Boomer Technology Opinions I Agree With

Boomers have long been derided as technology-phobic. That's not really true anymore. Nowadays most Boomers (and even many of the Silent Generation) use modern technology such as mobile phones and the internet on a daily basis. I mean, these things have been around for 20+ years now. That's long enough for even reluctant learners to become familiar with them. The gap is they're often clueless when things don't "just work", as any Gen Xer or Millennial who routinely has to play tech support for their elder relatives well knows.

Where Boomers remain technology averse it's generally no longer because they're afraid of technology but because they don't see it as solving a problem. That's familiar to me, as I've long asked the question of new technology, "What problem does this actually solve?" The difference, though, is that I come at it from the perspective of a tech insider. But one net result is the same: We're frustrated when poor technology, technology that doesn't solve our problem— and perhaps creates new ones instead— is forced upon is.

Here are some Boomer technology opinions I agree with:

1. Give me a real menu, not a QR code

In the depths of the Coronavirus pandemic 6 years ago, driven by hygiene concerns, restaurants started swapping out printed menus for QR codes you scan to browse a menu on your smartphone. That never solved a problem for me as (a) I didn't dine out in restaurants for over a year until I could get vaccinated, and (b) I adopted— and continue to practice— the discipline of washing my hands after holding a menu. The problem it created is that it's a nuisance having to doomscroll though a tiny menu that can only list a few items per screen. Imagine if restaurants offered a printed menu that was the size of your hand and 53 pages long. Bring back nice, big menus where I can see lots of options at once.

Closely related to that....

2. Turn on the damn lights in the restaurant 

Turn up the lights in the restaurant so we can read the dang menus! I'm not that old, mid 50s, and my eyesight is still better than that of most people my age, but more and more I have to use my phone's flashlight to read the damn menu.

3. I don't want to create an account to buy something once 

Look, I get the importance of accounts to secure information. I have had computer accounts (name and password) since 1985. I have been buying things online since 1993. But if I'm just going to buy one thing, once, No, I don't want to have to make a new account. Just take my credit card number and let's complete the transaction.

4. I don't want to download an app

If I own something that's physically in front of me, I don't want to have to download and install an app to use it. If the controls are that complex that they can't be managed via a small number of buttons or switches on the device, you can damn well put a lightweight web server in it and let me manage it through any common browser— like the way routers have worked for more than two decades now.

For example, a few years ago I bought some LED light bulbs with selectable color temperature. They required an app! I returned them and bought another brand that features a simple, physical, 4-position switch on plastic housing at the base of the bulb.

5. Give me knobs and buttons in my car for commonly used controls

"This car has too many buttons and knobs on the center console" is a valid complaint... but worse than that is a car that has too few physical controls because everything has been disappeared behind a touchscreen with a menu tree that goes 5 levels deep. I'm fine with infrequently used controls, like audio balance L/R and F/R, being in menus. Give me simple, physical controls for things I need to adjust frequently like audio volume, radio station presets, air temperature, fan speed, etc.

This is a safety issue as well as a convenience nuisance. A driver can learn & use good tactile controls without taking their eyes off the road. Navigating menus is a dangerous distraction.

6. I like physical media

I have a library of 100s of music albums on CD. Partly that's because I started collecting it long before digital downloads and streaming existed as music-listening alternatives, but partly also it's because I prefer to own the copy of music I buy, not just rent it. With streaming and even downloads, your right to keep listening to the music is retained by the distributor. They can take it away. Or they can raise the price. So when I want a complete album of something new, I check the price for a physical album vs. a download. It's almost always the same. BTW, I rarely play the physical CDs I own. I've digitized most of them into my pocket-sized supercomputer. But the copies are mine and nobody can take them away or raise the price.

7. My TV, my refrigerator, my toaster do not need wifi

There are some useful use-cases for wifi connected appliances. The TV might be the strongest use case, as a wifi TV can connect directly to streaming services— which in the 2020s are what having cable TV was in the 1990s. But an inexpensive device like Roku TV can do this, too. And having wifi directly on major appliances is often not primarily for your benefit as the consumer; it's for the vendor's benefit, as they use the connection to spy on your habits, sell your profile data to advertisers, and cram ever-more advertising into your limited attention span. Wifi-enabled TVs already do this. Friends of mine who've bought TVs with wifi have chosen to disable it— to prevent intrusive advertising— and fall back to earlier gen solutions like plugging in a Roku, Amazon stick, etc., to an HDMI port.

The use case for the consumer is even weaker for wifi on other appliances. What's your fridge going to do? Text you, "Fam you outta OJ"? What's your oven going to do? Your toaster? And of course you'll need an app to set them up. The fact is that wifi on these devices is a Trojan horse. It's all about two things: 1) Advertising... and 2) Charging you more to use your damn device. Manufacturers build in features but turn them off when you don't pay your monthly subscription. Like a convection oven that will stop... convecting... without a $4.99/month fee. Screw that!