Interviewing a person older than myself produced a very different first experience with a computer. This individual (who is around 85) did not start using computers until middle-age, and has only had one at home for about 10 years. While she is able to use the computer fairly effectively, learning new programs and jargon is much more difficult than it is for most of those in younger generations. Rather than growing up with new technology as a part of everyday life, she has only been around it for the latter part of her life – the majority of her life was computer-free. This is much different from my experience. I have almost always had access to a computer, and mostly that was at home. Learning new software or websites or engines has been a part of my life that is natural for me now, and I do not struggle with it because it has always been a part of my life. My interviewee on the other hand has had to learn the basics of computer usage much later in life, and having spent most of her life without them, she finds it more difficult to keep up with the changes. She has had to completely re-learn even basic things as more and more of our lives become computerized. For example, using a camera used to be simple and straightforward for her, but as digital cameras became the norm, she had to take something she had been using for years and convert it to the digital age, learning all the software and new features that went along with the switch. It is interesting to think from her perspective, where half of her life was spent computer-free – it seems like it would be very difficult and a little sad to be forced into the technology era and give up all the “classic” things she grew up knowing in the past.
Blog #3
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