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Very insightful, thanks. It's indeed time to realize that present day old people are actually those who built computers, not the ones who saw their kids tinker
by oelmekki 9y ago
Very insightful, thanks. It's indeed time to realize that present day old people are actually those who built computers, not the ones who saw their kids tinker with them.
Also, being 35, I must say that I find retired people way more deep into technology, especially internet, than my generation. It's very common I talk with previous school friends and they say they don't have any social profile on the internet. The reverse is true for retired people, it's rare I hear them saying they don't have a least a facebook profile. But here too, I guess it could be "just the people I see".
Regarding how old people are seen, I wonder if there is not something larger at play. When I was a teenager in the 90', I was seeing old people as physically weak and mentally tired, and thought it was just the way it is. This summer, I went to the birthday of a friend's mother, and was shocked when I discovered she turned 70. And then, I realized her husband, their brothers and sisters etc were all about the same age. And here is why I was shocked : they were doing great. Actually, really great compared to what I remembered about that age, to the point it couldn't be just me growing older and having a more nuanced vision (like: most of the 90' 70ers were handicapped in a way or an other, almost none in the ones I saw at that birthday). And then, it stroke me : people in their 70 during the 90' were people who fought WWII.
Could it be that we tend to see older people as less potent just because we were used to old people who had been greatly diminished by a massive and painful conflict?
- KGIII 9y agoI don't know. When I was young, WWI vets still roamed the Earth.
- oelmekki 9y agoAnd did you have the same feeling with them than I had with 90' old people? That is, seeing most of them sick or handicapped to the point they could not achieve much? Obviously, this would not be proof : even if we accept the hypothesis that present day old people are indeed more capable than past ones, and it's not just an interpretation from me, for all we know it can be just healthcare progress or easier lifestyle. It would be interesting to find out how old people were seen before world wars, if they did any better than their children who fought them. The fact that such event could have lifelong impact does not seem far fetched, though, it could be an interesting hypothesis to test. If anything, it could help prevent preconception against old people who did not go through such events.