> > I don't get the coots, either. My mom, who is by no means and old coot (and I don't consider the Great and Honorable Howard an old coot, either, so there, but anyway), and who has been working on computers for twenty-some years because she's a travel agent, and who is easily the single smartest woman I know, acts like her computer will reach out and bite her if she presses the wrong key. She can figure out how to fly someone from LAX to DFW to ZBL to PRQ to AZZ and back four times, but she is stymied by e-mail. It's very frustrating to see this amazingly intelligent woman cringing in terror because the eBay police might be after her because she's not sure if she paid for something or not. Where does this fear of technology come from?????
>
> It's very strange. I know people like that, too. Several very weird perceptions seem to be tied up with it:
>
> Weird idea #1: A computer is not like a TV, a toaster, or any other appliance. You need to know everything about how and why it works before you can use it. Right down to the subatomic level, probably.
>
> Weird idea #2: You only get one chance with a computer. Press the wrong button and something terrible will happen. Something so terrible it may, in fact, result in the HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE.

***I think --let's talk about an office environment here--that sometimes these kind of ideas are reinforced (intentionally or unintentionally) by the I/S folks who service/maintain the systems/hardware etc. I think we have all run into those techs who try to impress us that these are Very Complicated Machines and you must have Extensive Training to Understand. Ask a question, and you are given the verbal equivalent of a pat on the head and shooed away. We have one guy at work who literally just grunts in response to extremely reasonable questions*. (I think his philosophy is that since he doesn't have time to explain EVERYTHING to you, he won't explain ANYTHING). What older person wants to be patronized by some young techie?--and I think some avoid the whole thing by leaving computers Strictly Alone as much as possible.
>
> Weird idea #3: The six year old next door saw her first computer today and she already worked out how to play a game! It's because You Have To Be A Kid These Days to know about computers. It's not because she just tried everything to see what happened. Nuh huh.
>

***This idea is constantly reinforced in the media, both in fiction and in news stories. How many movies have you seen where junior saves the day by hacking the bad guy's security system in the nick of time? How many "fluff" news stories have you seen about junior internet entrepreneurs making their 1st million. How many school board elections are won by candidates promising to "get computers into our schools", and how many of us have collected box tops or shopped at certain stores because those corporations promise to donate computers "for our schools". Substitute the words "grandma" and "convelescent home" in the examples above...sounds ridiculous, right?
No wonder older people go around thinking computers are just for kids.


> Weird idea #4: The Internet contains many rude and nasty things which you might not want to see, just like books do. Unlike books, however, the rude and nasty parts negate the entire potential usefulness and value of the rest of the Internet, which should be banned outright.
>
> Weird idea #5: Things are different online. You have to know all these completely different concepts of social interaction because when people are online they aren't real anymore.
>
> Brunnen-"spot the number fives in Rinkchat ... usually very briefly"G
>

****another theory on lack of old coots: cost, which is related to:


****yet another theory: perceived value. What can the computer do for me, or do for me faster/better? that justifies the cost. Older folks who may not have much experience or exposure to computers, the web, etc. may not really know what kind of world a computer could open up for them. (Or even if they do, can't justify it on a fixed income.)


koala"likes the idea of computers in convelescent homes :-)"mom


*Like asking "what are you doing to my computer?" when you come back to your desk from that 30 second jaunt to the copy machine and find him unexpectedly sitting there installing something you didn't want, need, or ask for, which will take who knows how long, so that while you were planning to print something out to give to the messenger who is due in minutes, what you actually end up doing is running around the office trying to borrow someone else's computer for that purpose.