Cyberseniors
The generational reaches in technology are far vaster than simply explaining how to use a piece of software. Most seniors do not get IT--the whole enchilada, the big picture, the gestalt. They don't understand basic principles of how to interact with the machine world and they probably never will. They're not vested in it enough to make the effort and it would be an enormous amount of work to assimilate the cultural underpinnings of the "always-on" generation.
There's an opportunity here: build software and electronic gadgets that are aimed to an older age group. Make them useful and friendly and not require any special knowledge. If I were 65 years old and walked into a Best Buy for the first time to buy Christmas gifts, I would be terrified. What's the difference between an Xbox 360 and an Xbox? What's a Tivo do? Just buying a cell phone is frightening.
It's time that gadgery and gimcracks grew up. Electronics are no longer for the geeks and the kids. They're not even luxuries anymore...They are the window into another world where information is found and decisions are made and to be shut out is an early intellectual death.
Posted on November 21, 2005
