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Of course a HN reader is comfortable online. Everyone commenting here is comfortable online (a very clear selection bias) There are a lot of people in this wor

Of course a HN reader is comfortable online. Everyone commenting here is comfortable online (a very clear selection bias) There are a lot of people in this world (especially older people) who are used to doing everything over the phone, and don't know how to use the internet and don't want to learn. You are never going to encounter those people on an online forum, but they exist.

MandieD 6y ago
Like my 70-year-old dad. My late mom was a fairly competent PC user and liked her iPhone for texting and photos, but my dad never got comfortable. He doesn’t own a computer or smartphone, and cut the cord once he realized that DirecTV supplied sports, old movies and The Weather Channel for way less. If only I could convince him to ditch his $50/mo AT&T contract and let me buy him his preferred form of unlocked dumbphone... I’m worried for him as the presumption of an internet connection and some basic ability to use a website increases, especially for government services. One example I saw several years ago: The state of Texas switched to a centralized process of issuing birth certificate copies for things like passport applications. For people like us, it’s super convenient - answer some questions, pay $30 with a credit card, paper in hand in two weeks. For him, it was going to be: get librarian to print this form, mail in with copy of driver’s license along with $80 check, wait about 8 weeks. Needless to say, I ordered for him, explaining what information I was giving each step of the way.