Posted on 03/17/2007 4:11:09 PM PDT by blam
Source: University of Alberta
Date: March 17, 2007
Why Computers Frustrate Older Adults
Science Daily — A number of evolving social changes highlight the importance of making computer technology accessible and usable for older adults. For instance, older adults are using email increasingly to keep up their social contact with others and are using the Internet to look up health information.
An innovative research study was conducted at the University of Alberta which analyzed the performance outcomes of older adults when being tested on the computer and Internet.
What researchers found can be applied as a 'best practice' when teaching older adults how to use computer technology. Research found that older adults feel less confident about their computer knowledge than younger adults. Older adults are also concerned about how memory issues may impact their performance.
"This lack of confidence is a major factor in older adults' ability to become proficient with computer technology, which unfortunately results in less computer use," said Dr. Patricia Boechler from the University of Alberta.
The study also highlights the obstacles older adults experience such as a significant decrease in sensory keenness, particularly with vision and hearing, as well as a decrease in motor skills due to health problems, such as arthritis and tremors.
Dr. Boechler notes, "Often a large challenge for older adults when using the computer is navigating the mouse and keyboard, which is commonly due to a health problem like arthritis."
Boechler, Foth, and Watchorn studied approximately 40 older adults by having them complete computer exercises and measured their results to undergraduates who previously completed the exercises. The study gives a list of recommendations to help even the playing field for older adults such as increasing font sizes to accommodate vision problems, ensuring that verbal instructions are delivered at an appropriate volume with minimal noise distractions and giving demonstrations of the tasks ahead of time to reduce anxiety.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Alberta.
These issues are real.
In other words, the study didn't prove much of anything, so the authors had to rely on good old fashioned common sense.
bump
My Dad is 71 and loves his computer. However, I have to admit that the my laptop's touchpad gives me tendinitis when I use it too much. I had to stop playing so many games!
It's how they scheme behind your back, when they think you are asleep, then hatch their evil "Missing .dll" messages that gets me.
That's why I keep a gun on top of the computer, just in case.
Signed,
Geezer.
Buy him a trackball, and if your system supports it, a USB/optical (laser) mouse to take with you on the road.
Buy more. In most systems it is less than $50 to double the amoun of memory. /s off?
What is an older adult?
Rim Shot
An older adult is one who cannot type as fast as I can.
Texican
"What is an older adult?
And what are computer skills?
I know quite a few guys over 50 who can still code in C++ and assembler quite easily. There aren't that many young people who can do that any more.
I was wondering the same. I am 63 and suspect it includes me, lol.
My 38 year old PhD son just got DSL because he didn't want to be lower-tech than his old man, me, who already had it.
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~Author Unknown
Now that IS brilliant
I learned to type in high school, before PC's were in use. I learned to use a PC one little step at a time, at work (with an orange-font monitor against a black background and the use of little floppy disks), but most of what I know I learned on my own at home on my own PC, the hard way: trial and error. FreeRepublic was a Godsend as far as starting to learn HTML.
The solution is rather an easy one.
Most software shares the same few commands that do most of the work. Most everything else is "bells and whistles", unique to that software. Look at Microsoft Word, for example. Most of the time, you just type, then save or print and save, or discard. 90% of the program you almost never use. It is just Notepad with a spell checker.
So when you teach computer to older people, the emphasis should be on teaching the limited important commands that they will use over and over. This gives them a solid foundation on which to build their knowledge.
And yet, when they try to teach MS Word to older people, invariably they want to teach them so many bells and whistles that of course they get flummoxed.
I'm only 80, so I'm one of the young ones.
I've only been messing with computers since 1955, when we had to wire an IBM Card Programmed Computer to do engineering problems. Screens of any size were a long way in the future.
Actually it was an IBM Card Programmed Calculator.
So somebody who never saw a computer until he was 50 isn't as skilled as some 20 yr-old who grew up using a PC? Duh! When I was in college, the only computer took up a whole room, and the people who took computer classes carried around big boxes of punch cards. Now, you can't even enroll unless you own a laptop.
Some great age quotes here: http://www.quotegarden.com/age.html
Right click, Granpaw.
Can you imagine someone paid for something this silly?
I'm growing older but not up. -- Jimmy Buffett
LOL, that'll work.
What you say?
I'm not afraid of computers, but I sure as hell hate those gd Indians.
Many older folks are intimidated because they know absolutely nothing about a computer. I have pointed out that the most able computer guru also knew nothing when he started.
I have encouraged a number of seniors to take the plunge. It is clearly a case of nothing ventured, nothing won. Most love the email.
well... not exactly.
Saving protected sites in Notepad or Worpad is impossible. Word does it with just a little tweaking.
The same holds true of tables on the web.
Not complicated but extremely useful.
Old dog, new tricks. A sweeping generality but largely true based on my observations.
They also increasingly use it to endlessly pass on mindless garbage!
I know several 'older adults' whom I would love to get a message from that DOES NOT start with:
Fwd:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:Fw:
Usually followed by JOKE, LOL, or PASS THIS ON!
Why Computers Frustrate Older Adults
I'm an older adult and these computers don't frustrate me. I may be falling apart but my grandkids are still asking, "Grampa how do I " Now the Wi Fi, wireless and keyboards that don't work from time to time and VISTA may Pi$$ me off every day but I can handle that
Oh for the Good old XP Pro days. Now I'll wheel myself over to another chat room
My mother is a 74 y/o stroke victim who has had limited right side mobility for about 17 years. I bought her first computer 8 years or so ago. She can't these days type anthing close to the over 80 wpm perfect that she did as a steno decades ago and this natural right hander must operate the mouse with her left hand. But she travels the world online - talking and corresponding with dozens of friends she would not have if not for web. She shops and banks online, and she's always only an IM away from me. We tend mostly to be fenced in by those barriers that we accept and submit to.
Good post.
I notice as I get older, I can't sit as long at the computer. It really messes up my vision and causes eye stress. Plus my body needs to move around more and not get cramped sitting in one position all the time. I find myself, more and more, getting up often for a break.
I know it is tough to get older people to use a computer if they haven't learned it before.
I started with the things when first available, so there is less stress in navigating.
The first time I consulted with a small businessman on what kind of computer he wanted, he showed me a system he had seen in a magazine for several thousand dollars.
He wanted a label maker. I got him a computer that did labels, then I showed him how he could do a simple inventory with a little freeware program. He was thrilled to death.
Cost him less than $250. Then once a month I showed him just one more simple thing he could do on his computer.
By the time he was ready to upgrade, the next generation of computers from what he had, had become inexpensive.
He could have been messing around with spreadsheets, databases, and all sorts of other software, but he neither had the desire, the need, or the time to do so. He might have learned them eventually, but he got what he needed.
I don't need to save protected sites. Why would an 80 year old grandmother need to? She needs Notepad, not Word.
For her, Word is just an overly complex version of Notepad, full of crap that she doesn't need and will never use.
I am not believing some of the hateful replies I am seeing here. I am an OLDER ADULT who enjoys the web, (SO OLD I HAVE 9 GREAT GRAND CHILDREN ) and some of you are condemning us to whatever you decide is our RESTING PLACE as you decide it.
Let me say a few things.
My grandchildren ask for help from grandpa. My Greats love me.
Some of you Freepers who are condemning us older folks, (not all freepers) need to LOOK AROUND, CONDEMN YOUR OWN OLD FOLKS, I am sorry to say I belong to the SAME GROUP AS THE OLD FOLKS. HUMAN BEINGS.
I don't see Sr Citizens committing rape
I don't see Sr citizens robbing people
I have gone far enough. The haters are not going to get any more of my time except to wish them well and to go to He!!
Take your hate and go elsewhere. No I shall take my knowledge and go where you can not offend me. To the intelligent side of the room. You OLD PEOPLE HATERS need to forget who put you here, who preceded you.
I am not believing I saw such hatred and bias on FR.
Well, I have read the same 46 replies you have, and I sure can't say I saw anything the least bit hateful.
I've gotten my folks (mid-70s) to the point that they understand and appreciate being able to research online, especially medications and dietary supplements. But, they just don't "get" how to do it themselves, and I have a pristine (and I do mean pristine, it only came out of the carton when I used it, maybe ten times) original tangerine iMac that I bought for them to prove it. They call to ask me to "look something up on the computer" for them, and ignore their own computer, lol. They really are afraid they'll break it, no matter how many times I remind them to just turn it off if it does anything screwy. I've thrown up my hands.
Mark
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