Young And Old, Online
from the different-experiences dept
MIT's Tech Review has an article looking at how more and more senior citizens are going online, even if it doesn't receive all that much attention. Apparently, marketing things to seniors online isn't as sexy as marketing to teenagers. However, the internet has been great for many senior citizens to get things done and to communicate with family and friends. The article points out that web designers still need to learn more about designing websites for senior citizens, because most web designers are very young, and have no idea how to design for a different cohort. Meanwhile, in a contrasting article, comes yet another story about how kids have created their own IM-based language which often carries over into other parts of their life. The article discusses how younger generations always push the boundaries of spoken language, but this is the first time it's be affected by written language as well. There's also some concern about the constant multitasking associated with instant messaging, and how it will make attention spans even shorter.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
"This is English Comp, not IM Comp. Spelling counts. Capitalization counts. Grammar counts. Punctuation counts. Sentence structure counts. IM abbreviations do not count. Yadda, yadda, you get the picture. Any questions?"
(A subsequent conversation revealed that "Mr. Old Fashioned" is in his early/mid 30's.
So, yes, there is still hope... )
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Attention span
BTW, FWIW, this has to be the longest message I've sent out in the last 3 weeks... go figure. Oh and all languages evolve. We just have to deal with it!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]