Great Big Green Week

The only time I empty our fresh water tank is when there is a threat of frosts.

That statistic is quite telling in itself. I am not sure how they measure,

I would think it is measured by the number of members who have ticked in their profile not to receive the magazine even though some may never read it at all.

It seems to me that the vast majority of the membership are wedded to the idea of a printed magazine? 

More probably too many members have insufficient knowledge on the use of computing devices. I saw somewhere a report from Age UK that 55 percent of over65 year olds lacked this knowledge.

peedee

>Here<  is the Age UK report. I haven't read it in depth but Page 10 makes interesting reading..

peedee

Scanned though it peelee, but to be honest I found it depressing rather than interesting. We are doomed!😉

Peedee

It doesn't actually surprise me. We have an ex works pensioner group and I run the email comms for the group. We have about 120 members who have email accounts with varying degrees of competence as you might expect. I think our group probably reflects what was said in the report with younger members being more able to understand things. We then have a group in the wider ex works pensioners who won't even think about using the internet. They find it alien, they are frightened of it. This includes people who I would judge as being pretty intelligent and held down important jobs when they were working but probably before work became fully digitalised.  What we have to be careful about making judgements is that in the over 75 category our ability to learn new things do start to diminish and if you have not been used to using much in the way of technology its probably a bit late to start.  I would judge myself as being pretty confident with computers but there are events that stump me sometimes. Perhaps the difference is that I have an idea where to start looking for the answer, before phoning my son who works in IT, not everyone has that sort of backup?

David

It would be interesting to know how many bookings of members are made online and how many are still made wholly via the call centre? The same with how many members join online?

That would give an idea if too many members have insufficient knowledge on the use of computing devices or perhaps simply like having a hard copy of the magazine... 

Of course the question is how many of those in that survey are members of the club?

Personally, perhaps wrongly I suspect the vast majority are made online, but I suppose that if you have ended up owning a outfit, usually quite costly if you look at the outfits on a club site, then you probably have good skills in using IT, bank accounts....

And again booking online is the way forward, when I first joined you could post off your booking coupon to book a site and presumably got a written response back? Who would think about doing that now even for a second - having to wait for a good few days to see if your booking is confirmed? And having to enclose a stamped address envelope as well!

Many of us who retired about seven or eight years ago will have used IT in various forms at work, some more so than others. We kept up to dat with what was needed at work and probably used those skills in our private lives. We then left work. No automatic updating of skills, and maybe no one to ask. So you begin to get a digital divide, not between those who do and those who don’t use IT but those who don’t know how to use mor up to date aspects. I am reasonably competent with what I know but some of the IT comments on this and other forums go straight over my head. I remember trading schemes many years go to help teachers get to grips with word processing, web use, email etc. someone now, in what ever walk of life, who was ignorant of such things would struggle to find such train8ng. There is a societal assumption that we all know how to use computer and mobile phones. But if you don’t, finding an idiots guide is very difficult.

we dont opt for digital mags for this club or digital membership of the CCC. We still find the handbook useful and we both flick through the magazines. More difficult unless you both use the CAMC website. Most booking is done via the website. I know quite a lot of older people who don’t like buying anything on line.

1998…….email was certainly around then, but not embraced by Club. You just telephoned back then if I recall correctly. Those were the days, when someone answered the phone🤣 We used to use Marazion every Summer around then, so we normally called site to see state of bookings, as you could usually just turn up on the day. But it did start getting full, so we did send off the paper trail a couple of times😁

Then we found a fantastic CL, quarter of a mile away🤩🤩

I’m not sure I completely agree with Hja. I left work 28 years ago and my only use of computers at work was with the company's own systems which were little more than accessing databases. I had no online access at all.

Realising the benefits of being online, I bought my first computer soon after leaving work and found my way through with the help of internet searches, Dummies Guide books and talking to friends. Once you’ve got that foot in the door, it’s relatively easy to move forward as technology progresses. What you don’t know, can easily be learnt.

Techie stuff - I love it!

I have always been interested in computers since ZX81 days. I did use them for work and for that some training was provided. However, since retiring 13 years ago I haven’t really found any problems staying up to date, despite vast changes in that time. Devices have got a lot easier to use and set up over the years, my  iPad or our iMac for instance lead you through it and individual programmes and Apps have tutorials. I remember some of the early computers I bought being a complete nightmare. Just getting it to talk to a printer was a major undertaking. To some extent it is a case of folk just won’t try or don’t want to know. That was certainly the case when at work, even amongst those younger than myself.

I like a handbook, but we don’t receive the mag. All our tech skills are from work or self taught, hence not that deep. But we do try and embrace technology as much as we can, particularly after COVID.

I taught Mum and Dad how to use Nokia mobile phones, calls and texts, so that we could keep a look out for them, in their 80’s. Neither struggled at the time, but I think smart phones wouldn’t have worked, too much to learn. Mum used my old IPad at one bit with my help, in her 90’s. Both were interested and happy to embrace learning something new. 

High tech cars are our learning curve. I don’t think we have found everything out that our Jeep can do yet, but happily embraced the basics such as linking phones, music. It still surprises us. We knew it adapted to where you were driving, ie the auto gears adapt after a day to the terrain you are driving over primarily, so if we go to Dartmoor say, it learns that, then has a bit of a day hunting gears for our normal drives when we get home. We had a surprise the other morning though, OH had got some sort of German techno music on all week, and he got into it and it woke up and the display was in German🤣🤣🤣🤷‍♀️ Spooky.

I think being environmentally friendly starts with upbringing as well as informed up to date learning. I come from a home where nothing was ever wasted if it could be re used, food waste was a sin. A lot was grown on allotments, in back gardens, clothes were made by Mum (superb seamstress, knitter), Dad made us things, even resoled our leather school shoes, they decorated themselves, baked, meals were never anything wholly out of a tin or a box. I walked to school and back 3 miles all through my secondary years, and that was after late sports practices. We all walked miles as a family growing up. OH was same, so we took to proper getting away from it basic camping easily, and it’s still like that for us with a few comforts now. No TVs, can easily do three weeks without hook up if we choose our sites carefully and it’s warm. We know how to get by with just a tiny fridge (luxury after a cool box), can use onboard shower no problem, and just love being outside in fresh air whenever we can be. I’d happily embrace the no frills side of a Club site if it ever happened, but it won’t, and the price will never be right now. Genie of having all life’s extras, comforts, requirements, little effort required is out of the box now, never to be found again on Club Sites sadly. On the upside, it allows folks to tour easily much later into life and with lots of health conditions, so it’s a trade off that’s there when required. We still meet Members in their 80’s though on CLs, in older outfits, no hook up, just doing it the same as the old days😁 usually like us, grumbling mildly about Club Site prices🤣