re: How do old people get so disconnected with the world around them?

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Serious question. It's amazing to me that once people reach a certain age, it's as if they are oblivious to much of the world around them, even if they're still pretty active and get out of the house.

How in the world can someone not know what Amazon, Uber, Netflix, etc. are? Is it that the current crop of old folks had technology pass them by so quickly that many of them simply chose not to learn too much about it? I understand not knowing exactly how these companies/technologies work, but to have never even heard of them or know what they do is wild.

For reference, I'm mainly talking about 75+.

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You sound like David Hogg.

As people get past 40 they usually have more responsibilities that are of increasing importance compared to younger years. Things like raising kids, paying bills, a career etc. That necessitates they narrow their focus and they don't have time to check out every new trend, TV show, magazine, online site and so forth. Then, once past 50 almost everyone has at least one health issue that narrows it down a bit more. At a certain point you have the kids leaving home, retirement, and increasing health problems. Of older people I've seen, those with good health have very little problems keep up with changes in technology. It's health problems that narrow things the most.

Ask someone undergoing chemo for cancer or prolonged rehab for hip replacement how much of an urge they feel to check out the latest developments in the tech world.

They could say the same thing about your knowledge of things that were relevant in their day. They are comfortable with their place in life and probably just don’t care what is relevant to you.

I don’t understand the old people who suddenly fear driving the speed limit. If you’re that afraid maybe you need to not drive at all.

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I'm not 75...yet.....but I have no idea who most of the new celebrities are anymore because IDGAF

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Same reason I quit watching late night talk shows. I don't know who the frick any of those people are and don't care.

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My grandpa is 92 
They tell the news too fast & the words across the bottom of the screen are too little to read 

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My oldest living grandparent and the last one alive is 99. He's awesome to hang out with because he's 90% mentally there and dgaf about technology or the modern world. He was 25 when the Allies landed on DDay and is a walking history book. I love going to sit and talk with him. He remembers when his dad came home with their first car and stopped riding a horse to work.

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That Election night Melt

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It twas the GOAT. Hell I'm more of a Conservatarian Rand Paul guy but the sky screamers made me laugh. I still laugh thinking about it actually

As you age, less fricks are given.

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he won't use the GPS map in his car because he thinks that the government tracks his whereabouts.

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Your dad is smart.

Well now Im 72 and my wife is 78. Apparently we are disconnected from reality in your You Tube eyes. My neighbor s daughter is home from Auburn for the summer. I heard her saying to her 66 year old father "Why do you always live in the past and avoid being up to date?? It's like people your age don t know anything at all about today s world." His reply was classic: "absolutely nothing you use, see, hear or perceive came from your generation. It was all perceived and created by those before you. Without those before you you'd be standing in rags wondering what rain is."

Your problem is that you haven't experienced enough in life to realize we "older and mind numb" folks have experienced several generations of know it all generations of people who are hell bent to prove to one another that they are more tech savvy than the rest. It gives you an adrenaline rush when your phone buzzes.

We seldom text because that form of communication was replaced by the telephone more than 100 years ago. Most of us went to schools where the primary consideration was learning the proper usage of language, written and oral, mathematics at various levels not using calculators, where we lived in respect to other cities, states, continents and countries, and how events in history had sculpted our existance.

I Personally retired with an eight figure cushion made in the E commerce realm. I use Netflix and have since it started, and Amazon Prime since it started. And yes I know it was the Amazon Book Store when it started, do you? Unlike your generation I can name all 50 states (unlike our former president who thought there were 57) and their capitols as well as identify them on a map. I can identify most countries on a world map and don't give a crap about outer space.

I use a shitty old I-phone which has more than 30 numbers blocked but is small enough not to be a nuisance. I feel that earlier versions of Windows were far more useful than the new ones. I have always refused to use My Life, Facebook, Twitter, et al because I'm self appreciative enough not to have to advertise every function of my life. Along those lines, I have little interest in most other peoples menial lives.

In closing I must apologize for feeling that each new generation is more boring than the previous one. It's not in their general behavior, and I perceive that each new one arrives with better untaught skills, it's just that after a half dozen generations of know it alls, it's really tiresome.

RY