[Discuss] Future of Personal Computers

[jack at coats.org (Jack Coats)]

I found that my 80+ inlaws love their iPad and notebook.  Yes, they
still have a desktop too.  For two folk that have been retired for
over 25 years, they stay nearer the 'front lines' of tech that I would
have suspected.  But they started with a Kaypro on CP/M and have been
avid users ever since.  Smart phones are a loss with them due to eye
sight and hearing issues, but they do cell phones for both safety and
convenience.  (they are in Montanna)

The newer tech has allowed them to keep in touch even when the
arthritis makes keyboards painful to use, and writing snail-mail notes
(which was my mother-in-laws lifeline for years) is so painful that it
doesn't happen but once or twice a year now.

I don't have a pad or smart phone for financial reasons, but I would
like them.  If they would make money or add a lot to life, they would
move up to be a higher priority.

You are right, many elderly (and I am approaching it faster than I
want to admit), don't embrace tech as fast as the younger that are
tech addicted geeks.  But most older folk seem to look at it as a tool
to help with life, not as a focus of life on its own.  If it helps the
quality of life, they will be all over it.  Just different
perspectives of different stages in life.

That being said, I also have older friends (again in the mid 80's)
that don't have and don't want a home computer.  A phone for them
still plugs into the wall.  But their kids (my age) finally got them
to accept a 'big button only, no text/no camera, etc' phone for
emergency use.  The problem is they forget to turn it on  or take it
with them.

My daughter is a school teacher.  Finding her without her cell at hand
(and she recently moved to a smart phone), well you would think her
arm was cut off without it.

Everyone finds their 'normal' or 'best' level of tech in their life.
I do know woodworkers who ban tech from their shops, and others
embrace it.  For them it is almost a religious issue.  For the ones
that 'ban' it, their shop time is therapy from their life, and
provides its own zen rewards.  The ones that embrace tech, see
woodworking as a means to an end, just like their use of tech, and not
an end unto itself.

I love tech.  Some is more useful for my life style than others.  I
figure the same for most people. ... Now, back to my daily cup of
coffee.