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Behind the times
Went to the library for my weekly dose of podcasts this morning. An old boy, about 80 I reckoned, arrived and sat at the computer next to me. One of the librarians got him logged on and opened IE for him. As it loaded he asked her what all the other little things on the screen were. This was a bad sign; I doubted he'd used a computer before. His car insurance was due for renewal and he wanted to compare prices of different companies, he told the librarian. He had a notebook with him with website addresses; that was a start. The librarian showed him where to type the addresses. He pressed some keys; nothing happened because the cursor was not in the text area. The librarian pointed this out. I have to use this mouse thing then do I? he asked. Pokey, pokey, poke; in went the address; press return, that key; and up came the site. The librarian said that she had to leave him to it, she had work piling up. Off she went.
I looked surreptitiously at his computer screen as my podcasts downloaded. The website required him to fill in a form. First name, last name, email address and something else; the last two were highlighted in red; they had to be filled in. He filled in the first two fields and then was stumped. I asked him if he had an email address. Of course he did not. That put the scuppers on that site.
Do you understand these things? he asked me. I told him that I was ahead of him as I'd been using computers for 20 years. He ended up looking at maps of the town. When his time was up and he stood up to leave, I suggested that he borrowed a book from the library about using computers. It seemed he hadn't thought of that. He said that he had a friend who had a computer; he might help. I felt a bit sorry for him; he had a lot to learn and time was running out.
Thought for today
Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers.
Socrates 425BC
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