<![CDATA[The tech sector is massively failing older people.]]>The tech sector is massively failing older people.

I just spent over an hour trying to assist an elderly neighbour with her home phone. The provider’s website and contact phone number make it as difficult as possible to speak to a human, defaulting to mobile phone based text workflows.

The earliest the provider can have an engineer visit is in 3 weeks.

Very friendly humans when you talk to them, but a completely broken system.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/4f0cd12d-9e4e-4a86-a202-382510461950/the-tech-sector-is-massively-failing-older-people.RSS for NodeMon, 25 May 2026 09:47:10 GMTTue, 05 May 2026 10:46:35 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 12:23:58 GMT]]>@andypiper “friendly people working within a broken system” seems about the measure of it!!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/garythewilliams/statuses/116521948855480985https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/garythewilliams/statuses/116521948855480985Tue, 05 May 2026 12:23:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 12:15:33 GMT]]>@andypiper Oh, gosh, I can *so* relate to what you described above, Andy, and I don't think I'd qualify (just yet!) as part of "older people" myself, but the ordeal of getting through a talking human who understands what's going on and how they may be able to help with your issue is equally astonishing and depressing in equal measure.

A completely different world than when I started working in customer service myself in IT nearly 30 years ago! 😳🤯

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116077556122737261/statuses/116521915760846228https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116077556122737261/statuses/116521915760846228Tue, 05 May 2026 12:15:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:09:45 GMT]]>@andypiper I volunteer at an IT group, most normal people struggle to use and understand smartphones or Windows, slightly older people are utterly lost. Many assume they are stupid/ignorant, not that the other end site/app is just rubbish.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/drajt/statuses/116521657004511127https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/drajt/statuses/116521657004511127Tue, 05 May 2026 11:09:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:03:19 GMT]]>@andypiper 'Contact' as we know it is on its way out. The rise in websites no longer feilding contact forms or even contact email addresses are growing. Telephone numbers being displayed either on company websites or even Google is in decline.

More and more 'support' is being handled by chatbots and AI. I could automate around 40% of our fault calls tomorrow if truth be told.

How do I add my email account?
I need a VPN setting up.
My machine ce needs the drives mapping

To name a few.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.org.uk/users/dick_turpin/statuses/116521631721976982https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.org.uk/users/dick_turpin/statuses/116521631721976982Tue, 05 May 2026 11:03:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:58:10 GMT]]>@andypiper there is a petition in Germany against forcing everything to be done digitally: https://digitalcourage.de/digitalzwang

When there are no more non-digital alternatives there is also less incentive to have inclusive and accessible or easy to use digital services.

I believe that we often forget that processes that work for people who are very used to technology don't work for everyone. For example, I also wouldn't want to be forced to give children phones so they can use public transport.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bonn.social/users/zollak/statuses/116521611460982667https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bonn.social/users/zollak/statuses/116521611460982667Tue, 05 May 2026 10:58:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:56:58 GMT]]>@andypiper This is a huge pbm with more and more online services... what happens when you cannot manage it?...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://epsilon.social/ap/users/116127365612797477/statuses/116521606730376383https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://epsilon.social/ap/users/116127365612797477/statuses/116521606730376383Tue, 05 May 2026 10:56:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The tech sector is massively failing older people. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:55:29 GMT]]>@andypiper there is just this lack of question regarding “well what if they don’t have an email address”, “what if they don’t have a smart phone”? It’s something I’ve asked folks before and they can never really provide an answer without showing the flaws of their way of thinking

The digital divide impacts so many groups already struggling and there is this cultural failure to consider these people in their decision making at all

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://snailedit.social/users/rail/statuses/116521600886634985https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://snailedit.social/users/rail/statuses/116521600886634985Tue, 05 May 2026 10:55:29 GMT