My grandmother, who I maintain is the most quotable person I’ve ever met, often tells me:
Note - My Grandmother is not Judi Dench (she is Malaysian and much prettier...no offense Judy - I just couldn't be bothered to ring and get her permission to use an actual picture/run the risk of her reading this.)
[read in crazed angry voice…imagine spatula in hand]
“You young people always think you know better, always think we don’t have any clue….you idiots forgotten we’ve lived through all this...yeah that’s right buddy, I’ve been there and done anything you’ve done…were old not stupid…”
(The complete accurate tirade does continue a few pages longer but in the interest of not breaking this fine blogging website I wont indulge myself.)
While I dismissed this with a sarcastic, arguably unwise comment about the capabilities of the older generations (which won me a hit with said spatula – because “your never to old for me to give you a smack, don’t you ever forget that.”) I realised later, as I nursed my life threatening spatula injuries, that she did have a point. As a society our attitude towards elderly generations isn’t as good as it could be – you notice that when a person reaches a certain age we begin to regard them as less capable or intelligent.
To pander to the stereotypes of a law student and unleash the metaphor, would the smarter person deciding to sky-dive take the plunge relying on a magazine they found in the back of their car and their hippy mate Steve's advice or alternatively be better off consulting the experienced instructor to obtain tips and instruction?
We’re all often complaining about the intricacies of our own life, about relationship troubles, job woes, current events on news, how we have no idea how to deal with these issues and how to balance our lives - yet we squander the opportunity to consult those who have actually been through the experiences and accumulated years upon years of knowledge of all kinds instead choosing to on the part of most dismiss them as having no capacity to provide valuable contribution.
As we’ve previously discussed the journalism profession has rapidly evolved and migrated to reflect the trend within the public to consume news online. In the context of interactivity this has meant a shift from just merely contributing opinion via letter to the editor or telephone call into a radio show to include twitter, Facebook and emails to name a few. But does this mean that old people are, much like in wider society, being fazed out of the conversation? Is the message we are sending here – “either evolve or lose your voice?” Further as the commercial priorities of news companies shift to focus quality and resources on the majority of readers who consume online news will this result in those who don’t want or are unable to migrate to online getting information of inferior quality?
In his recent lecture ABC Brisbane Breakfast radio show presenter Spencer Howson acknowledged that while he now had twitter, Facebook and emails running as means of increasing interactivity with viewers he still made efforts to take phone calls to ensure that older listeners were not cut out from the conversation.
But to be a pessimist what will happen when, as things often do in the whirl of exciting revolution, as we continue to rapidly use technologies to change we way we interact and consume news, these efforts become neglected or forgotten? How could we shut the door on the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that opinions of the elderly generations bring just because they don’t know how to log on to twitter or jump on a forum?
An article from the Poynter Institute reveals that studies have shown that while 55% of those aged 18-29 get most news from online sources only 35% aged 65-over did. Furthermore a
2010 study by Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that when elderly people do get online their use of the internet is often limited only to activities such as buying products and searching for information on Google rather than consuming news and social networking as the news model has now come to so heavily rely on.
If someone told me that the only way they would listen to my opinion was through some new complicated long winded new method I didn’t understand I would tell them to go to hell. We should be making it easier for elderly not harder. This is why we cant afford to neglect the traditional means of interactivity nor drop the quality of journalism's platforms just because the majority don’t visit as often.
To end on another quote from my wonderful grandmother,
“I don’t like this thing, seems really stupid, why you waste your time on this crap? David delete it…I don’t want to be this Facebook person anymore.”
–My Grandmother –
Literally 2 minutes after opening her Facebook account
She shouldn’t have to be the Facebook person or a digital TV person or own a Twitter account to engage in news and share her knowledge, wisdom and (mostly) ideas of the shortcomings of our generation. Plus there’s less chance of her finding this blog and coming at me with the spatula again…
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