NO!!! You are not !!
I have been teaching Senior Mac Classes for over 15 years. It is very rare that there is someone who can’t learn about computers. However, what is very common is people who refuse to learn computers. This blog post is going to address some of the more common statements I hear from my students when they first start to learn computers.
But Two-year-olds are good with Ipads?
Yes, two-year-olds are good with Ipads and phones. But the reason is not what you think. Do you think that a Two-year-old understands the instructions on the computer screen? A child however is fearless and is an expert at trial and error. A two-year-old will keep hitting buttons till the game they want to play pops up. To an adult who doesn’t know how to use a computer, this looks almost like magic.
Children make an average of 2 mistakes a minute using a computer (not a game) but an adult makes about 4 an hour then threatens to throw it out the window (Called a Rage Quit). Children learn from their mistakes where the adult gets frustrated. An adult is more capable of learning computers than a child assuming that they want to.
I don’t want to break my Mac
This is a valid concern however It takes a bit of effort to break a mac. Macs are set up to defend themselves from accidentally damaging them. I could teach you how to damage mac software but it would take a week and you would have to be a computer tech to understand what I’m talking about. Even then you always get a message that says ” Are you sure”
Companies like Apple and Microsoft really want to avoid being taken to court because one of their customers did something they regretted then figured they would make some money and file a lawsuit. To combat this big tech companies have made it very hard for you to damage your system with a single click. There will always be a button that says “ARE YOU SURE?”
Of corse throwing it out the window will break it.
I don’t understand the words on the screen
I was giving one of my Senior Mac Classes when I discovered what I call contextual knowledge. My student was a lawyer who wanted to learn how to install software on his mac. When the End User Agreement (The legal agreement when you install software) popped up he freaked out. “What do I do now?” . He got very angry when I told him that he was more qualified to answer that question than I was. He absolutely refused to understand that he understood the words on the screen… I took a moment, went in the back printed out the EUA, and handed it to my student “Do you think I should sign this?” He quickly read the paper (The Same words that were on the screen) and said yes. He even refused to believe they were the same words till I told him to read the EUA out loud.
Because the words were on a screen, he assumed he did not understand them even though the has a degree in law.
Many adults assume that they do not understand the words on the screen and what they mean. When I ask my students to look away from the computer as start asking them what each individual word means they would score about 98% accuracy.
The truth is that software is now designed to use plain english that everyone can understand. It has been that way for years and nobody noticed because they were too busy assuming they did not understand.
Its not the Age it’s the Attitude
Every time I have a student with a can-do attitude they seem to pick up everything I teach them. My best student was an 83-year-old woman who started off with the basics of Keynote and is now doing Video Special effects. In contrast, I have seen a child who normally can figure out how to download anime from a torrent site and make sure it’s dubbed in English all of a sudden cant figure out how to save a word document that has their poorly written homework.
ALL about the attitude!
I get it being told that you can do this sucks.
The most frustrating thing about me is that I believe in you. Like any sports coach I’m also not going to accept excuses and try to show you that not only can you do this you are most likely very good at it. You just need to stop investing all your brain power into the phrase “I’m too old” …. because you are NOT!
If you are interested in learning how to use Mac computers in the Blue Mountains and Bathurst area please consider taking one of my Senior Mac Classes.
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