Whether one thinks the constant update of technology is needed it looks like nothing is going to stop it ... unless anyone thinks capitalism is going to fail? There's always going to be a drive to cut costs and expant markets with new and "improved" prducts; unless the climate emergency halts that? I guess all developments come with benefits and disadvantages; it's just that they're not always evenly distributed. (Interestingly, Matt's post about his charity emphasises the disparity between rich and poor in the world - forget inequities in our own country between our own rich and poor, old and young, etc!)
Although there is an obvious disparity between the use of technology by old and young the recent pandemic has highlighted the digital divide between rich and poor: think of all the laptops that schools were distributing to disadvantaged pupils so they could learn at home during lockdowns, although they often didn't have adequate broadband services to use them effectively. On the other hand, I remember when working in financial services IT we had concerns about older clients using online services but as it turned out it was those retired with plenty of time who were looking at their investments daily and phoning up their financial advisors if they weren't happy with the performance! (Unfortunately, they weren't always aware of the dangers of using email.)
I think we need to be careful with generalisations - education and wealth have a bearing as well as age. That doesn't mean some older people aren't disadvantaged by complex systems that are poorly documented and are difficult to operate for those with poor eyesight, hearing loss or arthritis. Let's hope voice control becomes the norm over the next few years! I guess the answer is that there needs to be some way of providing information and education on these new developments and perhaps regulating their usability. I'm not sure of the best way of achieving that. Family and friends can assist - I've given advice to a friend of a similar age regarding his mobile phone - and government agencies and care organisations can regulate or guide but there's still the problem of those on their own. That probably links in with general assistance for older people from care and health services?
But we need to be careful of criticising technology advances: many of us have been pleased of online shopping, remote working and Zoom conferences during the pandemic: as a result many of us want higher bandwidth and faster broadband connections and in answer to this BT and others are rolling out Fibre to the Home across the country during the next decade or so. However, one issue with this is that our copper based century old switched telephone system is no longer workable (or economic for BT to run now we all use smart mobile phones - hard to believe in the late 1960s telephones subsidised postal services!) so in the next 4-5 years it's planned to replace it with internet telephony (which is already used by many businesses). We get the good, better bandwidth, with something, internet telephony, consumers may not have asked for: the cost of progress?
I don't think we'll stop new technological developments; it's how we make them easy, safe and secure to use and understand, and how to stop sections of the community being left behind. Not saying I have any answers, just some points for discussion 🙂
Michael Ixer ● 1829d