By Chris Day
WHEN the Post editor asked me to write about the impact of the digital revolution on older residents of Bass Coast I wondered where to start.
Many retirees grew up during or just after the Second World War when the whole world was trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. The impact was still being felt, with family members lost or injured in the war. Food rationing lasted for many years.
WHEN the Post editor asked me to write about the impact of the digital revolution on older residents of Bass Coast I wondered where to start.
Many retirees grew up during or just after the Second World War when the whole world was trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. The impact was still being felt, with family members lost or injured in the war. Food rationing lasted for many years.
By the 1960s Australia was involved in the Vietnam War. If you were unlucky, your name could be drawn out of the conscription ballot as a 20th birthday present from the Government and sent to fight in Vietnam. I wonder how young Australians of today and their parents would react to that.
For the rest of population the `60s meant Elvis, Roy Orbison, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Australia had some great local acts, including a young Johnny Farnham who sang Sadie the Cleaning Lady after first appearing in an advert.
Then the world started to change and the changes came thick and fast: decimal currency, metrication and then the big one, the mobile phone. The first mobiles were big in size and cost.
Personal computers arrived about the same time. Computers used to be giant installations running day and night inside major companies. They used paper with sprocket holes down either side. Suddenly a computer was sitting on your lounge table with a printer attached to it. You didn't have to go to work any more – you could work at home!
Now all you had to do was learn how to work it. Every time you did, the family said “That’s old … update to this.”
In the end you give up. It doesn't matter what you learn, it’s going to be out of date next week or next month. Do I want to sit here every day working out how to use this thing I didn't want in first place?
I’d rather go out and meet some people. Maybe join a local club where there are people I can relate to rather than sitting around home trying to use that stupid thing.
Today’s "phones" – actually mobile computers – are another world. Using them is a nightmare for most older Australians. If you don't know how to do something, ask your seven-year-old grandchild to show you!
They tell us it’s the age of communication, but nobody communicates with you. You name it – local, state or federal government, banks, power companies, pay TV so I can watch the footy. You have to chase them if there’s a problem, it doesn't work or the bill’s not what they told me.
When I do finally get someone to answer the phone after waiting an hour, I can't understand them and they can't understand me so in the end nothing’s sorted out.
The council only posts me rate bills; for everything else I have to go on their website and find out why they’re changing my neighbourhood without telling me.
They call this is the Communication Age but it should be called the Fraud Age with all the people trying to defraud other people, especially the elderly. Maybe I'm better off without the computer and phone.
Advice for the elderly members of this community: join a seniors’ group. There are some great ones in Bass Coast. We joined San Remo Probus when we first retired to San Remo and made lots of friends both in the San Remo club and other Probus clubs in the area. Many of our friends love the garden club; other friends are very involved in seniors clubs or U3A.
There's lots out there. Just ask people in this local community and they will tell you who to talk to and you will always be made very welcome.
Chris Day is a former national sales manager for one of Australia's biggest print companies. He and his wife Margaret now live in San Remo.
For the rest of population the `60s meant Elvis, Roy Orbison, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Australia had some great local acts, including a young Johnny Farnham who sang Sadie the Cleaning Lady after first appearing in an advert.
Then the world started to change and the changes came thick and fast: decimal currency, metrication and then the big one, the mobile phone. The first mobiles were big in size and cost.
Personal computers arrived about the same time. Computers used to be giant installations running day and night inside major companies. They used paper with sprocket holes down either side. Suddenly a computer was sitting on your lounge table with a printer attached to it. You didn't have to go to work any more – you could work at home!
Now all you had to do was learn how to work it. Every time you did, the family said “That’s old … update to this.”
In the end you give up. It doesn't matter what you learn, it’s going to be out of date next week or next month. Do I want to sit here every day working out how to use this thing I didn't want in first place?
I’d rather go out and meet some people. Maybe join a local club where there are people I can relate to rather than sitting around home trying to use that stupid thing.
Today’s "phones" – actually mobile computers – are another world. Using them is a nightmare for most older Australians. If you don't know how to do something, ask your seven-year-old grandchild to show you!
They tell us it’s the age of communication, but nobody communicates with you. You name it – local, state or federal government, banks, power companies, pay TV so I can watch the footy. You have to chase them if there’s a problem, it doesn't work or the bill’s not what they told me.
When I do finally get someone to answer the phone after waiting an hour, I can't understand them and they can't understand me so in the end nothing’s sorted out.
The council only posts me rate bills; for everything else I have to go on their website and find out why they’re changing my neighbourhood without telling me.
They call this is the Communication Age but it should be called the Fraud Age with all the people trying to defraud other people, especially the elderly. Maybe I'm better off without the computer and phone.
Advice for the elderly members of this community: join a seniors’ group. There are some great ones in Bass Coast. We joined San Remo Probus when we first retired to San Remo and made lots of friends both in the San Remo club and other Probus clubs in the area. Many of our friends love the garden club; other friends are very involved in seniors clubs or U3A.
There's lots out there. Just ask people in this local community and they will tell you who to talk to and you will always be made very welcome.
Chris Day is a former national sales manager for one of Australia's biggest print companies. He and his wife Margaret now live in San Remo.