Technology and old people. 
It should seriously be a comedy on the television. There is nothing quite so funny as watching a technologically incompetent person trying to work any electrical appliance, ranging from remote controls, VCRs, DVDs (or CDVs as they have become known in some households), sky TV, and my personal favourite, Mobile Phones. There is actually nothing in this world to compare to the humour that can be achieved by watching a techno-phob trying to text someone. It goes beyond the pale of good comedy value and right into the side splittingly hilarious.
Even more amusing is watching them trying to decipher what text language actually means. You are forced to wait for a week for a reply because they cant even remember how to open their inbox and you end up with a reply a month later saying. "What does that mean? Will you be back for tea or not?", at which point you're cursing yourself for not ringing them and wasting a text message.
However, that said, even when you do ring them, you have to do it about seven times whilst they try to remember which key is the one that picks the phone up (hint for those who don't know, its usually the green telephone. Don't branch to phones that don't have this key, you're only making life hard on yourself).
The best thing i have seen is the military operation that is trying to record someth
ing off the TV. Whether its some shitty documentary or some crappy film made before you were even a twinkle in your parents eyes, I'm almost distressed by the amount of effort that is going into trying to commit that heap of shit onto tape when really it shouldn't even be broadcasted on TV in the first place. But that's another story altogether. Either way, it is almost frustrating to the point of wanting to rip your own arm off, frustrating.
Step one is as follows:
Locating the subject matter
This is basically the stage you and I would call finding the correct channel you wish to record. Even this simple task can prove a mission in itself, resulting in cursing and hurling of electronic equipment.
Step two is the more complex of the stages, what i call the:
Getting the subject on the radar.
This step proves the most difficult for techno-phobs who feel the best way to do this is to push every single button they can on the controller and hope something happens. Even if the tape only rewinds, it is seen as a great victory for them.
By step three the techno-elite have taken the remote and set the video up to record, fearing that the techno-phob actually will blow up the video player by trying to manually rewind the tape with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
But anyway, moving onto my personal favourite. The PC.
For some reason this simple piece of equipment flummoxes even those with a basic knowledge of technology but it is by far the funniest of all the technologies to watch. Most people over 45 think that surfing the World Wide Web has something to do with an Australian sports tournament... a common misconception amongst the technologically inept, to whom address bars and double-clicking means nothing.
The funny thing is that whilst these people are squinting at the monitor, and typing one key every three days, in classes around the world, ten year old's have mastered the web and are using it to look up their homework for school and when you tell them this all you get is a "we never had all this stuff when we were kids", well no, that is true, but i never had a DVD player or used one til i was about 19 and i can still use it. I have not disappeared into the black hole of "i cant use anything with more functions than a Biro"
Still this age of technology is coming thick and fast and i often wonder how the techno-phobics of the world will fare in this new age of electronics. Every week some new appliance comes out and with more functions than you would ever physically need or want. Mobile phones will soon not only be able to take photos, videos, play music and games, sooner or later they will be able to pick up your laundry and wipe your arse in the process. I shiver with anticipation at the thought of what cruel devices companies can come up with next to confuse our middle aged compaderates.
Remember techno-phobs, technology is not something that happens to everyone else! It can happen to you too!
It should seriously be a comedy on the television. There is nothing quite so funny as watching a technologically incompetent person trying to work any electrical appliance, ranging from remote controls, VCRs, DVDs (or CDVs as they have become known in some households), sky TV, and my personal favourite, Mobile Phones. There is actually nothing in this world to compare to the humour that can be achieved by watching a techno-phob trying to text someone. It goes beyond the pale of good comedy value and right into the side splittingly hilarious.
Even more amusing is watching them trying to decipher what text language actually means. You are forced to wait for a week for a reply because they cant even remember how to open their inbox and you end up with a reply a month later saying. "What does that mean? Will you be back for tea or not?", at which point you're cursing yourself for not ringing them and wasting a text message.
However, that said, even when you do ring them, you have to do it about seven times whilst they try to remember which key is the one that picks the phone up (hint for those who don't know, its usually the green telephone. Don't branch to phones that don't have this key, you're only making life hard on yourself).
The best thing i have seen is the military operation that is trying to record someth
ing off the TV. Whether its some shitty documentary or some crappy film made before you were even a twinkle in your parents eyes, I'm almost distressed by the amount of effort that is going into trying to commit that heap of shit onto tape when really it shouldn't even be broadcasted on TV in the first place. But that's another story altogether. Either way, it is almost frustrating to the point of wanting to rip your own arm off, frustrating.Step one is as follows:
Locating the subject matter
This is basically the stage you and I would call finding the correct channel you wish to record. Even this simple task can prove a mission in itself, resulting in cursing and hurling of electronic equipment.
Step two is the more complex of the stages, what i call the:
Getting the subject on the radar.
This step proves the most difficult for techno-phobs who feel the best way to do this is to push every single button they can on the controller and hope something happens. Even if the tape only rewinds, it is seen as a great victory for them.
By step three the techno-elite have taken the remote and set the video up to record, fearing that the techno-phob actually will blow up the video player by trying to manually rewind the tape with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
But anyway, moving onto my personal favourite. The PC.
For some reason this simple piece of equipment flummoxes even those with a basic knowledge of technology but it is by far the funniest of all the technologies to watch. Most people over 45 think that surfing the World Wide Web has something to do with an Australian sports tournament... a common misconception amongst the technologically inept, to whom address bars and double-clicking means nothing.The funny thing is that whilst these people are squinting at the monitor, and typing one key every three days, in classes around the world, ten year old's have mastered the web and are using it to look up their homework for school and when you tell them this all you get is a "we never had all this stuff when we were kids", well no, that is true, but i never had a DVD player or used one til i was about 19 and i can still use it. I have not disappeared into the black hole of "i cant use anything with more functions than a Biro"
Still this age of technology is coming thick and fast and i often wonder how the techno-phobics of the world will fare in this new age of electronics. Every week some new appliance comes out and with more functions than you would ever physically need or want. Mobile phones will soon not only be able to take photos, videos, play music and games, sooner or later they will be able to pick up your laundry and wipe your arse in the process. I shiver with anticipation at the thought of what cruel devices companies can come up with next to confuse our middle aged compaderates.
Remember techno-phobs, technology is not something that happens to everyone else! It can happen to you too!
