The Bar > The Lounge
Millions of Boomers Call Grandkids to Ask How to Change the Channel ...
Eupher:
...From Fox News
Uh....I never did learn how to program a VCR.......
--- Quote ---U.S. — In the days following Tucker Carlson's unexpected ouster from Fox News, millions of calls were placed by frustrated and confused boomers to younger relatives for directions on how to change the channel.
"Yes, Sam, it's your Nana, Dear! Can you tell me what button on the clicker will change the TV away from the Fox News program?" said local boomer Edith Brown to her grandson in Idaho. "I want to watch the channel Tucker is on. What channel is he on now? Is it the green button? No? The little red button?"
Sources say that millions of viewers are leaving Fox News, although with a bit of a delay as they fumble through stacks of remote controls, unsure how to make the TV stop showing the only channel they've ever watched for the last 20 years. "We expect millions more to leave once grandkids across America start picking up their phones," said one analyst. "Pick up your phones, grandkids!"
At publishing time, Edith Brown had reported already feeling calmer as her grandson had introduced her to the Game Show Network.
--- End quote ---
I Bee so helpless...
Drafe Hoblin:
I'm not sure where that urban legend came from... old-timers acting like Brandon when it comes to technology.
'Hacking' seemed natural to a lot of us. Following something to a conclusion or destination, as a way of killing time while discovering the internet.
I remember getting-onto the Norsk Hydro power-grid by following a series of links from a Russian dating-site. Then I found a way into the Enrico Fermi particle-accelerator works in-progress 'network'. Another time, I typed the word 'tunguska' backwards (The Tunguska Explosion) and ended-up on a complex signal-monitoring page of some sort.
I think analytical-proclivities are biologically present in all the generations.
Eupher:
--- Quote from: Drafe Hoblin on April 29, 2023, 11:22:12 PM ---I'm not sure where that urban legend came from... old-timers acting like Brandon when it comes to technology.
'Hacking' seemed natural to a lot of us. Following something to a conclusion or destination, as a way of killing time while discovering the internet.
I remember getting-onto the Norsk Hydro power-grid by following a series of links from a Russian dating-site. Then I found a way into the Enrico Fermi particle-accelerator works in-progress 'network'. Another time, I typed the word 'tunguska' backwards (The Tunguska Explosion) and ended-up on a complex signal-monitoring page of some sort.
I think analytical-proclivities are biologically present in all the generations.
--- End quote ---
It's true that "analytical proclivities are biologically present" in all generations, but I'd posit that it's the degree and the direction in which those proclivities are present. Let me throw out a couple of anecdotal examples - the image of grandpa with a flip phone are synonymous with today. He (like me) isn't interested in the idea of all that information seemingly crammed into a tiny little box called a smart phone in which he has to access that information with fingers and thumbs that have the dexterity of a lidocaine-laden appendage.
Going back a few years, I'm sure we all have or had a family member (with me it was my step-dad) who was a mechanical genius. There wasn't anything he couldn't repair or get working again. His curiosity about how machines worked led to an unbelievable assortment of labor-saving gadgets he built into our home. (At one point we had 12 hard-wired phones in the house, including in the tiny little bathroom.)
A little more currently, I got my first computer in 1988 - an XT clone. I hung with it and got into some of the DOS architecture/kernels until Windows 95 came along, and I just realized things were moving a lot faster than I was.
Some people appear to be unfazed by more and faster technology - you seem to be one of them. But I'd argue you're not typical.
I keep my curiosity - which is healthy and considerable - to things I can reasonably access. Accessing a network that probably ain't for me just ain't in my cards, but your basic premise is true. Just perhaps not as prevalent with technology as it might be for younger generations who grew up with computers.
And who have a lot more dexterity in their fingers than I do with my ham fists.
Drafe Hoblin:
Yeah. Full disclosure: I don't own a smartphone 'cuz I hate looking at tiny screens.
If they just consisted-of somebody's face popping-up, like what the 2-way Dick Tracy wrist-phones promised the Future would be, I'd buy one.
Old n Grumpy:
Wow! Dick Tracey I must be really old to remember him! :rotf: :rotf:
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version