By Erica Zaiser
For most of us, technology has become an integral part of our daily routine. We use computers to send email, find old friends on Facebook, share photos, and keep up with our favorite blogs. Nonetheless, some people find it difficult to keep up with new lingo, gadgets, and programs that have become a staple of our workplace and home. In particular, many elderly people are struggling to keep up with our increasing reliance on technology. However, technological advances could have potential benefits on our ever-growing older demographic. Elderly people facing limited mobility could gain greater independence through technology and it has also been suggested that surfing the Internet can boost brain function.
In the recent issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, Charness and Boot (2009) review evidence that although some older people may have a strong interest in using new technology, other factors like computer education, computer anxiety, and decreased cognitive functioning may impair their ability or desire to understand new technology. Furthermore, there are natural life-span changes in motivations that may make elderly interest in and use for technological advances different from the young. The authors argue that social psychologists can and should assist those who design technology in creating products which both appeal to the elderly and take into account their changing cognitive capabilities.
The BBC reported on the development of a new computer using a desktop interface that is designed to simplify the computing experience for the elderly. The hope is that this type of system will encourage elderly people to use the Internet and increase their computer-confidence. This seems like a step in the right direction, although, as Boot and Charness point out, we may never be able to completely close the technology gap between the young and old. This is because people tend to prefer technology they grew up with to those made available late in their lives. Since technology is rapidly changing, we may always be more resistance to trying new technology as we get older, no matter how much it caters to our specific needs.
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Software and Webpage Designers are to blame
FACEBOOK IS DRIVING ME BONKERS. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS SO DIFFICULT TO FIND ANYTHING OR FIND OUT HOW TO USE IT USEFULLY.
THIS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ‘TECHNOLOGY’ BUT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH STUPID PEOPLE DESIGNING STUPIDLY ENDLESS MUDDLE CALLED A WEB PAGE THAT USES SILLY LANGUAGE WHEN NORMAL LANGUAGE WOULD BE MORE UNDERSTANDABLE AND THEN HIDES JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO FIND.
THIS IS THE ONLY REASON WHY WEBPAGES CAN BE DIFFICULT TO USE.
HERE IS ANOTHER CLUE.
WE ALL KNOW THE AVERAGE WEBPAGE IS STUFFED TO BURSTING WITH LOADS OF CLICKABLE LINKS. THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO FIND THE ONE YOU WANT – PARTICULARLY WHEN IT MIGHT BE TUCKED AWAY IN AN EXTRA SMALL AND IMPOSSIBLY DIFFICULT TO SEE PLACE SOMEWHERE.
SO, LETS IMAGINE THERE ARE ONLY 32 PLACES (THERE ARE OFTEN MANY MORE) TO CLICK ON ON THE FIRST PAGE OF A WEBSITE, AND THEN 32 MORE ON EACH SUBSEQUENT PAGE YOU CLICK TO.
UNLESS I AM MISTAKEN, IN JUST FOUR CLICKS THAT TAKES YOU TO A POTENTIAL 32 MILLION ODD OTHER PAGES.
NO WONDER PEOPLE SOON GET LOST AND CAN’T FIND THINGS ON WEBSITES. IN JUST FOUR CLICKS THEY HAVE TENS OF MILLIONS OF PAGES THEY MIGHT END UP ON – AND DO !
IT’S NO SURPRISE EVERYONE FINDS THE INTERNET A JOKE.
IT’S NOT REALY THE INTERNET THAT IS AT FAULT; IT IS THE TOTAL LACK OF INTELLIGENT GRAPHIC DESIGN COMBINED WITH MINDLESS SILLINESS OF SOFTWARE AND WEBPAGE DESIGNERS.
ARE THE DESIGNERS OF THESE PAGES COMPLETELY STARK, STARING MAD AS WELL AS JUST PLAIN STUPID ?
IF THEY LAID OUT PAGES TO BE ‘USER FRIENDLY’ – I.E. ACTUALLY READABLE AND WITHOUT CRAMMING EVERYTHING THEY CAN THINK OF ON EVERY PAGE, SAY JUST 10 CLICKABLE LINKS IN EASIER TO READ AND EASIER TO FIND PLACES (IT’S CALLED GOOD GRAPHIC DESIGN YOU MUTTON HEADS), THEN PEOPLE WOULD FIND THINGS, NOT GET LOST SO EASILY AND EVERYTHING WOULD WORK A LOT BETTER.
PEOPLE WOULDN’T WASTE SO MUCH TIME , BECOME COMPLETELY EXASPERATED AND JUST GIVE UP.
TEN CLICKS PER PAGE STILL BECOMES OVER A MILLION POTENTIAL PAGES IN JUST FIVE CLICKS.
ISN’T THAT ENOUGH – YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER BONEHEAD SOFTWARE DESIGNERS ?
JUST FIVE DIFFERENT ITEMS OF INFORMATION AND CLICKS TO OTHER PAGES IS STILL ABOUT FIFTEEN THOUSAND POTENTIAL PAGES; BUT OH BOY, HOW MUCH, MUCH EASIER FOR EVERYONE TO FIND THEIR WAY AROUND AND USE THE INTERNET USEFULLY INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME IN A MUDDLE OF CONFUSION THAT IS JUST THE PURE UNDILUTED HELL WE ALL KNOW SO WELL !
At the end of the day we users of computers need to know absolutely nothing about this ‘new technology’.
In front of us is just the modern equivalent of a piece of paper, that’s all. Just one piece of paper. Electronic paper though, instead of the old fashioned stuff that behaved itself so much better.
This paper is either blank because we are going to write on it, or it is full of information someone else has already put there for us to read – exactly the same as just one page in a old fashioned book.
But, computer generated pages – all those webpages or inscrutable software instruction supposedly telling you how to use your computer (that nobody can understand at all) etc – are crammed full of loads of different sizes and colours of print; pictures of all sorts; moving, wiggly things deliberately designed to distract you from what you are actually trying to do and pay them attention instead, abound all over the place in a confused bedlam of chaos.
Stupid language is used to describe quite ordinary things, so mostly everything comes across as complete gibberish when using normal language would make it understandable.
And by cramming as many links onto every page in a desperate bid to manipulate you exactly as they would wish, rather than let you get on with what you are actually trying to do, oceans of time are wasted in a fruitless effort to get anything useful done at all !