Seniors and computers - did you know we're delayed?

Morning coffee and newspaper
–digital delay?

Digital delay for the elderly

Digital delay for the elderly - National Post 

Ottawa Citizen - Mon., Feb. 5, 2013 Like many young Canadians, Denis O'Keefe is rarely more than an arm's length away from an Internet-connected. 

The difference is that O’Keefe is 96 years old.

Josie and I play some iMovies!

Basically, the article bemoans the Statcan data that says we oldsters are out of touch with the times, don't download music, TV shows and movies. Why would we?! A lot of it is crap!

Yes, so they say. I sit down to read my morning paper, yes, I know, but it is tradition. But I can fondly recall sitting with my paper and my coffee as I changed hats from single mom to teacher and working mom.

More evidence of ageism in the young person's world. Anyone who knows me, though, knows I am pretty active on the Internet. I don't have an iPhone, I'm not needed that much, nor do I need to contact friends or family that quickly!

Computer presentation to staff 2004

Like the rest of the folks in their 50s and 60s, and even their 70s and 80s, we learned to use computers and integrate them into our jobs. My late mother learned how to use a computer when she was 50 years old, in order to process their weekly Rotary Club newsletter. Yet, I have to read again how backward we oldsters are. They lovingly cite a man, Denis O'Keefe, who is his 90s and manages the struggle to use a computer! As if he is the only one!

When I went on-line to read the article, and cite it, I found that it has disappeared from the Citizen. Good thing.
A further search found that Misty Harris, self-proclaimed pop-culture queen (Twitter.com/popcultini) who wrote the article, claims that:

"The bad news is that seniors’ online cultural consumption – think digital downloads of music, TV and movies – is dismally lagging. And as more and more services go digital, the risk of alienation is significant."

It's young people who need to be taught manners!

How frightening, 'dismally lagging',
we are 'risking alienation' if we don't download music! "Digital media expert Alfred Hermida says people simply prefer to use the media they grew up with." Seriously? My mom grew up with radio. She used an electric typewriter and a computer when she retired at age 66 in 1991. Alfred, of uBC, knows not whereof he speaks!

What this is proof of, is that another journalist didn't do who homework.

What these staisticians do not realize is that we don't want to download music, never mind do we need to. We like popping our CDs into the car when we drive. Most movies are NOT geared to our demographic. Who want to watch sissy young people in love (teenagers + 20-somethings), scantily clad women, or blood and guts warriors (18 - 20-somethings)?

Wii user in long-term care

We like drama and a plot, as well as character development. While we're the ones with the larger disposable income, we choose not to spend it on this less than artful medium. We are choosy with our music. We support artists by buying their CDs.

We cannot stand being in a theatre, either, with people talking, flashing their iPhones, and behaving as if they are in their living rooms. Culture, indeed!

Consumption of culture by older Canadians on the Internet

by Mary K. Allen (STATCAN)

[Release from The Daily] [Full article in PDF]

A new report by the agency notes that in 2000, less than 10 per cent of seniors had been online in the month prior to being surveyed, whereas by 2010, fully 60 per cent of Canadians 65 to 74, and 29 per cent of those 75 and older, had done so.

Law Commission highlights ageism in justice system

Ontario, unfortunately, is moving in the wrong direction.

Ontario, Law Commission highlights ageism in justice system

The Law Commission of Ontario just released its latest report: A Framework for the Law as it Affects Older Adults. It is designed to highlight and remedy the many ways provincial laws, regulations and policies discriminate on the basis of age, deprive seniors of rights guaranteed in the Constitution and shut them out of policy debates that directly affect their lives.

The medical horror stories abound. While we understand that pediatrics is a specialized field, we do not have the same understanding of geriatrics or palliative care.

And still the media, and others, still call our seniors in hospitals the pejorative term 'bed blockers.' The politically correct term is Alternative Level of Care (ALC) patients. We wouldn't send a pediatric patient home without care. Nor should we send a senior home in the same situation. Ontario healthcare isn't 'broken', but it is badly handled by many levels of Primary Care from hospitals, to physicians, nurses, CCAC Case Managers, and the like. Too few geriatric specialists, methinks.

An example, my friend, Kay in LTC, went to the hospital where the Head Nurse was yelling at her for not taking solid foods. Her doctor had told her (verbally only) not to take any, as she now has a feeding tube. PSW staff, similarly, refused to bring her Boost on demand, as they've been told it spoils people's appetites.

Ageism Presents Dilemmas For Policymakers Worldwide

Dominic Abrahms, PhD, and Hannah J. Swift research showed of 28 countries assessed in the 2008-2009 European Social Survey:

•  24 % of respondents reported prejudice because of gender 
• 16 % because of their race or ethnicity. 
• 34 % reported having experienced age prejudice in the last year
• 37 % said they had felt a lack of respect because of their age
• 28 % said they had been treated badly because of their age. 

Overall, 46 percent of respondents said they had experienced at least one of these forms of age prejudice in the last year. The new PP&AR, "Cross-National Perspectives on Age Discrimination," is available for purchase. 
The Gerontological Society of America

n.p. (2012, September 15). "Ageism Presents Dilemmas For Policymakers Worldwide." Medical News Today. Retrieved from Medical News Today.

Calling bloggers over age 50

My late mother (1925 - 2006), I did so admire her, learned to use a computer at age 55, to process the Toronto Rotary Club's weekly newsletter. She had worked there for 35 years, or so. She had never touched a computer before. She had only used an electric typewriter.

I have many memories of sitting down with her, handing over my laptop as she scrolled through my photo albums, sharing digital photos of the places we had been to, to allow her to travel vicariously.

I learned my computer skills for work in 1989. Doing classroom newsletters, I added to my skill set in order to teach it to my students. I found, through my work at uOttawa at the Faculty of Education in 2005, that many professors have not successfully integrated technology into their curriculum. Not to say they do not use it, but they have not bridged the gap from dispensing URLs like holy water, to fully understanding how we balance computers, digital tools, and curriculum with classroom management and the practical aspects of the process. From this point of view, tech-savvy young adults do not understand the wild waves my generation rides on our journey through this world.

Having just finished a Skype chat with kids and granddaughter, I would like to dispel the myths. I am looking for middle-aged, senior, grandparents, retired and tech-savvy people with life experiences, e.g., those over age 50.

I find that technology and ageism seem to go hand-in-hand in this day and age. I have complained to the CBC about an ad for a tech show that totally denigrates people of my age who learned computers in high school using those dear computer cards. (You know who you are!)

I know that many of us Skype with children and grandchildren.

I know many of us blog, chat with one another, and share our sorrows, joys, trials and tribulations of cancer, dementia, surgery, ill adult children and find strength in one another through photos, fine quotes, and simple positive message of endearments, spirituality, love and joy.

If you know a person over 50 who blogs, could you either send me their URL, or have them contact me? I want to create a master list. I want to do a Shout Out. If you want your blog included, I will do so.

I am determined to write a blog post about this issue!

So very many of us use digital camera, videocams, the Internet, Skype and other platforms in an integrative, creative, professional manner. Unlike my generation, our parents seldom learned computers. We adapted, changed and integrated them as far as our abilities allowed. I have many photos of my students as they worked busily away, while I managed the rest of the class.

Above is the computer equipment I learned to use with my students. Many of us learned to adapt in our work lives. Some do not understand that the more you learn, the easier it is to learn new things. The brain uses these neural pathways for new learning once the old is assimilated into normal practices. Once you retire, it is important to keep learning, and many of my blogger buddies have done so.

I am proud of our generation!

Let us celebrate.