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How old is too old?

Bepolite

I work for a large company and have contact with quite a few customers every day. I keep hearing "I'm dealing with it because X is too old and doesn't understand all this". Some of these people that are 'too old' are in the mid to late fifties.

At what point do you go so gaga that you can make your own decisions anymore? Do I need to start planning to have kids so that in 20 or so years time they can make all the decisions for me?

Surely someone who has go to, say, 65 is better placed to make a decision about whats best for them? Or is it just one of those ploys old people use to get people to do stuff for them, kinda like being old is an excuse for being racist/pretending you don't hear people.

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B.A._Baracus

Bepolite wrote: »

..... Surely someone who has go to, say, 65 is better placed to make a decision about whats best for them? Or is it just one of those ploys old people use to get people to do stuff for them, kinda like being old is an excuse for being racist/pretending you don't hear people.

Think you answered your own question there

corner of hells

I thought this thread was going to be about cougars.

Irish Steve

My mother was 90 a few weeks ago, one of her entertainments is solitaire on a tablet computer, she uses it for other things as well, and I recently upgraded their computer for them from Vista to Win 8.1, which came as a bit of a culture shock, they go ballroom dancing at least twice a week, and not that long ago, another of her part time jobs was processing expenses paperwork for Help the Aged, the reality is that she's older than quite a few of the clients that Help the Aged are supporting. My father does his bowls league scoring rank tables on the computer, and they use it for other things as well. They are mentally active, alert and don't see new things as something to be afraid of.

There are others, a lot younger (I've worked for them) who won't go near technology, or anything even close to it, and it does affect the way in which they run their business, often badly.

The same is true when it comes to other things, like sat nav, smart phones, and other technology, even some of the systems on newer cars like cruise control.

That said, there are times when I find myself wondering why companies like Microsoft just have to change things that were not broken, sometimes they just move the function to somewhere else completely obscure for no good reason, other times, they reduce the functionality of a facility, even though there was nothing wrong with the way it used to work, Those are the sorts of issues that annoy older users, my attitude is very simple, it it's not broke, don't fix it.

Time will tell, in theory, the younger generations are being exposed to so much technology from a very young age, there should be no excuse for not understanding or being able to cope with it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I'm in my 70s and do everything for myself. I have grandkids in their late teens who ask me to fill out forms or sometimes make phonealls for them because I understand some issues better than they. Likewise they advise me on items like Facebook or Skype until I learn about them. Age is often a state of mind but it can also have physiological problems. The level of education attained is another factor.

The One Doctor

BetterThanThou wrote: »

I know people who have worked physical labour jobs into their 70s despite working them all their lives. If I get a rip in my trousers, you can damn well bet I'm giving those trousers to my mother to fix, I wouldn't know how. On the other hand, I could go on a week long bender and be fine the next day, I don't think my mother could do that. My 10 year old cousin has tried to teach me how to make loom bands, but I just don't have the interest in them that a 10 year old would have, I'm too old for them. "Too old" is an excuse, our elderly are a great treasure, and most of them are a hell of a lot more useful than most of the young wasters that are around these days.

The world was better in the olden days, right?

BetterThanThou

I know people who have worked physical labour jobs into their 70s despite working them all their lives. If I get a rip in my trousers, you can damn well bet I'm giving those trousers to my mother to fix, I wouldn't know how. On the other hand, I could go on a week long bender and be fine the next day, I don't think my mother could do that. My 10 year old cousin has tried to teach me how to make loom bands, but I just don't have the interest in them that a 10 year old would have, I'm too old for them. "Too old" is an excuse, our elderly are a great treasure, and most of them are a hell of a lot more useful than most of the young wasters that are around these days.

Wicklowrider

The One Doctor wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what age did he get his pilot's licence at?

He won't ever get it because of the medical history, he has to have a qualified pilot with him everytime

The One Doctor

Wicklowrider wrote: »

My father is 82.
He has had 2 heart attacks and several strokes but recovered well.
This morning he will drive to the airfield and take a flight. He started building his own plane from scratch when he retired at 65. A couple of years ago he drove from his home in Wicklow to the ferry in Rosslare. In the Uk he drove 280 miles to attend a course on his aircraft engine and was certified to maintain it.

Out of curiosity, what age did he get his pilot's licence at?

[Deleted User]

My granny (80's) has a tablet and uses it for surfing, email and kindle, and she's also addicted to Quizup. It took ten minutes to show her how to use it and she was off. You're never too old until you're cold.

saucyleopard

I just have to ask did everyone get a picture of Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon 2,3,4 in their heads from that last comment?

House of Blaze

Flibbles wrote: »

You're too old as soon as you start thinking "I'm too old for this". That's a slippery slope that you won't come back from.

Or when you start bemoaning the fact that you only have two days left till retirement in the middle of a gun battle.

saucyleopard

A lot of older people leave decisions which require the use of a computer or IT to their children. They are normally too lazy to learn how to do it for themselves and children being children put it down to them being too old. They are not too old! They just can't be bothered when they can get you to do it for them.

JuliusCaesar

Everyone is going to be different. Just as we all have different levels of intelligence, for different things, throughout our lives, we will all have different experiences, learning, and events in our lives too.

Some people become cognitively impaired relatively early, some people can't be bothered learning new things.

Flibbles

You're too old as soon as you start thinking "I'm too old for this". That's a slippery slope that you won't come back from.

Wicklowrider

mariaalice wrote: »

That a fantastic post, but will the next generation have the money to have such a lifestyle and retirement, last night I met my ex husband who is now retired he was having a great time out walking with a friend of his, he has a good pension ( not fantastic ) mortgage long paid off, grown up children all this even though he left school at 14 to do an apprenticeship and never had a high paid job. Will the this generation be able to do that do you think?

He has a very modest income - he was a soldier most of his life. The plane cost less to build than a decent 2nd hand car. I do take your point about people retiring now on much lower pensions than they could have anticipated. It reminds me of that geriatric bank robbers gang a few years ago

Buzz Killington the third

In many cases someone can be too old for a job, especially one in which the industry moves fast and they don't keep up with technologies. There's a certain type of jumped up little brats with a massive sense of self entitlement that come straight out of college and think they know everything. They have no real world working experience and think anyone past their 20's is old. It's extremely satisfying to take them down a peg or two! Age is just a number, but experience comes with it.

[Deleted User]

Wicklowrider wrote: »

My father is 82.
He has had 2 heart attacks and several strokes but recovered well.
This morning he will drive to the airfield and take a flight. He started building his own plane from scratch when he retired at 65. A couple of years ago he drove from his home in Wicklow to the ferry in Rosslare. In the Uk he drove 280 miles to attend a course on his aircraft engine and was certified to maintain it. 2 nights a week he drives 25 miles each way, to go ballroom dancing and won't get home until after midnight. He also teaches/coaches ballroom dancing.

I regularly cycle with 2 men who are in their mid '70's and still race - and I mean race, rather than wander round the course. One of them wore the yellow jersey in the ras the year I was born ( I'm 52) Both of them are razor sharp mentally and one of them also plays tennis regularly. I once saw the other man doing press ups and squats etc and the last time I saw anyone doing exercises so well they were in their 20's.

People do use excuses and " I'm too old" is one

.

That a fantastic post, but will the next generation have the money to have such a lifestyle and retirement, last night I met my ex husband who is now retired he was having a great time out walking with a friend of his, he has a good pension ( not fantastic ) mortgage long paid off, grown up children all this even though he left school at 14 to do an apprenticeship and never had a high paid job. Will the this generation be able to do that do you think?

Wicklowrider

My father is 82.
He has had 2 heart attacks and several strokes but recovered well.
This morning he will drive to the airfield and take a flight. He started building his own plane from scratch when he retired at 65. A couple of years ago he drove from his home in Wicklow to the ferry in Rosslare. In the Uk he drove 280 miles to attend a course on his aircraft engine and was certified to maintain it. 2 nights a week he drives 25 miles each way, to go ballroom dancing and won't get home until after midnight. He also teaches/coaches ballroom dancing.

I regularly cycle with 2 men who are in their mid '70's and still race - and I mean race, rather than wander round the course. One of them wore the yellow jersey in the ras the year I was born ( I'm 52) Both of them are razor sharp mentally and one of them also plays tennis regularly. I once saw the other man doing press ups and squats etc and the last time I saw anyone doing exercises so well they were in their 20's.

People do use excuses and " I'm too old" is one.

[Deleted User]

The answer is 42

PizzamanIRL

Dead.

JohnMarston

My dads pushing mid 50s and has just recently completed the equivalent of leaving cert qualifications and is now computer savvy.
Im too old is a poor excuse not to try.

[Deleted User]

In general their is nothing that you are too old for, on the having children thing do you really want to be in you sixties and dealing with all the c**p that goes with some teenagers. I am all for getting your life sorted in you thirties..career, job, marriage, partner, home, whatever you are in to, then enjoying the rest of life.

Fr_Dougal

Frozenassets wrote: »

A lot of people get set I their ways a don't try a anything new, this causes their brain to atrophy, hence they you have 50 year olds who can't figure out how to use a smart phone.

In the company that I work for there's a 60 year old that knows more about technology than I'll ever know. He was telling me how great Tinder was a few months ago.

spurious

Frozenassets wrote:

A lot of people get set I their ways a don't try a anything new, this causes their brain to atrophy, hence they you have 50 year olds who can't figure out how to use a smart phone.

Or young folk who can't sew on a button, or make their own notes. Swings and roundabouts OP - very much depends on the task.

Frozenassets

Bepolite wrote: »

I work for a large company and have contact with quite a few customers every day. I keep hearing "I'm dealing with it because X is too old and doesn't understand all this". Some of these people that are 'too old' are in the mid to late fifties.

At what point do you go so gaga that you can make your own decisions anymore? Do I need to start planning to have kids so that in 20 or so years time they can make all the decisions for me?

Surely someone who has go to, say, 65 is better placed to make a decision about whats best for them? Or is it just one of those ploys old people use to get people to do stuff for them, kinda like being old is an excuse for being racist/pretending you don't hear people.

A lot of people get set I their ways a don't try a anything new, this causes their brain to atrophy, hence they you have 50 year olds who can't figure out how to use a smart phone.

Sir Arthur Daley

Old is too old when you cannot deliver the dawn shot after a night of it.

WilyCoyote

What age is your bird?

House of Blaze

Depends really..

55 would be a good age to make a decision about the balance of fabrics you should have in a good windbreaker.. or what brand of pipe smoke is the heartiest..

But some things are best left for the young, such as knowing the best angle to take pictures of you genitals at on your smartphone.

And so the great circle of life continues...

[Deleted User]

I hope to never have to rely on someone else but I know that's wishful. I sound exactly like my dad so I can do whatever he's meant to do. He filled out enough forms 40 years ago so I'm not gonna hold it against him.

A Greedy Algorithm

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