Codgers and Computers

Shel Israel wrote today about where we "connected seniors" came from - I think some people think we retire and our kids buy us a computer as a way to keep us occupied - or to keep us from visiting them and the grandkids.

The observers may have been watching too much TV instead of interacting with connected people of all generations. That picture couldn't be further from the truth.

Not Pulled or Pushed by Offspring

Although I think that every house should have a computer sitting prominently in a public part of the house so a passing family member can sit down and do a quick google, my computer usage didn't start because of kids - either grown or in their shorter state.

No, I didn't start using them to share photos of my babies with my family, nor because I want to see photos of their babies now (although I do). And I didn't start using a computer because my kids were using them in school.

From the first time we as a young family could afford a computer I saw it as a tool we all - including me - could DO stuff with.

I remember the first house where the much maligned Commodore-64 sat in my kitchen. It must have been 1981 or 1982 and I was in my 30s with three children.

Apple was not in our price range, so the Commodore did the job of bringing computers to the masses - and me. Within no time a computer was part of my life and I've never looked back.

As computers evolved I was evolving too, thankfully.The decreasingly ugly box always had a prominent place in a well-used public room of the house. It got used more often and became more a part of what we did.

Jump ahead thirty years

If you'd told me that one day I'd be using a laptop computer to opine about the role of virtual worlds in business communication I'd have probably rolled my eyes. Researching and writing about my next step in the cancer wars I might have accepted a little better.

I'm not crazy about the term "seniors" but I don't like "silver surfers" either. Don't pigeon-hole me - just listen to me brag that at age 60 I'm ahead of three out of four of my offspring as far as being connected.

Those three born between 1971 and 1979 lag behind their sister born in 1985 and although I wonder about why that is I don't spend enough time pondering it to keep me from interacting with twitter, exploring plurk, or adding images to flickr.

PS - Dropping in on my Soup.io page will get you a collection of all my web content except twitter. Have you checked out Soup yourself?

Comments

[Bill Kennedy]

Hi Susan,

Love your post. Whenever they try to pigeonhole me, I just smile enigmatically and say nothing. Let them think / call you what they will. The only way they can get to you is if you pigeonhole yourself, and that ain't gonna happen!

Peas Be With You!

Bill

[Dawn @ Coming to a Nursery Near You]

Susan, I understand that you're having surgery today - my best wishes to you.

As for your generation being online, I love it. I first got my mom a computer so we could keep in touch when I moved away but that was 13 years ago. Now, she's bought a FEW computers and can even scan and email LOL She loves the computer and what it does for her, but I think she was one of the ones rolling their eyes when I was taking computer classes in high school 24 years ago LOL