While I appreciate the benefits of the new Internet technology, many companies do not realize that a significant segment of the population (primarily the senior citizens) are not computer literate, nor will they ever take the leap.
More and more major corporations and government entities are directing their customers or citizens to their online address, as if using the computer is as natural as the telephone. But for many, it is a foreign language and those companies are alienating many people.
Some of these companies are becoming so dependent on their online presence, that it is practically impossible to pick up a telephone and reach a real person. And if you can reach a person, you first need to navigate through a web of phone extensions, and end up speaking with someone who may speak your language, yet you can’t understand them through the thick accent.
I understand there are many citizens in their eighties and older who have entered the computer age. Yet, there are those, like my father-in-law, who has no desire to use a computer, and at 87, why should he have to?
This reminds me of when you are surrounded by bilingual people, who instead of using the language that everyone understands, carries on a conversation in the language that not everyone speaks. Those who don’t understand feel isolated, alone and ignored.
It is rude.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
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1 comments:
Theres a pretty cool website that talks about how to tell what computer is right for you and how to operate it. They break stuff down really simple so everyone can understand it. They also have forums where you can ask them questions. Check it out at www.thepcline.com
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