Has It Turned Full Circle?

[10ClarionSt]

Remember this? It was the message from our generation in the 60's. Now that generation is probably struggling with the internet, smart phones, digital innovation etc. Some people say they don't have any of these things and think they are being neglected because they are the older generation. Are the times a changing for us? Have they now turned full circle?

[bookbinder]

I'm one of the older generation, and, yes, the times they are a'changing. I don't like change, not because I'm a stick-in-the-mud, but just because I have organised my life into a set routine. I know, instinctively, how to live my life, because I don't need to rethink what I'm doing. I don't want a mobile, I don't want a smart tv. I just want to live my life in the way that I have done for the past few years. I appreciate that change, improvements if you like, is necessary, but I'd rather keep my distance, if you don't mind.

[Ken4155]

Come gather round, people, wherever you roam
And admit that you can't cope without a smart phone
And accept it that soon you'll be left all alone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you better start using the old dog and bone
For the times they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesise on AB
It's not all as simple as A, B and C
And don't post too soon or you may fail to see
Just who it is you are blamin'
There are those who'll say, "As long as it isn't me."
Oh the times they are a-changin'

[barry1010]

I think it's always been like this. My parents struggled with programming the VCR when they were first relatively affordable, didn't see the point of the Walkman or an answerphone.

I consider myself fairly techy and I'm confident that I will keep up with new technology as I am interested in it - but if it is new devices aimed solely at youngsters there is every chance it will pass me by and I will be clueless.

My oldsters rely on some new tech and embrace it. They wouldn't be able to set it up but they know how to use it. I agree it can be difficult for older people who have never used a computer or a keyboard to get started but gadgets such as tablets make it so much easier. Smartphones are a boon for the very hard of hearing who have difficulty with phone calls. Voice control is great for people who suffer with things like Parkinson's.
Technology can make an older person's life so much easier, and thankfully it is getting easier to use.
Times they are a-changing for the older generation - for the better for a lot of them.

[Old_Geezer]

Times change at an ever increasing rate. There is no permanent rock to cling to and upon which to build a stable understanding of where one finds oneself. From each generation, those that survive long enough, will find everything torn out from under them. And the sadness they feel for the rejection of that which was good and sensible will be for naught, until hopefully eventually society sees what it lost and retraces some of it's path to get back on course once more. Today false idealism holds sway and many acknowledge that the emperor's new clothes are truly magnificent.

[davebro]

I can cope with as as much of the new stuff as I need to. I'm just concerned that some evil power could knock out the satellites, the internet & the mobile phone networks & create chaos.

[brian j john]

Best answer to Ken4155

[Atheist]

davebro; it's bound to happen sooner or later. Sooner rather than later, I'd say.

[Spicerack]

Very deep, OG. Nice.

Back to my level. If you travelled back as far as we've come from that record, you'd be in 1906. No wonder old people seemed a bit bewildered.
I don't think we age in the way people used to. Physically or mentally. For a start we're smarter than subsequent generations. Reckon I'm as 'with it' as I want to be.

[10ClarionSt]

Thanks for the replies folks. Great reply Ken. I generally don't give anyone a BA because I really appreciate everyones' responses.

There are people being left behind nowadays. I know one or two people who don't have a computer/internet/mobile. Some will say that it's their choice if they want to stay like that. Even so, I think computers and mobiles are difficult to grasp for some of the older generation and lots of them get help from their children/grandchildren, thankfully.

[burlyshirley]

I agree 100% with bookbinder, even though I do have a mobile phone, but it's very basic and there is no way I would want a smart phone.

[Ken4155]

^
I basically had no choice in the matter. My smart phone was a joint Christmas present from a couple of my daughters. The only difference to my old (very basic) mobile phone is that i now have Whatsapp, on which i regularly receive photo's and videos of my grandkids.
Other than that, i use it exactly as i did my old phone.

[woodelf]

Great rewrite Ken - you play ye olde geetar, man?......let's have some more!

[Peter Pedant]

// I don't want a mobile, I don't want a smart tv.//
foo I want the internet

evg class - I told the teens what getting a law case report involved ( now use BAILII) get in car, go to law library, wangle way in, get case citator, note citation, select journal ( "appeal courts" A.C. is always good) look up case, go over to photocopier....

and the polka aced it with - in Poland and there wd be one set book and teams of students booked hour slots to copy it out !
( shades of samizdat)

(Cries of ABers: was she polka dotty or what? - - where Poland den - samizdat too longa word - law library, book shop where dey foo da law den or something? etc etc many more moronic than this)

[Peter Pedant]

// Great reply Ken. I generally don't give anyone a BA because I really appreciate everyones' responses.//

I generally don't give BA but everyone changes , Clarion

( tempora mutantur - etc - only put that in to vex Naomi)

[maggiebee]

Brings it home to you when your grandchildren ask questions such as:
What was your first job? I was a shorthand typist. What's that?

If you didn't have a phone, how could you meet your friends? We arranged things at school or we went and knocked on their door.

What did you do if you didn't have a TV. We played outside, listened to the wireless (what's that?) or read a book.

Many, many more I could mention! Yes, I'm a dinosaur.

[sandyRoe]

Times change and things change with it.
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfills himself in many ways
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world...

[Hopkirk]

My family remind me that I once said I would never have a mobile phone.
Once I got one, I said I would never have a smartphone.
Now I feel naked if I don't have my smartphone with me.

I don't have a good record. When I finally got a video cassette recorder in the 80s, I went for a Betamax one.