A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

It's slowly dawning on me that I am getting old, nothing to do with the aches and pains of just getting about, or even the fact that if I'm catching a bus then see one in the distance, there is no point running to the stop I just won't make it and would still be gasping for breath by the time the next one arrives.
Nope it's the modern meeja of Facebook that really hurts no longer am I getting friend suggestions of bright young things, what I get instead are suggestions of people that I deleted years ago because they died, well Facebook no thanks I don't believe these folk will answer no matter what medium I use in an attempt to communicate so I'll ignore your suggestions ta.

P.S. Yes Margaret I know you don't Facebook, I do to see what my family are up to, they use it.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

If it works for you Less...then that is all that matters.

You are right though about getting old.
It seems that everyone today is expected to have not just a mobile phone...but a smart phone.
If you say you do not possess one of these then you are looked at like you have two heads, but brains in neither of them.
I have no smart phone....I have a dumb mobile...it lies at the bottom of my bag and the last time I checked...the battery was dead.
We had a visit from a young police woman recently and she asked what I would do if I was out and needed assistance....I told her that some Good Samaritan would take pity on me if I showed them my dead dumb phone.
This phone belonged to my Ma......she never used it either.
No one wants to phone me when I am out and about....I am usually with my other half these days so he is unlikely to ring me.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I reckon I've got a smart just about everything, and love it, phone, T.V., sound system, meters, and on I could go, the hinderence is having to use so many remotes.
I know I can connect all to my phone and use that as a remote but usually if I want to change channels for example I'm playing a game so can't be bothered selecting the app.
Have been slowly considering putting everything on alexa like my kids have done, decided to look into it saw two books titled alexa for seniors (which I suspect means OAP'S) & alexa for dummies or similar title, first was £9.99 second was £5.95 they look to be by the same publisher and advertise similar content.
Well, this is one 'senior' that will buy a dummy, I suspect maybe just perhaps the extra cash is for the large print edition.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

[QUOTE=Less;1257224]I reckon I've got a smart just about everything, and love it, phone, T.V., sound system, meters, and on I could go, the hinderence is having to use so many remotes.
I know I can connect all to my phone and use that as a remote but usually if I want to change channels for example I'm playing a game so can't be bothered selecting the app.
Have been slowly considering putting everything on alexa like my kids have done, decided to look into it saw two books titled alexa for seniors (which I suspect means OAP'S) & alexa for dummies or similar title, first was £9.99 second was £5.95 they look to be by the same publisher and advertise similar content.
Well, this is one 'senior' that will buy a dummy, I suspect maybe just perhaps the extra cash is for the large print edition.

Come on Less this has got to be a wind up, how the (H--L), (Dickens), do you expect an old Luddite like me to understand all this talk about Smart phones, Meters, sound systems, Alexa and the like and as for these so called "apps", all that I can put between that is "le", as in apples.;);)

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

[QUOTE=taddy;1257226]I won't bother correcting the quote errors this time, however if you don't understand do try google, a world full of simple explanations just waiting for you to dip your toe in and stop pretending your too old or too thick (which I don't believe, you just pull on the leg a bit) to understand.
:alright:

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Before anyone comes back at me saying 'how can I be cruel to an old man', Jesus effing Christ he's only 4 years older than me not a generation, my brother is the same age made a good living as a draftsman had to completely change his whole work pattern when C.A.D. came in he didn't whine he was too old.
These people aren't quitters either they put us all to shame.

https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/crui...he-world-72022

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-...world/11991436

Learning a little of what's new and useful that we can do is so good compared with wasting away by avoiding and decrying all that mystifies us.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Yes..it is good for us to learn new things....and I do not believe that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks....but it needs to be stuff that is going to be useful to us.

I can navigate my way through the internet....I can do the things that I want to do...but
If it does not benefit me in any way then I don’t feel the need to involve myself.....just to be
part of the masses.
So those smart devices....yes, of course I could learn to use them....I just don’t want to....and I see no reason to.
There are other things that can take up my time.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Good for you, though how you know if it's useful to you without learning a little about the new, I don't know.
You often claim to still be 14 in your head, well, most 14 year olds have no fear of technology.
(Sits back and awaits the next scolding).

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Less....you feel my comments are scolding??
How is that?

Yes I am 14 in my head....but it is the fourteen I was when I WAS fourteen.
Today’s Fourteen year olds are more like 18.

And how do I know that I would find no use for these new fangled things? I can access and read reviews....so I think I DO try to learn about them
And, I suppose it is by seeing others using them.....and feeling that I would not want to be doing what they are doing.
What use have I for a smart phone?......when there is no one who would want to ring me....and it would sit in the bottom of my bag unused, very likely with a dead battery. Yes...I know they do other things besides text and make calls....but do I want to be doing those other things on the hoof? Is it necessary for me to do these things while out and about?....no they can wait until I get home and I can use my other new fangled devices to do them in the privacy of my home.

For those who have need of them, they must be a boon.

I am ready, willing and able to master the things which make my life better.
I do not necessarily think I need these gadgets improve my life.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I dont even have a non smart phone, Who would ring me and who would I want to ring ? If I am out, my wife is always with me and she is the only person I might want to ring.
I dont wait till I get home either to make calls. We have a landline but what the number is I have no idea ( presume it starts with a 3).
Apps seem to be a way for businesses to cut costs by not having staff to answer calls from the public. I have no interest in Facebook or Twitter. (do they do more or less the same thing ? I dont know )

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I once was discussing Facebook with a young relative and came to the opinion that whatever use it is ? I dont need it. My relative was of the opinion that you get out of it what you want by controlling what you enter, she agreed that a lot of it was nonsense and proceeded to enter that her dog had just been sick on the carpet. ( it hadnt ) This started a deluge of comments about what to do re cleaning up. Had people been waiting on their keyboard for something like that to reply to. Who knows.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

So Mark....I am not on my own then when it comes to declining the doubtful uses of these gadgets.
I feel neatened by the thought that there is another being out there who feels no desire to be permanently connected to anything other than my breath.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I totally agree, Margaret. I know there are lots of things I could be doing regarding technology, that’s if I bought the gadgets in the first place, but if they are of no interest to me then why bother. Even regarding my computer, if I don’t need a certain programme and I won’t be using it, why would I waste time on it. Although the other day I did find out something new to me that I might find useful.

My granddaughter was using my computer to compose a story and I heard someone talking but didn’t recognise the voice. ‘Is someone in there with you?’ I asked. ‘No’ was the reply. So I asked who was that talking. ‘It’s the computer reading the story back to me’. Now I like to think I am reasonably knowledgeable regarding computing (and I am not going to say ‘for my age’ because I dislike that phrase) but must confess that although I have had this machine for a couple of years I had no idea that this was something it could do. I had never ‘explored’ the machine’s capabilities. Not to worry, my 11-year old granddaughter has taught me how to access the voice.

Definitely lots of computer-literate children around…,,,but I wonder if they would know how to use a slide rule.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Or how to sew a run and fell flat seam....or knit, or crochet.....or bake a pie.
They might not know how to do these things Less will tell us, but they have in their hands a smart gadget that will allow them to seek out this information....except it is of NO interest to them(they buy their clothes with an eye to wear today, ditch tomorrow.....and knitting!
Who does knitting nowadays......Tom Daley...Olympic diver does....a pie?
Greggs do a nice line in pies and things don’t they)in the same way as these gadgets are no interest to me.
So I guess it is horses for courses.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I dont like the idea of entering personal or confidential information on the computer. Yes I have McAfee but anybody who wants your info can get past any antivirus, As for internet banking? i dont think so.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Age is just a number, if anyone asks me my age I tell them that I am a silver haired and bearded 74 year old on the outside but a pure gold 21 year old on the inside, or as my late mate Alan Crawshaw, (Crawshaws hair stylist, Abbey St) used to say, " a Woman is as old as she feels but a man is as old as the woman he feels.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I don't really have a great deal of choice on that one, my UK account is a bit awkward to accesss here in Germany, so online it is & upto now it's been reasonable, even had the Bank fraud people block some transactions then they spoke to me & it was all cleared up & freed (Drunk shopping late of a Fri-Sat evening, marvellous fun!)


It's amazing the stuff you didn't realize you wanted until you've done a bit of drunk shopping, then when all kinds of weird & wonderful kit turns up through the week after, there's the initial scratching of the head & the "What the .....?" moment, then it dawns on you what happened. :)


Even the German bank I'm with has only one branch left in Osnabrück & that is right in the middle of the city, so again, I tend to do my transactions online there too.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Bank branches are disappearing. Barclays in Accrington has just closed. The future might bring a necessary change in my thinking ?

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I do internet banking....and I pay bills in that way.
For a long time I was twitchy about it....I have a good anti virus and also the bank request customers to use iBM Rapport......because I have no mobile phone I have a device that generates a new passcode for every transaction....and there is three layer security on the account.
Internet banking has been almost forced on us by Bank closures...and for those older people who do not have internet I truly feel sorry for them.
Their lives have been made far harder by the March of technology.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I don't bother with Facebook, my brother and sister only live 5 miles away and both have landlines and/or mobiles so if I want to talk to them I just ring them. I've only started using internet banking in the last 18 months despite making websites and using the internet since the mid 1990's.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I have family members in Australia(Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane).....family in Europe.....(Brussels and Portugal).....but I do not use Facebook to keep in touch.....I use e-mail and sometimes FaceTime on my iPad(where time differences do not get in the way).
I use the methods that suit me.....in any case I do not really want to be knowing their every waking move...it seems somehow a bit intrusive....or maybe that is just me being archaic.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I'm a big believer in keeping up with every sort of modern communications. I spotted this when the first IBM-computers came onto the market in the late seventies. I saw then when the firm that I was working for fitted out the whole firm with IBM-computers (todays mobile phones can do almost the same thing), that it would be a case of keeping up with the times, or get left behind! Without regret, I chose the first option, so much so, that at the age of 47 I also passed my Electronic Engineers exam. The electronics industry played an immense role in today’s household appliances, as well as in communications.
My communication today with family members is as follows:
- Skype (now and again use Zoom) with my daughter in Australia 2x per week, great seeing our Grandson growing up!
- E-Mail and telephone with my brother in the UK. He is 82 now and not with this Skype business as he puts it!
- Telephone every Christmas with a couple of cousins in the UK.
- WhatsApp with a group of friends (all between 65 and 80) when we go walking every Monday afternoon for a couple of hours or so. I have these in a group, so that when the walk is organised, with the press of a button everybody is informed on where we are going and where and at what time we meet. This saves me answering the phone from someone asking “Where and what time did we say last Monday?).
Cheers

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Up the Berg for a yodel & a bit of Alphorn puffing? :D


Just a query seeing as your location is down as the Schweiz. ;)

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

He is 82 now and not with this Skype business as he puts it!

I think that we may be related, yours, The Luddite.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

i have a smart phone it does what i need to know so thats good for me, as for Alexa? i never even heard the word before neer mind what it is. only thing i know about getting old is at some point i will die which is of little interest to me, so i dont bother, oh as for learning owt new to me thats pointless cos i will have forgot what it was in a couple of hours more than likely.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Well yes Cashy....we are all heading in that general direction...but I don’t dwell on it.
You don’t when you are only 14 in your head....you wonder if it will be fine so that you can go out on your roller skates.
I try to learn something new every year....most of the things I try to learn are practical....learning to do calligraphy in different forms....trying to learn how to draw.....painting, graphics(for that I use my computer so not totally technophobic.
I also try to solve practical problems when things go wrong....and I keep the grey cells dancing with crosswords and word puzzles too.
I do not want to get into the hinterland of my life and be able to hide my own Easter Eggs.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

i already got in that direction margaret, but i dont give a stuff, i only bother about what i can do summat about.:)

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Better memory
https://ifunny.co/meme/what-do-we-wa...-want-THPmvFBq

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Cashy are you telling me that you think it is pointless to try to stay as mentally sharp as possible....that you feel you can do nothing to prevent your grey cells from giving up the ghost??
Well, if that is how you want to see it then so be it...but I have to keep both physically and mentally active.....for what reason?
Well for me of course......because it is up to me to make my life as interesting and varied as possible....we are only here once.
Looking back over a long life I wish I had done more with my life....so I am not giving in now I am close to the butt end.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

to be honest i could not careless,how the hell can you be mentally sharp when yer memories knackered? as long as i am happy enough sod it.

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

I may not have a smart phone...understand tik-tok...be a tweeter...a user of Whats-app or face book, but I can do long division...I can work out percentages....I can follow a recipe,... decipher a bus time table...make a roast dinner from scratch...I can write legibly in cursive,sew on a button, turn a hem... so that all has to be worth something

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

Cashy I feel sad for you:(...that you can truly say your memory is knackered.
My memories are my most precious possessions.
No they won't pay the bills, or buy bread, but they give me the warmth and comfort of the people who aren't here anymore.
I can still hear their voices in my head. I can relive happy times with them and the memories are bittersweet

Re: A Modern Day Take On Getting Old.
 

dont feel sad Margaret i dont i only bother about summat i can do summat about,