Proving that broadband and technology are not just for the young, a senior citizen has become an unlikely hit on video sharing site, youtube.com.
Geriatric1927 is a blues music-loving motorcycle fan and has been regaling the world’s online population with his views on life from the perspective of an older person. His video efforts have made the UK pensioner, Peter an instant hit on the web, with his debut effort attracting almost half a million views and nearly 5,000 comments.
Geriatric1927 describes himself as a widower living alone in the middle of England. “My life has been very varied but my love of motorcycles has remained with me all of my life (no, I don't have piercings or tattoos),” he notes.
If people like Peter, and my mother for that matter, can get their heads round the internet and computers then there’s really no excuse for the rest of us. However, the example I trot out when illustrating that age and inexperience are no barriers to making the most of technology is my next door neighbour.
She won a PC in a local raffle and asked me for help setting up the system. When I was done, I happened to mention it was XP that was installed so it was bang up to date. It was then that she ‘fessed up, saying: “Actually, I’ve never sat in front of a computer before, could you give me a few lessons?”
A couple of years off her bus-pass, I did wonder what I was taking on. My fears were unfounded; square one to browsing and email were soaked up quickly. Two weeks on from not knowing one end of a mouse from another, she popped in to announce she’d just bought airline tickets online!
Half the time it’s techno-fear holding people back from trying new things. But as was pointed out to me once by a primary school pupil, you can’t break a computer. The keyboard doesn’t contain a self-destruct key. How true!
