We are living in a 21st century epidemic. A period in which humans over the age of 60 cannot type faster than 1 w/m (word per minute) on their phones, or even take a picture. I have recently experienced a few first hand experiences with the epidemic.


The first incident was November 19th at 8:47 PM when my grandma messaged me on Facebook saying “Can u guys apend minday night with me,?” If I used that type of grammar in English Class I would receive an “F-”. Unfortunately I also know how long it takes her to type and how much thought she probably put into that message. After seeing elders type on their touch screen phones I have learned that they do not understand that it is TOUCHscreen and not hit-as-hard-as-you-can-screen. They do this while usually holding the phone with their non dominant hand while they hit the screen with the index finger on their dominant hand. The proper technique is to either hold with one or two hands and type with ones thumbs.


My second first hand account of the epidemic was December 2nd around 3:30 PM when my family was having a picnic on a La Jolla beach with some family friends from Portland, Oregon. As the picnic was coming to an end we decided to capture the moment in picture form. We glanced around the beach to find someone to take a picture. We saw an older women sitting under an umbrella and asked her to help us take the picture. If I had to guess I would guess she was 62 and a half. Anyway we asked her to take a picture and Greg (the father of the family friends) gave the energetic lady his phone. He said “Just hit the camera button right there”. We all got into a line and posed. We heard the first picture take after a countdown of 3. We then asked her to take another picture. We did not hear another noise signaling a picture.


Greg went to see what was happening. She had shut off shut off his phone. Which was not a huge deal. He booted the Samsung back up and went to the gallery. He looked at the picture right in front of everybody and could not hold back the laughter. The technological naive lady had zoomed in, taken a picture of my knees, and then turned the phone off. We all tried to hide our laughs from her but I think she understood something was up. He took his phone back and Gabe (the son of Greg, a year younger than me) handed the lady his iphone 5 and this time we had better luck.


We thanked the lady and then asked if she wanted to take a picture of her. She replied “yes, I was trying to take a picture of myself earlier to send it to my son.” She pulled out her old sliding phone and we quickly found the camera and then she said the words that all elders have once said “I usually just give it to my granddaughter and she figures it out”. We took a picture of the ladies awkward pose with the ocean in the background. Then we had to send it to her son who lived in Minnesota, (she wanted to brag about the weather) we also learned his name was Kenny Rae. It is still unknown how the lady would of taken a picture by herself, I don’t think she knows what a selfie is.







After these first hand experiences I am convinced that the epidemic of extreme inexperience of technology has become a serious issue in America and most likely across the world. Hopefully when my generation gets old we will be able to keep up with the technology unlike these two nice, but technologically naive women.