage children."

And since I know baby boomers were responsible for home computers, it
rang false.

The writer is in awe of the teenager because she avoids technology.
That's not an age thing, that's the way certain people approach
technology or new things, and it never changes. Their very approach
makes it difficult, which may mean they manifest it in a rant
against technology or the cliche about older people being technology
clueless.

Build up a stereotype, and people start believing it. One sad thing
about getting old is that too many people take clues about how they
should act from those around them. "Oh, I'm fifty years old, it's
time to act my age. I'm sixty years old, it's time to wear pastels".
The older you get, the harder it is to do things, because your body
starts slowing down, but if you were capable at 20 why should you
be less capable at 80?

Michael