The new, social, technologies are great, aren’t they? Well, if you’re of the current generation, and ‘tech’ has been part of your life while you’re growing up, they are as easy as ‘falling off a log.’
But for us ‘baby boomers,’ born during the fifties and sixties, ‘Gen X’ the seventies and eighties, and ‘millennials, till the end of the century, then you would fall off that log. You may be competent without being confident, and are being overpowered by the ‘tech.’
Recent research tells us that though 15 per cent of those are confident enough to be ‘digitally included,’ at the other end of the scale another 15 per cent are digitally ‘excluded.’ That means that 70 per cent are somewhere in the middle, and for them, the ‘tech’ is a worry to some extent or other.
Certainly, banking and retail have moved inexorably towards tech within what they call ‘customer service,’ to the extent that ‘simple’ transactions and processes have become challenges to baby boomers thru millennials. Phone and internet functions challenge simple tasks, and even navigating the various app screens has become more complex, creating a reluctance to do ‘easier’ tasks.
Physical health impacts from eyesight to dexterity, stereotypically age-related, are genuine fears for the older user, though eager to be self-sufficient, independent, and connected, the feeling of ‘uselessness,’ is difficult to shake!
I purchased an appliance recently, not a large one, and paid cash, and was asked for my email and phone number, “Just for your warranty you understand.” Well, since then I’ve been bombarded with numerous enquiries that end in a sales pitch for new appliances. So, it’s not about the warranty at all. Grrrrrr!
How ridiculous is it that if I go out for a meal, to a local pub, or a chain establishment, I must scan and download the menu and read it on my phone. What a palaver! Or to get a pizza delivered I’m not trusted to pay on delivery anymore. It must be done through the app. Nuts!
If I go to park my car in a parking building the automatic number plate recognition system reads me in and out, but payment must be done through an app, and every parking building seems to be on a different app. Even more inconveniently, if I park on the street, I must decide how long I will be, download an app, and pay that way, and probably for a time more than that I need, for fear of overstaying! Easy? Well. Maybe for you whippersnappers...
These generations are not comfortable with using ATMs, having no confidence that they are as safe as they have been using their bank branch, with tellers and staff they know, and have known, for years! Now they take money, unprotected, from machines, in busy, but exposed high street locations, rushed, flustered, under pressure, maybe confusing their PINs numbers, taking their money with people maybe, watching. It’s sooooo stressful!
And self-service check-outs, as preferred by the major retail chains, mean their purchases must be taken from the trolley or basket, scanned, and placed aside, then paid for, packed away, trolleyed, and taken out... and there are always ‘beeps,’ always things that don’t scan. It’s called progress!
Only last week, my energy supplier asked me to ‘roll-over,’ my rate structure for the next two years, but their unwelcome implied threat at the end of the proposal was along the lines of, “Failure to complete this agreement may mean disruption to your energy needs, and the application of premium rate electricity and gas to your account.’ How appalling is that?
Caroline Abrams of Age UK, has been at the forefront of ensuring that generations of people who grew up using their fingers, pencils and paper to keep their finances in order, have genuine and appropriate support via national standards, saying the current situation is “profoundly unfair,” and she’s not wrong!
...And don’t get me started on two-factor-identification, authorisation, verification or whatever!
Ray Petersen
The writer is a media consultant
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