Boomers and Technology

Ah, Boomers and technology. Or, more generally, older people and technology. The past few days as we've been organizing a birthday party for my mother-in-law (MIL) it's been humorous— in a "laugh, so you don't cry" way— working with old people trying to use technology. The thing is, here in 2026, almost everyone under 90 is using technology, many are depending on it every day, but so many of them have close to no understanding of how to actually use it, beyond "I push the button and the thing happens." Here are three stories:

1. Can't Book a Hotel with a List of Names and Phone Numbers

To help MIL's & FIL's older relatives figure out where to stay, Hawk and I put together a short list of hotels nearby that we know to be good, clean places. It was made more difficult by the fact there's a show in town this weekend, jacking the rate on the usual places we'd recommend to 2x normal. As part of our research we checked prices and narrowed down the list to 2 recommended hotels. "Book here or here, they're known-good hotels, nearby, with fair prices." We provided names of the hotels and phone numbers.

That was either too hard or too simple for Aunt Diane.

( Read more... )

2. The Name, Please, Not Directions

This one involves my own inlaws. Even though FIL has worked with computers since the 1970s, his understanding of them apparently stopped evolving in about 1992. The modern Internet might as well not exist. Apps on smartphones might as well not exist. Despite being reminded about mapping apps multiple times a week, he cannot comprehend that people no longer need a 5 minute monologue of directions to get someplace, they just need the name or address.

( Read more... )

3. Can't Read Directions While Driving, Won't Pull Over

Another aunt was driving in from a few hours away. She had Hawk read directions to her over the phone the day before. "Don't you have a smartphone?" we asked, incredulously, because we know she does. "Yes, but I can't read it while I'm driving," she explained. So Hawk read turn-by-turn directions to her over the phone, while auntie wrote it down. And the dictation exercise took twenty freaking minutes because auntie needed everything repeated three times and spelled out. (Why couldn't she have looked it up on her own phone and copied it down to paper herself?)

And that's not even the worst part. ( Read more... )

Not All Boomers

Not every older person is a complete disaster when it comes to using technology effectively. The counterpoint to this came with Hawk's uncle, Ron.

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