9: Old People and Technology

[00:00:00] Roula: Okay. Are you, are you, so yes, tell me why am I Rula Abu Haider, the life affairs podcast and you're just Rosie. 

[00:00:09] Rosie: What do you mean? The name of our 

[00:00:12] Roula: Oh

[00:00:12] but I don't see the name of your podcast.

[00:00:16] Yeah We

[00:00:20] need to change it. Maybe we have to put the Rula and Rosie show instead of, uh, the life affairs podcast. 

[00:00:26] Rosie: It doesn't matter. It's not on the recording.

[00:00:29] Roula: Oh, okay. Okay.

[00:00:30] Rosie: it's just, yeah, just this That won't be there. 

[00:00:34] Welcome to the Rosie and show Marhaba. Good day. 

[00:00:46] Rosie: Old people are not good at technology. True or false. Actually, I wasn't planning to ask that. Is that a true stereotype? Old people are bad at technology. Hmm.

[00:01:02] Roula: From what I see, I don't think so. Our life changed so much. Technology is taking over everywhere, and I actually feel so much appreciation and respect when I see an old person at the shop. I mean, in the Netherlands, everything is automated and technology. A lot of it. And then I see a person who's 70 or 80, and they're dealing with this technology.

[00:01:32] So at that moment, I'm like, I hope they have someone who is updating them with all of this. Because also technology is dangerous if they don't protect themselves. Um, so no, I don't think old people are not good with technology. The older we get, the slower we learn. And yet, they're coping with this.

[00:01:56] You know, from going into the train station and having to put their badge on the, to open the port, and there are no employees anymore. Everything is automated.

[00:02:05] Rosie: Yeah, this is true. I read

[00:02:07] Roula: pay in with their phone, etc.

[00:02:09] Rosie: Well, yeah. So, so true. I read something recently and I've forgotten the statistic.

[00:02:17] But 

[00:02:17] Roula: I forgot to record on my roll the castor, but it's okay. Shall I hit record now?

[00:02:23] Rosie: just in case. 

[00:02:25] Roula: Yeah 

[00:02:26] Rosie: See, all people are bad at technology. No, I read something recently and the generation that is best at adopting new technology is actually the older generations and the justification. So this is like retirement age. I'm talking, the justification is they have a lot more time on their hands.

[00:02:48] And so. They're trying out new things. And I thought this is fascinating. So there's just this really damaging stereotype that old people are bad at technology, but as you say, sometimes they're just slower to learn because biology because someone's struggling with something doesn't mean they're bad at it.

[00:03:09] Like, are we good at things that we try for the first time? 

[00:03:14] Roula: I don't think so. We have to practice.

[00:03:18] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:03:19] Roula: The difference, I think, is that younger generation, my son is generation alpha, my daughter's generation Z, I don't know what to say, and they are born with technology. Even my daughters, when they look at their brother, the little brother, they're surprised how much the technology improved from his time to their time. And yet they don't have any difficulty with it. It's comes natural to them. While I think my generation and the older ones, we have to put a little bit more effort in learning things. Can you imagine insurance is on the phone? Everything is automated. Our personal city hall, whatever information is on our phone.

[00:04:11] It's all apps. And then that person who's retired and older, they have to deal with that.

[00:04:20] Rosie: That's true. A lot of things aren't accessible if you don't have a smartphone. So we're being forced to, to adopt these technologies. And I guess younger generations, it's normal, like, yeah, of course I have that, but not for older ones.

[00:04:37] Roula: I don't know about you, but in the 80s, I was a teenager.

[00:04:43] Rosie: Oh my God. I born. Yeah.

[00:04:46] That's wild 

[00:04:48] Roula: And I hear the younger people, like the older, the 18 plus and the older people, talking about how Somewhere in the near future, we will have, you can like call video from your phone and they wonder if it's going to be in their time. Everybody is so excited about it. They're talking about it. And I wasn't busy thinking of it. And now that we call through the phone, crosses my mind. at us.

[00:05:17] Rosie: I remember when was, when I was, how old was I? When I first got internet. I think I was maybe 10 or something. Um, so it would have been early 2000s and late nineties, early 2000s, early 2000s, and it was dial up, you know, when you had that stupid sounds and if someone rang your home line, it would disconnect the internet.

[00:05:47] Very frustrating. Well, I remember when I moved to England, there were ads on the TV saying You know, you could have internet that didn't disconnect the phone line. And I just went, yeah, right. That is just ridiculous. Dream

[00:06:01] on But

[00:06:03] here we are.

[00:06:03] Roula: Yeah, well, it's true. It's true. Some things. Now we think of, uh, visiting Mars as a tourist, the planet Mars,

[00:06:16] Rosie: That's still crazy to

[00:06:18] Roula: go figure.

[00:06:18] Rosie: yeah.

[00:06:19] Roula: Yeah

[00:06:20] I don't know about, if people like, if older people are enjoying the technology. 

[00:06:26] Rosie: Hmm 

[00:06:27] Roula: they have some kind of nostalgic feeling for when they had this personal contact and go somewhere to do their paperwork or do the bank.

[00:06:38] I don't know if they have this feeling. It all seems like working all right, though I do hear on the news and other places there is also a lot of, uh, abuse for older people because of technology, because they are not aware of scam

[00:06:58] Rosie: true 

[00:06:59] Roula: these kind of things.

[00:07:00] Rosie: lot of scams. There really are. Do you like technology overall? If you had to say, I like it, I don't like it. What's your overall feeling?

[00:07:08] Roula: I love technology.

[00:07:10] Rosie: Yeah,

[00:07:11] Roula: It makes our life easier and, uh, it's, it's where we should be. Come on, we're not going to go in time.

[00:07:18] Rosie: Yeah. I think we just

[00:07:20] Roula: I don't like though. Yes, indeed. I just it terrifies me too, because I'm so scared of how technology or so imagine going to be a war in Europe, just like the war in Ukraine or in Lebanon and technology is has like this incredible massive destruction. capabilities. So, yes, technology scares me of how it's going to be used to harm us. On the other side, I love my Philips Hue lamps. So,

[00:07:54] Rosie: I've never owned a smart bulb. So you're more technologically advanced than me. you go.

[00:08:01] Roula: um, yeah, yeah, well, I like technology, yes.

[00:08:04] Rosie: Yeah. Overall, me too. I think we just, we can't have the blinders on. We need to be aware there's a good and bad side to everything. There's always a price to pay. So I think if, as long as we're staying aware and we're questioning things, like just because a certain technology is legal, doesn't mean it is safe or okay.

[00:08:22] So we just need to have our wits about us, use your common sense and use your critical thinking skills.

[00:08:28] Roula: Yes. And on the other hand, I think it's saving us much more than it's harming us because, you know, in making surgeries, technology is helping a lot in creating new products, making life easier, safer. So the overall of technology, at the moment, how I'm perceiving it, is good.

[00:08:50] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:08:51] Roula: And with technology or without technology, we will still have the Trump, the Putin, the Netanyahu, and all these guys who are killing the world with or without it.

[00:09:00] So

[00:09:01] Rosie: Good

[00:09:01] point. Yeah. So let us know, guys, do you think technology is good or bad? Or back to the original question, actually. Are older generations bad at technology? Ruler kind of demonstrated some, uh, what am I trying to say? Some not

[00:09:17] Roula: you don't even know what I demonstrated. forgot my answers.

[00:09:21] Rosie: Yes! Shut up!

[00:09:25] God, are we going to get onto memory topic? Maybe that's a future episode. 

[00:09:29] Roula: If we don't forget about

[00:09:31] it 

[00:09:33] Rosie: On that note, let's get out of here. Seriously, send us a message, guys. Go to the website and talk to you soon.

[00:09:40] Bye

[00:09:43] If you got a kick out of our conversation today, can you pretty please hit the follow button and share it with another opinionated person? This is the easiest way for you to support the show. It also gives Rula and I the motivation to keep going. I have to 

[00:09:59] Roula: stop you there. Stop telling people what to do.

[00:10:02] If they like to follow the show and share it, it's totally up to them. Guys, please, can you help us follow and share the show? Thank you so much. See you next time.