Don’t insult elderly with online push – Yorkshire Post Letters

AS modern life and technology move at an ever-increasing pace, it is difficult to keep track.

Simple everyday tasks like making an appointment with your GP or renewing insurance are over-complicated and stressful.

The cold tones of an automated answering device offend’s your ear with “press 1 for appointments, press 2 for tests” etc.

Of course, if you are computer literate and tech-savvy, these simple tasks are no problem, especially if you are young. However, if you are over the age of 65 anything to do with the “www” can be mind-boggling and a no-go area. Of course, it’s easy to say you can learn, but learning when you are older is not as simple as when you are in your teens.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that 37 per cent of over-65s regularly access the internet.

According to data from the ONS, the number of older people going online has shown a positive increase, with over a third of over-65s using the internet on a daily basis.

As you can see the number of over-65s is small and yet, commerce, agencies, even the NHS persists in bombarding us with the use of and using the internet.

This is insulting and alienating us. The rest of you forget that we have won a world war, paid taxes longer than any of you and have reared children who have also paid taxes.

We have looked after you all and now, in our final years, we have to watch you twiddling your thumbs with your phones while we attempt an intelligent conversation with you. Some consideration, please.

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