4 ms·

And since they are the ones with the least experience with the internet and the smaller capacity to adapt/learn/sort a lot of info, the whole thing make sense.

PaulHoule 8y ago
Some oldsters have been using the internet since before there was a world wide web so they may have more experience than youngsters. Some of them have been sharing memes on AOL since before some HN readers were born. So far as cognitive capacity, I don't know. I've seen young people refuse to learn from other people's mistakes, take deadly risks, etc. When it comes to the epistemology of these people the right way to think about it is the emotional gain they get out of the whole thing. That has nothing to do with the internet. Listen to the Rush Limbaugh show this afternoon and you'll realize that anyone who gets a kick out of that will be vulnerable to a particular strain of "false news". Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have been degrading the American political environment since Bill Clinton got elected, but it was only in 2016 that it became a monster that the Republican establishment could not control in the US. (And the center-right elsewhere)
- sametmax 8y ago
  Go to a school and an old folks house. Ask them to create an instagram account, take a picture, crop it, and post it online. Would you really try to defend the point of view that the kids wouldn't do much better ?
  - PaulHoule 8y ago
    That's instagram, which does lean young. My aunt Lucy in a nursing home has a phone and thinks that Facebook is the bee's knees -- she can keep up with what her family is up to. I get many "This email was sent with an iPhone" messages from oldsters. Nothing gets talked about in breathless tones in the New York Times (e.g. Apple products) unless it appeals to the 50+ set. Note how "fall detection" is a selling point of the new iWatch. If you'd been around long enough you'd notice that selling things to oldsters based on recapturing their youth or vicariously enjoying the youth of youngsters has been a big business for a long time. It had a lot to do with how baby boomers were celebrated in the 1960s (e.g. hippies did not read the New York Times, but oldsters did) Eventually boomers became the target audience and the breathless talk was about millennials. Gen X got skipped mercifully because there were too few of us to move the needle.
    - sametmax 8y ago
      Instagram is just an example. Make them them film a video and share it. Order a Uber or a delivroo. Drive with waze. Book their train/plan ticket. Search for an amazon product. Sure, some 65+ people manage. Some. Most people under 40 manage, and more.

PaulHoule 8y ago

Some oldsters have been using the internet since before there was a world wide web so they may have more experience than youngsters. Some of them have been sharing memes on AOL since before some HN readers were born. So far as cognitive capacity, I don't know. I've seen young people refuse to learn from other people's mistakes, take deadly risks, etc. When it comes to the epistemology of these people the right way to think about it is the emotional gain they get out of the whole thing. That has nothing to do with the internet. Listen to the Rush Limbaugh show this afternoon and you'll realize that anyone who gets a kick out of that will be vulnerable to a particular strain of "false news". Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have been degrading the American political environment since Bill Clinton got elected, but it was only in 2016 that it became a monster that the Republican establishment could not control in the US. (And the center-right elsewhere)

sametmax 8y ago
Go to a school and an old folks house. Ask them to create an instagram account, take a picture, crop it, and post it online. Would you really try to defend the point of view that the kids wouldn't do much better ?
- PaulHoule 8y ago
  That's instagram, which does lean young. My aunt Lucy in a nursing home has a phone and thinks that Facebook is the bee's knees -- she can keep up with what her family is up to. I get many "This email was sent with an iPhone" messages from oldsters. Nothing gets talked about in breathless tones in the New York Times (e.g. Apple products) unless it appeals to the 50+ set. Note how "fall detection" is a selling point of the new iWatch. If you'd been around long enough you'd notice that selling things to oldsters based on recapturing their youth or vicariously enjoying the youth of youngsters has been a big business for a long time. It had a lot to do with how baby boomers were celebrated in the 1960s (e.g. hippies did not read the New York Times, but oldsters did) Eventually boomers became the target audience and the breathless talk was about millennials. Gen X got skipped mercifully because there were too few of us to move the needle.
  - sametmax 8y ago
    Instagram is just an example. Make them them film a video and share it. Order a Uber or a delivroo. Drive with waze. Book their train/plan ticket. Search for an amazon product. Sure, some 65+ people manage. Some. Most people under 40 manage, and more.