Not fitting in with the modern world

[Flick of the Elbow]

I'm only 51 but I already feel alienated by the modern world. At least weekly, often daily, I encounter references to things that it seems the rest of UK society embraced several years ago but I'm only now hearing about. At work every communication channel is accompanied by photo's of office scenes (ie. of supposed colleagues) that never depict anyone over the age of 40. I was recently put down by a young colleague when I mentioned a new fangled thing such as Bluetooth. Apparently this is now ancient history. And already I'm suffering 'senior moments'. The other day I went to unlock my bike from the work cycle shed to discover I hadn't locked it in the first place. I can only imagine how much worse this is going to get in the ever increasing number of years I have left before I can retire.
Anyone else feel the same ?

 

[Tin Pot]

I've always been absent minded, so nothing's changing for me.

Ive noticed that people my age deliberately rejected knowing about technology, and chose to use the language of the previous generation which doesn't help - "new fangled" is a phrase that should only be used ironically, it's from the 19th century.

But, none of that really matters - priorities change as you age, this is natural. The focus is always on the younger workforce, they need to develop.

I don't understand retirement, I work for myself. There's nothing wrong with pushing a pen until retirement if that's what you've chosen, but you can change that if you want to feel relevant.

Edit : Fangled is actually 16th century.

 

[summerdays]

The rate my memory is disappearing I won't remember that I dont fit in.... I imagine every generation feels the same, if you think back to my grand parents generation TV's and telephones were new fangled contraptions, my granny never had a phone and used to go to a neighbour's house so we could phone her, and both sets of grandparents had outside loos (my grandpa still carried on using it after the inside on was installed). My dad had to get the water from a pump/well in front of the house, and helped install electricity to the house when he was a teenager (rural Northern Ireland 1950s).

It's now our turn to start to be left behind.... Slowly but surely...

 

[simon.r]

I'm quite enjoying my last few years at work. I have no interest in promotion and I can sit back and smile quietly to myself when the bright young things come up with a fantastic new idea that we tried 20 years ago My experience enables me to identify what's important and what's not, so I can concentrate on the appropriate things.

Although I do think it's necessary to keep reasonably up to date with technology. I'm older than you and certainly don't think of Bluetooth as new-fangled!

 

[Garry A]

As a 43yr old mature student in classes with 20 yr olds I'm amazed at all the garbage they think they need in their life (Snapchat?). All the images you mention are showing youngsters because they are the only ones that will believe the bs being fed to them

 

[jefmcg]

I was recently put down by a young colleague when I mentioned a new fangled thing such as Bluetooth. Apparently this is now ancient history.

You really have to pay a little more attention. Bluetooth has been around a very long time. First time a colleague got a BT headset was in 2000, and the lovely "toothing" hoax was 12 years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toothing

 

[winjim]

You really have to pay a little more attention. Bluetooth has been around a very long time. First time a colleague got a BT headset was in 2000, and the lovely "toothing" hoax was 12 years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toothing

But now we've got grindr/tinder etc, so it's essentially come true.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Don't worry about it. I haven't even got around to trying a glued soot bike yet.

 

[Mrs M]

I'm almost 50 (just a number) .
It's taken me this long to realise I don't fit in and that I really don't care .
Happier than ever and I decide what takes up my time and effort and what doesn't.
However, cat biscuits in the washing machine is not a good move .

 

[Katherine]

I sympathise!
I felt great at 50, but nearly 3 years on, the senior moments are coming thick and fast.
Having younger colleagues and children who are young adults help me to stay up to date ish with technology and I pick and choose what I want to use. Mr K and I are the ones who have to explain everything to our parents as the gap in experience and knowledge is too much for the youngsters, but we have got both our mums who are in their seventies to use android smart phones so they can be included in sharing family photos and chat.
Are there any younger colleagues who can explain stuff to you without putting you down? At 51, that's too young to stop learning.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I'm 60 this year and like every younger person I used to embrace everything new that came my way. In many ways I was simply following the herd

These days I am far more selective in adopting new technology/trends. If they add any value to my life then fine I'll go with it. If not, then I won't. I think the mobile phone, TV players, PC's, internet etc are fabulous things but they are there for me to use when I want and I won't be controlled by them. My mobile phone is turned on when I leave the house and off when I return. It's definitely not the first thing I see when I wake up - paraphrasing a recent mobile phone TV ad'.

As for social trends I am really out of the loop on many fronts and I'm happy with that. I can't say I've entirely rejected the 24/7 keeping in touch culture that seems prevalent today as I come on here and a few other forums most days. However, I don't live out my life on FB or any of the other social sharing platforms.

As for the workplace - for me as the years advanced so did the seniority. As far as I can recollect (but who knows with diminishing brain cells) I never passed negative comments on the bright young things that I employed. I really valued their industry, hope and ambition. I was never bothered if they were trying to reinvent things that had come and gone - sometimes they put new twists on old scenarios and sometimes whilst they were busy rehashing same old same old, and with the creative juices flowing, they would come up with some genuinely new & wonderful ideas that could be implemented.

As I steadily chug through my life I occasionally reflect upon each passing phase and one conclusion I draw is that, broadly speaking, at any given age we act in more or less the same way as the rest of our peer group.

So, the young are just being young, the mid's are just being mid's and the old, well, we are just sitting back, enjoying the view, and letting those with less miles on the clock scurry around like mad things keeping the whole show on the road. They can have their rest when I've returned to dust.

Time for my beans on toast now - and the beans will be heated in one of those wonderful very short wave atom agitators that can be bought for pocket money prices. What a wonderful world...

 

[Levo-Lon]

Ive yet to find a phone app that digs out a patio or drive sadly..or cal lay it for that matter..

the young never phone or email me asking for a job ... trades are trades tec is nothing unless it can be done by people too..
Imagine what will happen if the hackers really do bring down our beloved interweb

 

[winjim]

The Wiki article does say that.

Did you read it all the way to the end then? Good for you.

 

[stephec]

[QUOTE 4142418, member: 76"]I am 50 now, and work in the NHS. I spend all my time convincing younger colleagues that we need to embrace more new technology. For instance all of my colleagues and all of team (17 people) present to groups on a daily basis, they tell everyone to turn off their phones, and get really wound up when the audience are on their phones as apparently it shows they are not listening. When I asked them what they would rather people did I was told "make notes", well if someone is making notes, they aren't listening either are they? There is no getting through to them at all that tech is here and it isn't going away.

I was challenged as to what I do and I have set up a tweet wall for a big event we hold once a month with 70 people, so if they want to ask the speaker a question, they live tweet them. In my presentations I tell people to get in groups with at least one smart phone and ask them questions they have to Google the answer to, use remote voting buttons for quizzes.

@Flick of the Elbow there is no avoiding it, you have to get stuck in and get up to date, embrace and use it[/QUOTE]

I can agree with most of what you say, but the tapping away on phones and not paying attention to the speaker is a big no no for me.

In the good old days the teacher would've launched the board rubber at you.

 

[Tin Pot]

Ive yet to find a phone app that digs out a patio or drive sadly..or cal lay it for that matter..

the young never phone or email me asking for a job ... trades are trades tec is nothing unless it can be done by people too..
Imagine what will happen if the hackers really do bring down our beloved interweb

Son, we live in a World Wide Web that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You?

Well, me a little bit I suppose, so yeah - expect them walls to come crashing down any minute.