Fun & Famous
HOW MOBILE ACTIONS BETRAY YOUR AGE
You can be as handy with a phone and as good at Facebook and WhatsApp as you like when you're older, but the way you handle your phone immediately reveals your true age. And it's not surprising; we twenty-somethings and younger have practically grown up with a mobile in our hands, while for everyone over 40, it's a different story. Let alone if you're over 60. I always find that very endearing, sometimes also incredibly annoying, but in any case, very funny.
Writing a message
This is invariably done with one or at most two fingers. My father always placed his phone on the table at the beginning of his iPhone career and typed with two index fingers. And that took a long time, it was unbearable. Older people simply do not have the dexterity to quickly write a message, so there’s about half an hour of “is typing” on your screen, resulting in just a “hello how are you?” as a message. HOW can it take you SO long?!
Taking a photo
When I want to take a photo, I can do it within a second. Approximately. The older ones among us take an eternity to find the camera app (see next point) and then don’t know what to do with the button to take a photo. As in: they press it too long and take a burst or don’t press it hard enough and then nothing happens. I once asked an older man for a photo while abroad, and he pressed my phone against his eye because he didn’t understand that the whole screen is the viewfinder. The dear.
The detours
It really drives me crazy with frustration when I see how clumsily they handle their phones. From the home screen, you can swipe your iPhone into camera mode, but older people don’t realize that at all. And switching between apps always involves going all the way back to the home screen before opening the new app. Really people, there are things designed for this.
Everything with voicemail
When voicemail is mentioned, you can bet your bottom dollar that the word ‘answering machine’ will come up. And anyway, which self-respecting millennial even uses voicemail anymore? Just send me a WhatsApp.
Making a phone call
Our Peggy does it too; every phone call is made as if everything must be conveyed without the help of a phone connection. As in: there’s just shouting. And conversations often start with “HELLO YES HELLO CAN YOU HEAR ME WELL LIKE THIS?”
The terminology
Older people like to talk about their ’06’ or ‘GSM’. So cute.
Multitasking
Is totally not applicable. When I walk down the street with my father and he receives a message, he immediately stops walking to read and respond to that message. No walking on, no, completely stop walking. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. And the whole idea of putting your conversation on speaker mode so you can just continue with your phone is also a kind of mirage in the senior brain.
