From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

A society that forces a ninety-year-old to use a smartphone in order to
access basic rights is not a modern society; it is a society that has
decided to cast aside its own elders.

By 2026, everything has become an app, a code, a portal. Yet the very
people who built this country with their own hands now find themselves illiterate in their own homes. If booking a medical appointment or
paying a bill requires the help of a son or granddaughter assuming there
is one then the system has failed.

This is not innovation. It is exclusion.

Technology should serve people, not determine who is still entitled to dignity.

When we leave behind those who came before us, we are not evolving. We
are merely becoming more comfortable - and more selfish.
--
Jim the Geordie
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

Jim the Geordie <jim@geordieland.com> wrote in news:MPG.44bb3f71acbb8ef39896ad@news.eternal-september.org:

A society that forces a ninety-year-old to use a smartphone in order to access basic rights is not a modern society; it is a society that has decided to cast aside its own elders.

By 2026, everything has become an app, a code, a portal. Yet the very
people who built this country with their own hands now find themselves illiterate in their own homes. If booking a medical appointment or
paying a bill requires the help of a son or granddaughter assuming there
is one then the system has failed.

This is not innovation. It is exclusion.

Technology should serve people, not determine who is still entitled to dignity.

When we leave behind those who came before us, we are not evolving. We
are merely becoming more comfortable - and more selfish.

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.
--
Peter
-----
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

On 11/07/2026 in message <XnsB4865ECDAD8A7Factura3476@157.180.91.226>
Peter wrote:

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my >life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do >almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.

There are bigger screen alternatives.

My 'phone has an 8" screen (Ulefone Armor Pad Pro) and Samsung do an 11" Galaxy Tab (the LTE version).

They are relatively cheap as the resolution and cameras aren't as good as
top of the range stuff.

I do use it hands free with it perching on a tea mug :-)
--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Remember, the Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds


Jeff Gaines wrote:

Peter wrote:

I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do
almost anything.
There are bigger screen alternatives.

It is possimible to remote control a robotphone from a PC with a huuuge monitor ...

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

In article <xn0ps579ecf1h0m008@news.individual.net>,
jgnewsid@outlook.com says...

On 11/07/2026 in message <XnsB4865ECDAD8A7Factura3476@157.180.91.226>
Peter wrote:

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my >life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do >almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.

There are bigger screen alternatives.

My 'phone has an 8" screen (Ulefone Armor Pad Pro) and Samsung do an 11" Galaxy Tab (the LTE version).

They are relatively cheap as the resolution and cameras aren't as good as top of the range stuff.

I do use it hands free with it perching on a tea mug :-)

That's not the point!
My wife,(age 80+)and others like her has no concept of using the
internet to contact the doctor, bank, council etc. by text, email or messenger.
I get paper copies where I can, and have the doctor and dentist contact
me directly. I keep, but never use a digital landline, but she *can*
use.
My children and grandchildren all live hundreds of miles away and
although they will come if needed, but they have their own lives to
live.
It has got to the point where I hope my wife dies before me.
None of this was necessary even 10 years ago.
--
Jim the Geordie
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

In article <112t3a3$1uou5$1@andyburns.eternal-september.org>, usenet@andyburns.uk says...

Jeff Gaines wrote:

Peter wrote:

I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do
almost anything.
There are bigger screen alternatives.

It is possimible to remote control a robotphone from a PC with a huuuge monitor ...

The point of the article is not about tiny screens, it's about knowing
about, and being expected to be able to use, digital communication.
--
Jim the Geordie
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

Jim the Geordie wrote:

None of this was necessary even 10 years ago.

But it was, perhaps, foreseeable?

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

On 11/07/2026 in message <MPG.44bc29c5794fc1a79896ae@news.eternal-september.org> Jim the Geordie
wrote:

In article <xn0ps579ecf1h0m008@news.individual.net>,
jgnewsid@outlook.com says...

On 11/07/2026 in message <XnsB4865ECDAD8A7Factura3476@157.180.91.226>
Peter wrote:

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my >>>life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to >>>do
almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.

There are bigger screen alternatives.

My 'phone has an 8" screen (Ulefone Armor Pad Pro) and Samsung do an 11" >>Galaxy Tab (the LTE version).

They are relatively cheap as the resolution and cameras aren't as good as >>top of the range stuff.

I do use it hands free with it perching on a tea mug :-)

That's not the point!
My wife,(age 80+)and others like her has no concept of using the
internet to contact the doctor, bank, council etc. by text, email or >messenger.
I get paper copies where I can, and have the doctor and dentist contact
me directly. I keep, but never use a digital landline, but she can
use.
My children and grandchildren all live hundreds of miles away and
although they will come if needed, but they have their own lives to
live.
It has got to the point where I hope my wife dies before me.
None of this was necessary even 10 years ago.

It was the point that Peter raised and I replied to.

I enjoy most modern technology but I try to find devices that I can
use/read comfortably.
--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Here we go it's getting close, now it's just who wants it most.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

On 11/07/2026 11:26, Jim the Geordie wrote:

The point of the article is not about tiny screens, it's about knowing
about, and being expected to be able to use, digital communication.

My Mum was 95, and had never used a computer in her life, and as her
sight, speech and finger control was so had, she couldn't even make a
phone call unless someone dialled it for her. I did get her phone set up
for voice control, but she couldn't make it work.

She could just about manage the "answer" key on a land line phone with a
large keyboard.

The other problem she was having was that as she had retired, the local
NHS couldn't be bothered giving her the treatment she needed. Four days
on a trolley in A&E, and she wasn't offered help with the toilet or even
a drink.. Good job she was wearing pads.... Her GP practice nurse
ignoring her symptoms was, as far as we can tell, one of the reasons she
was in such poor heath in the lead up to her death. (In a care home with
very competent staff and doctor)
--
Tciao for Now!

John.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds


Jim the Geordie <jim@geordieland.com> writes:

In article <112t3a3$1uou5$1@andyburns.eternal-september.org>, usenet@andyburns.uk says...

Jeff Gaines wrote:

Peter wrote:

I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do
almost anything.
There are bigger screen alternatives.

It is possimible to remote control a robotphone from a PC with a huuuge
monitor ...

The point of the article is not about tiny screens, it's about knowing about, and being expected to be able to use, digital communication.

I've been "computer literate" only half my life but that's 42 years.
I write code in C, LISP, Perl et al. I use Linux on the desktop. I'm
pretty sure mine was the first blacksmithing site on the web.

But I can barely use basic features of my phone. I hate the touch
screen interface. There are no manpages. There is no orderly file
system, just various things that are known uniquely to specific apps.
Yes, there is a file system of sorts accessible from my computer but
only a fraction of the maintained data is there; the rest is hidden.

That's just the phone.

Website authors/coders/weenies strive to have the very latest, coolest
fuvg. BTDT, did some eduware for mechanical trades stuff 30 years
ago. Learned that what was desired was not stuff that would enhance
learning nor stuff that would satisfy the technical experts but stuff
that would, when flashed on their screens, appeal visually/viscerally
to trade-illiterate managers of corporations or training facilities.

To renew one particular CanGov entitlement, nothing I have (two
computers, two browsers, cell phone) will correctly engage the CanGov
web site. I have to go to the local CanGov office and use one of
their computers to do it.

I've been doing email for over 35 years. But nobody does email any
more. You have to actually read email and lots of people -- maybe
most -- don't write very well. So we have ditally mediated, animated, interactive forms. People paying attention have long observed that a
"form" that you fill out/up is not a way of collecting information but
a way of excluding it. There's not space in the little box for you
explain your circumstances and that's intentionsl. The web interface
is form-filling on steroids; You have to acquire, maintain and learn
to operate hardware and software compatible with the sought-for
service before you even get into the waiting room/banner page. At
least with traditional forms, a biro/ballpoint pen and 6th grade
literacy was enough.

That's merely an annoyace for me, an eccentric artist with a science
background and a digital tech jones. Pretty sure it's worse for many
others of my generation and younger as well.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

On 11/07/2026 11:42, Andy Burns wrote:

Jim the Geordie wrote:

None of this was necessary even 10 years ago.

But it was, perhaps, foreseeable?

Yebbut not, it seems, avoidable?
Or rather, there were no (retained) 'workarounds'?
Or even, to use the phrase of today, there is insufficient 'choice'?

I have noticed this, when you need 'choice' it is often not there!

Chris
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

Peter <myshed@prune.org.uk> wrote:

Jim the Geordie <jim@geordieland.com> wrote in news:MPG.44bb3f71acbb8ef39896ad@news.eternal-september.org:

A society that forces a ninety-year-old to use a smartphone in order to
access basic rights is not a modern society; it is a society that has
decided to cast aside its own elders.

By 2026, everything has become an app, a code, a portal. Yet the very
people who built this country with their own hands now find themselves
illiterate in their own homes. If booking a medical appointment or
paying a bill requires the help of a son or granddaughter assuming there
is one then the system has failed.

This is not innovation. It is exclusion.

Technology should serve people, not determine who is still entitled to
dignity.

When we leave behind those who came before us, we are not evolving. We
are merely becoming more comfortable - and more selfish.

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.

Issues with screen sizes etc are different to rCycomputer literacyrCO.

I was programming at school in the late 1960s - our school was one of a few which had a computer. True it was huge, used valves, rCa. but I went on to a career in engineering. IrCOm in my late 60rCOs.

IrCOve a brother who started a career in Software in the 1960s, he is in his late 70s.

Age doesnrCOt translate to a lack of computer literacy.

That said, I do have problems with small screens - not eye related,
dexterity. Not fundamentally age related- I had a stroke at 49. No obvious
side effects - most people donrCOt notice- but on bad days my dexterity is hopeless.
As a result, I understand - at least to an extent- how those with, say, arthritis struggle.

Increasingly, IrCOve noticed apps etc for rCyofficialrCO services clearly havenrCOt
been tested by people with fine motor skill issues.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.rec.sheds

On 11/7/26 11:32, Jeff Gaines wrote:

On 11/07/2026 in message <XnsB4865ECDAD8A7Factura3476@157.180.91.226>
Peter wrote:

Yes. Very much yes. I've been pretty much computer-literate almost all my >>life, but now I have to poke a tiny screen with tinier writing on it to do >>almost anything. Oblody nuisance, it is, buggrem.

There are bigger screen alternatives.

My 'phone has an 8" screen (Ulefone Armor Pad Pro) and Samsung do an 11" >Galaxy Tab (the LTE version).

They are relatively cheap as the resolution and cameras aren't as good as >top of the range stuff.

I do use it hands free with it perching on a tea mug :-)

I suspect that in the final analysis, a higher resolution is going to
provide more benefits than a bigger screen.
Getting both is even better.
--
Geoff
NTV 650
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2