I've never had technophobia. Years ago when we heard a Moog synthesizer for the
first time we went out and built one, so I'm not sure I can even understand the
symptomology. In any case, I never run into it at this point, neither with
friends or with students or when I give talks etc. Computers are integral to
our lives; ipods are now the thief's item of choice on the subway; cars talk
back to us; fast-forward formatting ensures that yesterday's cd's are
tomorrow's dvds are tomorrows etc. - ending where? the absence of mechanism,
pure chip input/output into pure chip. Earphone membranes will be the last to
go. We're used to it so much that it's never fast enough. I want to close my
eyes wave my hand and out comes a video that you're in the middle of.
"Technophobia" and "internet addiction" might be cant phrases that make
academmic papers and popular articles. It _is_ true that the so-called
"elderly" (which is a _very_ problematic category, as much so as "senior
citizen") have difficulty with online, but the split might now be around the
age of 80. My father's 91 and on, with difficulty, does just a little. My mom
was fluent at 80 and had no tech background whatsoever. People who are ill at
ease want to be given "menu-paths" to follow, so that everything will take care
of everything, which is usually the case until something goes wrong -
- Alan
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