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I've just gone through the decline and death of an elderly relative. She was able to use a Mac and browse the web a decade ago. Then she began to forget how to
by cstross 7y ago
I've just gone through the decline and death of an elderly relative.
She was able to use a Mac and browse the web a decade ago. Then she began to forget how to do things she'd been proficient at a few years earlier. In the past four years her ability to use the computer dropped to zero, and attempting to get her onto an iPad instead failed (it was too complicated/required too much learning -- I'd left it too late, not recognizing the early signs of decline).
At the time of death she had medium to advanced vascular dementia; the point is, cognitive decline in old age is a real thing, and people lose the ability to do stuff they knew how to do at an earlier age.