It’s all in the attitude

Yesterday was a fun day. I was offered an LG Viewty phone to play with and to comment on, and it’s a fine-looking phone. And I get to keep it. I am beyond tickled pink. I am tickled all the shades of the rainbow. Why the excessive celebrations, one might wonder? It’s because I am a Silver Surfer. That tag does not refer to the comic character, but to an age group found surfing the internet. Because of that, I am an unlikely first choice for cool gadget commentary.

There is probably a dispute over when one falls into the category of Silver Surfer. It appears that if you are under 50, don’t apply for membership to this club. However, the expression seems to be used more often to denote some grey-haired gent or blue-rinse-haired biddy who has difficulty in hitting the correct key due to bad eyesight. Whatever the image in your mind by now, I wield the keyboard rather than the walking stick.

It seems to be the consensus that the older generation — that is, Silver Surfers — is totally overwhelmed by modern technology and far too scared actually to make use of these tools. On the other hand, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are 52 — not exactly scared of technology, are they? What about all the 60- to 65-year-olds now retiring who have used computers at work?

The issue is not age or the complexity of the technology. The issue is attitude. If you don’t want to use a computer, it doesn’t matter what your age might be. A 16-year-old who wants to spend her life on the phone to her buddies discussing fashion and boys, or the other way around boys and fashion, is not interested in computers. She will only use computers to look up fashion or to keep in touch with cute boys.

A granny, and regrettably I can’t lay claim to that title as yet although I do send weekly requests in triplicate to my daughters, who wants to keep in touch with her children and grandchildren will work out how to SMS, use e-mail, Skype, Twitter and IM to keep in touch. She will become an expert on how to use Flickr, YouTube and Facebook to share the family’s memories. You name the technology, she will use it. Remember that cheesy saying — where there is a will there is a way.

Type the words “seniors dating” into Google: 1,9-million results. So they are not into using computers and the internet? Think again. And while you are thinking about this one, you can also wonder why marketers are neglecting this age group. It’s all about the 18- to 45-year-old group for marketers. They tend to forget that the over-50s actually have the spending power, the discretionary income, and the time and interest to spend it. In the US this market is worth $7-trillion or 70% of all US wealth. We are worth an effort, Mr Marketing Director.

So when checking my brand-new LG Viewty and commenting on it, trust me, I will not neglect to discuss little issues such as whether somebody with slightly dodgy eyesight might be able to use the gadget or whether the camera functionality is intuitive and the menu items easy to navigate. After all, there is still power in us old gals! Oh, sorry, and old boys!