There is a persistent but fallacious belief regarding digital literacy: “Old people can’t use computers”. Not only is this hilariously wrong, it also has some dangerous consequences that we’ll see in this post.
The truth is, you simply can’t… simplify things and treat any group of people as if they were a homogeneous lump. There are people who are old and can’t even turn on a computer, and there are people like Grace Hopper, who was recalled from retirement (twice!) to work on the US Navy’s IT infrastructure.
Obviously enough, there are many gradations in between, too. There are old people who perhaps can’t program but who can still use a computer. There are also old people who know how to turn on the computer, somewhat use it, but would be unable to troubleshoot it the moment something goes awry.
But all that isn’t very important.
Instead, what is important is to understand the dangers of correlating digital literacy to age – either old or young.
