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> don't tell elderly people to change anything, especially about things they're not familiar with, like computers are for many of them. Where does this belief

> don't tell elderly people to change anything, especially about things they're not familiar with, like computers are for many of them. Where does this belief come from? Sure it will be challenging for them to get up to speed in a new environment but i don't think there is any rule against learning new things at that age. I would argue that new and different can help improve their mind. Is there any recent science that has provided insight into this?

squarefoot 4y ago
You're right of course, I was referring mostly to people who aren't familiar with computers. Not that they can't learn new things, but it becomes more difficult with age, and really difficult if one doesn't grok computers already. I might take for example my family, literally filled with people with multiple university degrees, but all the older ones struggled when it came to use computers or learn technical things, while the younger ones like me, my brother and cousins never had problems with that.
account42 4y ago
My mom gets nervous as soon as there is an unexpected window on the screen. Don't understimate how confusing computers can be to those who did not grow up with them even if they regularly (have to) use them now. Computers are incredibly complex and if you have not developed an intuition for them then you really can't know if something being different means that you messed up or if it is just a normal change. This doesn't just apply to old people (see e.g. people used to Windows tryng Linux or vice versa, people used to GUIs being afraid of the command line) but IME they do seem to be more prone to it. > I would argue that new and different can help improve their mind. If it is something they want to learn, probably yes. If it is something forced upon them while they are trying to do something completely different, it can just as well make them even less receptive to learning new technology.

squarefoot 4y ago

You're right of course, I was referring mostly to people who aren't familiar with computers. Not that they can't learn new things, but it becomes more difficult with age, and really difficult if one doesn't grok computers already. I might take for example my family, literally filled with people with multiple university degrees, but all the older ones struggled when it came to use computers or learn technical things, while the younger ones like me, my brother and cousins never had problems with that.

account42 4y ago

My mom gets nervous as soon as there is an unexpected window on the screen. Don't understimate how confusing computers can be to those who did not grow up with them even if they regularly (have to) use them now. Computers are incredibly complex and if you have not developed an intuition for them then you really can't know if something being different means that you messed up or if it is just a normal change. This doesn't just apply to old people (see e.g. people used to Windows tryng Linux or vice versa, people used to GUIs being afraid of the command line) but IME they do seem to be more prone to it. > I would argue that new and different can help improve their mind. If it is something they want to learn, probably yes. If it is something forced upon them while they are trying to do something completely different, it can just as well make them even less receptive to learning new technology.