11% of Americans don’t use the internet • Hacker News Board

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#41

Post by SamUK96 » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

simmons wrote: post #12

My Dad is in his early 70's and has never used the Internet. In fact, he never even had a cellphone until this year when I bought him a flip-phone and convinced him to accept it. I think he's plenty capable of learning such technology, he just doesn't see any compelling reason. And I think that's a perfectly reasonable choice -- I'm certainly not going to tell a senior citizen what they need to be happy. He is starti…

Even as a ~20-30 year old, libraries and them acting as community "hubs" seems so foreign already. Part of me worries about the growing individualist and transactional nature of our social lives that the internet is causing [citation needed, I know].

Part of me thinks that the easy way now where we can do IRS forms (and everything) online and to our door of our houses, will make us weak.

There is some old Roman bit about easy/good/soft times breeding weak men who bring tough times, but I think i'm going on a tangent from the disappearance of paper IRS forms at local libraries...

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#42

Post by trumped » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

neverartful wrote: post #4

magduf wrote: post #2

Old people can use the internet just fine if they want to; my 80-year-old mother happily uses it to buy all kinds of stuff, to pay her bills, to keep up with family on Facebook, etc.

Probably depends on the person. My 79-year-old father has early stages of Alzheimer's/dementia and can't remember the names of his grandkids. I would say that he can't use the internet just fine - even if he wants to.

at that point, he probably should be considered internet-disabled (among other things)... as an analogy, would you expect a paraplegic to swim with it's own body? sorry, but that's reality...

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#43

Post by soared » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #26

soared wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you 70 years old? Radio was at the same stage as the internet in the 50s and 60s.

Grew up with kids TV in the 70s and 80s thanks :p I have never once heard anyone criticise radio consumption that I can remember. Walkmans in the 80s, yes; games, yes; TV, definitely as mentioned. All of those have cropped up in the news more than a few times while they were topical. Maybe UK radio got a different reaction to the US?

That’s because it was normalized in the 70s and 80s. When it was still new people moaned about overconsumption, just like the internet.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#44

Post by louisswiss » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:37 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #38

Makes me wonder if when we are 80 years old, we'll be organizing retro LAN parties to play Unreal Tournament (1999 release) in our retirement homes.

I'll be there for that.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#45

Post by ezequiel-garzon » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:37 PM UTC

It’s reasonable to assume that 11% of the adult US population is still illiterate [1]. I know this is not unique to the US, and that these people may very well be as happy as anyone else. Still, if we sometimes point out that HN is a bit of a bubble, well there’s a big bubble I can’t wrap my mind around well into the 21st century! I would certainly be surprised if an illiterate person made heavy use of the Internet (though I’m sure there are edge cases, as always).

[1] https://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#46

Post by greedo » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:39 PM UTC

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #23

I wonder will the internet have matured (jumped the shark with excess commercialism, JS, ads etc) to the extent TV has that people start cord cutting the net. Anecdotally the novelty is starting to wear thin with more than a few people I know who barely use anything beyond a chat service and a little shopping (probably at Amazon).

I'm tempted to unplug when I retire in a bit more than a decade. After working in tech for 20+ years, the idea is appealing. I doubt it will be very easy to function in an ever-connected society however.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#47

Post by pnloyd » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:40 PM UTC

ezequiel-garzon wrote: post #45

It’s reasonable to assume that 11% of the adult US population is still illiterate [1]. I know this is not unique to the US, and that these people may very well be as happy as anyone else. Still, if we sometimes point out that HN is a bit of a bubble, well there’s a big bubble I can’t wrap my mind around well into the 21st century! I would certainly be surprised if an illiterate person made heavy use of the Internet (…

A lot of jobs now have internet only application processes.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#48

Post by asadlionpk » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:42 PM UTC

neverartful wrote: post #4

magduf wrote: post #2

Old people can use the internet just fine if they want to; my 80-year-old mother happily uses it to buy all kinds of stuff, to pay her bills, to keep up with family on Facebook, etc.

Probably depends on the person. My 79-year-old father has early stages of Alzheimer's/dementia and can't remember the names of his grandkids. I would say that he can't use the internet just fine - even if he wants to.

Sorry to hear that. Stay strong!

I had taught my grandma how to use a feature-phone and she was pretty happy with it. Later she was diagnosed with dementia, that phone's battery is dead for some years now. Somewhere down the line, she forgot how to use her phone (and pretty much anything else). It's sad watching her unlearn things.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#49

Post by mindcrime » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #17

thatswrong0 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is the same thing they said about tv, before that radio, before that..

The quality of content on TV is way better than YouTube. Thankfully my kids really like the learning series on Netflix (Umizoomi, True etc) instead of the horrible 'daddy finger' to cheap animation of babies which qualifies as 'child content' on YouTube.

The quality of content on TV is way better than YouTube.

IF you're talking only about children-specific stuff, then maybe so. But otherwise I totally disagree. There is SO much amazing content on Youtube (especially educational content); where nothing on TV can come close to match it. Pick a subject you want to learn, and there are hours and hours of content, a not insignificant amount from top tier universities, covering same.

Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet

#50

Post by x0x0 » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:44 PM UTC

simmons wrote: post #12

My Dad is in his early 70's and has never used the Internet. In fact, he never even had a cellphone until this year when I bought him a flip-phone and convinced him to accept it. I think he's plenty capable of learning such technology, he just doesn't see any compelling reason. And I think that's a perfectly reasonable choice -- I'm certainly not going to tell a senior citizen what they need to be happy. He is starti…

My parents were internet-free until they figured out that a smartphone could show them pictures of grandkids. My siblings with kids were printing and mailing them pictures, but out parents were cut out of the daily fb updates of their grandchildren.