My parents would have been baffled by my fascination with certain kinds of tech - the personal sort that you carry around with you, or wear. For most of their lives, 'tech' meant the old-fashioned wired landline, the radio, the television, and latterly the video recorder. Actually, given that my parents were completely at home with all kinds of electric and electronic devices that required know-how to use (and baffled me for a long time) such as Mum's cookers, microwave ovens, food mixers, washing machines and dishwashers, and Dad's sundry DIY tools and gadgets, I am really surprised that they drew the line at desktop PCs, laptops and mobile phones.
Dad at least wasn't completely dismissive of modern tech, and in his mid-80s - around 2006 - learned to use a desktop PC (and printer) well enough to send emails, write his autobiography, and place online orders with Tesco. Mum stayed away from such stuff though, having the by-then very common reaction to all modern tech: 'I don't understand it, I don't see the point of it, and I can't be bothered to learn how to use it.' In 2006 that was a very understandable position to take. But attitudes like these persist even now, even among people (presently over sixty) who would still have been in their forties in 2006.
From my point of view, a pensioner nearly sixty-nine, anyone aged only forty-odd ought to possess a mind quicker and more flexible than mine - certainly a mind nimble enough to take on anything new that comes to their attention. I had that capacity at forty. I knew lots of other people who had it too. And we all kept up with the latest gadgets and what they could do, or at least remained receptive to their use. But surely, it can't be that 'somehow' we have evolved to stay 'young-brained' in ways that weren't possible for our parents' generation. No, I am willing to accuse that older generation of being mentally lazy, even if I'm not rude enough to say so to their face.
But my accusation is tempered with caution. It also occurs to me that it hasn't really been the perceived complexity of modern tech that puts older people off. I think it's primarily the association of it with all 'young people' and the Strange Digital World that they inhabit.
I'm saying that - to an older person - this digital world, with its horror stories of mindless Social Media chatting and dating, mental distress from abusive trolls and bullies, 'computer games' that involve killing and destruction, scams, viruses, and all the other negative things they hear about, is all completely off-putting. They don't want to risk joining that unfamiliar fray, whatever gains there might be in personal convenience, or whatever the magic power of the Internet to inform, explain and provide. They also feel shut out, as if they are not wanted in that world, not fast enough to cope with it.
Until recently this avoidance of modern tech was no big issue. Let the youngsters (or at least the tech-minded) do battle; older people could manage well enough with more traditional tools. But the coronavirus pandemic has altered everything forever.
For instance, how to pay for things. I felt ahead of the curve when first using a phone to buy things with. I started using Google Pay in early 2018, when holding a phone to a payment machine - instead of waggling a credit card at it - a phone that gave a loud DING! when the transaction went through - caused a sensation wherever I went. This happened all over the country (and I absolutely did know, because I got around a lot - and still do, more than ever).
Fast forward to mid-2021 and paying for all kinds of things by phone (or smartwatch) is now no surprise, no occasion for raised eyebrows or startled reactions. Or at least it shouldn't be. But I'm still getting some wide-eyed double-takes from older till staff in supermarkets, who always make some remark that 'all this is not for them'; or more especially (and much more often) from fellow-customers of my own generation or older. Sometimes I can feel like an alien Tech Warrior showing Earthlings how backward and primitive they are, searching in their purses for the right coins, or fumbling for the right credit card that doesn't seem to be in their bag or wallet. 'Oh dear, oh dear, I know that I have a couple of 5p coins here somewhere...' The thing is, I'm through that till in a flash. They hold everyone up.
All this when the Internet, as an easily-accessible resource for ordinary people, has been around for almost thirty years. And when cheap and pocketable mobile phones have been around for more than twenty years. It's not as if the gadgets, or the electronic services they depend on, are novel and unknown to most.
The older generation must adapt. Cash is in sharp decline. Many retailers have got used to cashless payments and (unless they are dishonest about recording it) prefer that way of doing things. There is no longer any need to handle dirty, unhygienic, notes and coin. It can all be done electronically, no matter how large or small the payment.
Situations in which cash is essential are becoming rare, and can usually be avoided. It was a surprise to me when, on holiday early last month, I tried to buy a loaf of bread costing £1 in a village store. I was told by the shopkeeper that in his store I couldn't pay cashlessly unless the total value of the goods I was paying for came to at least £3. I almost put the loaf back on the shelf, but I really needed it. So I now bought some bacon too (which I didn't urgently need), therefore spending more than necessary. I suppose the shopkeeper would have said that the fee he paid to the payment-machine company made it unprofitable to accept cashless payments for very small amounts. But his £3 rule inconvenienced me, and unwillingly made me buy something extra. I felt coerced if not actually diddled, for I was in any case paying village-store prices. I won't be visiting his shop again. (And I wasn't impressed with the bacon when I cooked it up)
He will eventually have to allow cashless payment for any amount, because his customers will not have any notes and coin, or won't want to spend the little they still hold onto for emergencies. Cash dispensers are now disappearing, or insisting on an annoyingly large charge for coughing up physical money. Nor will the shopkeeper himself be able to obtain cash, for those occasions when customers offer £10 or £20 notes and expect change. There are no local banks left to draw it from - nor for that matter, pay it into at the end of the day's trading. Maybe there is still a village Post Office, maybe not. Security firms might offer a cash-supply or cash-collection service, but only at a high and ever-increasing price.
It's perfectly clear that during the next five years notes and coin will become largely a thing of the past. Even if the government steps in to make sure that 'vulnerable people' or 'people who don't have bank accounts or phones' still have access to physical cash. But what's the point? Even if one has a purse or wallet positively bulging with banknotes and heavy with coins, where will one be able to use the said notes and coins? Not in most shops, filling stations, pubs and fast-food restaurants. They don't want the bother of dealing with it. And certainly not to recharge one's electric car. Nor anywhere online.
No, the Older Generation will have to go digital, whatever the mutterings. I suppose if my parents were still alive, I would have more mixed feelings about how - say - a ninety year old person will alter their routines to cope. If you have shaking hands, or poor eyesight, and no close relative to assist, it will be a an absolute pain and trial. On the other hand, how do the blind manage with electronic money? Given mature fingerprint and voice-recognition technology (to get through security barriers) can they do it all just by pressing thumbs onto a pad, and talking to Alexa? And if they can, why can't a person who isn't 'disabled', just elderly?
After all, when I'm driving along in my all-electric Volvo in 2026, and - to save time - want to pay for (say) four hours' car-parking when I get to my destination, and/or buy a train ticket, I'd expect to get what I want (and pay for it) just by speaking to my car, while I'm still driving along. I think something like this will be the way ahead.
