Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

How many times have you been in a room, talking about social media (or even the Internet in general) when the subject of age rears it's ugly head.

I'm tired of the automatic assumption that you need to be young to "get" these new tools. I know older people who eagerly adopt new technologies and younger people who don't understand what twitter is.

At a roundtable the other day, a social media trainer said the "myth of age" is simply not true in adopting new technologies. So when Jeremiah Owyang twittered the following, it touched a nerve:

On several occasions, my older colleagues have been surprised with my lack of fax machine abilities. They are so complex, each is different. Yet, some of them don't know how to leave a comment on a blog, and they email me their comments. Is it generational? can you relate?

My initial response was that adapting to or adopting new technology was an issue of time, training and understanding/accepting the pace of technological change.

• Not everyone has access to the time needed to work with these new technologies. Younger generations have had the opportunity to spend time learning new technologies whereas the older professional has to complete tasks within a certain timeframe and does so with the technology tools they know. They don't waste time learning new technologies, particularly if it interferes with the ability to meet work product deadlines. If you make using new technologies and integral part of their job function, you'd probably have more in the older generation using these tools.

• Training isn't always available. No matter what age level you are at, you approach new technologies based on your life's experience and ability to learn. Understanding how to set up, use and manage facebook, twitter, blogs, flickr, slideshare, tags, del.icio.us, comments, etc. often takes encouragement, hand-holding, and howto's.
  

• The pace of technology change sometimes makes new technologies obsolete. If we invest our time, money and energy in today's technology, what guarantee is there that it won't go under next week, next month or next year.The older generation is fully aware of the ups-and-downs of technology. They lived through the dot.com bubble and before that the Beta vs.VHS competition (played out today in the HD vs. BlueRay DVD head-to-head). Some also remember laser discs. People need guidance on which technologies are worth investing in and they need time to grow familiar with one before being plunged into another.

• Trust is an important part of adapting to or adopting new online technologies. Trust in the strength of the technology AND trust that the technology won't be used against you. Everyone is warned about the potential for online identity theft. As an early adopter of new online tools, I had the honor of having someone infiltrate my Paypal account several years ago (before it was officially part of ebay). Fortunately, the money they were trying to get out of my bank account was above the monies actually in the account, but I was charged for each attempt to transfer money out of the account and that emptied my account for several days. Not fun. Believe it or not, I still use PayPal though I am more careful about how and when I share personal information online.

• Time is money. If you're going to spend money on something you need to know why it is worth the money you spend. I don't think we've effectively made the case for why people should shift their time and effort from the technologies they've known and used for years to new technologies.

Chris Rasmussen circulates the following graphic to illustrate why people should shift from email to wiki collaboration. (There are many versions of this posted online -- make sure you get the one with the frowny faces.)

 
This graphic is one of the best I've seen to make the case for shifting to new technologies. I'd like to see more of this type of presentation.

We wouldn't have so much of a age-gap in the adoption of new technologies if:

• We did better at making the case for the benefits of new technology.
• We incorporate new technology use into job function.
• We provide the time and training needed to get up-to-speed on new technologies.

What do you think?