Blogs home Lauren Keith
I am an ageist.
Photo by hyperscholar, creative commons
I keep a running mental list of the strange, time-consuming ways that my professors access Google. While everyone else in class is happily chatting and ignoring him, I watch my confused professor go to the Start menu … find Firefox … open Firefox. Loading, please wait.
My blood starts to boil as he announces to the class that he is going to do a Google search, which sounds like a thinly veiled cry for help. After blankly staring at the computer screen for a few more minutes, he finally finds that elusive Google buried in his list of bookmarks, and 15 minutes later, class can finally begin. I shudder to think how many times this scenario repeats itself on the KU campus, across the country or even in my own life.
Unfortunately, this has turned me into a discriminator. I am an ageist.
Ageism is usually the negative stereotyping against people based solely on their age. Wikipedia frighteningly categorizes it with other elements of discrimination, such as race wars, genocide and slavery, which is light-years away from me (a 21 year old) fearing the technological abilities of pentagenarians.
But ageism has very real repercussions, especially in journalism school. I think I’m on the cusp of some generation, a group of soon-to-be graduates who are expected to know how to use Photoshop, HTML and Twitter but many of whom slip through the cracks because they can’t write well or punctuate.
As KU’s School of Journalism is looking to change its curriculum to buddy up with the onslaught of social media, I have to wonder who will be learning from this help session, the students or the professors?
Journalism shouldn’t ignore technology, but if we stray too far from our core of teaching good writing, we could fail an entire generation of students.
Facebook, Twitter or Google Maps won't stop newspapers from dying. But good writing might.
— Lauren Keith
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9 November 2009
at 10:28 a.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
okay, so which age range do you have a prejudice against? all you said in your article is that you are an ageist and you gave the definition. you never said how old you are, how old your professor is or, like i said, the basic age range of folks who find it hard to google and get on your last nerve is?
please elaborate.
9 November 2009
at 10:34 a.m.
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lauren_keith (Lauren Keith) says…
Mel,
I included a piece of that information when I said “pentagenarians” (people age 50-60). And I just updated to include that I'm 21. Thanks for the comment.
9 November 2009
at 10:42 a.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
okay, thanks for clarifying.
all i can say is, i am gen X: just turned 42 years old a couple of weeks ago. my younger cousin, who is in his late 20s and therefore is gen Y, doesn't want an email address, a facebook page or anything else of the sort because he doesn't understand that sort of thing. mind you, his house is chock-full of technology (XBox 360, everyone has cell phones, their PC has internet— for what i'm not really sure) but this dude started acting really weird, obstinate and defiantly resistant when i suggested that he get a facebook page— after all, it is FREE).
okay, flip the script, my cousin's and my great-aunt (our grandmother's sister) is about to turn 80, has an email address, plays online poker and is NOT opposed to getting a facebook page… i told her i'd try to make it over to her house and would set one up for her.
not that facebook (or any of the social networking sites) is the epitome of technology but i think you get what i mean… i see that kind of stuff in different age groups and i do agree that it is rather annoying. my boyfriend is highly irritated by such things as well, as he's mentioned it rather frequently. lol
i will say, thought, that the boomers are catching up… i see quite a few of them at the library, logging on, ordering things online and watching youtube. maybe i should tell one of those hip oldsters to contact your professor… oh, and i'll tell them to call— don't email. lol ;)
9 November 2009
at 10:44 a.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
(excuse my typos!)
9 November 2009
at 11:14 a.m.
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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…
I need to be driven very slowly to a retirement center. Please make it in a warm climate and don't forget my reading glasses.
Lauren, Damn straight you're an ageist. We all are until we experience prejudice first hand. You think we don't see you rolling your eyes as we ask a “stupid” question about cell phones, computer, television hookups, iPhones, black and blue berries! You think we don't remember how patient we were teaching you how to tie your shoes and wipe your bottom when your life depended on us? How we helped you memorize spelling words and reminded you not to cross the street. How many times we bit our tongues to keep from rushing you when we could have done it better and faster!
I suggest you march your young self in and apologize to that professor. He is doing the best he can with what he's got. Maybe! :) And you might get a better grade if you stay after class and teach him how to use his computer.
All kidding aside, there are quite a few highly tech people who can run circles around people of any age when it comes to anything - you name it! I don't know this from personal experience, but I have heard it exists out there, somewhere.
9 November 2009
at 11:27 a.m.
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RoeDapple (Anonymous) says…
I type about 14 to 16 words per minute (seriously!)
Ask some of the above, I google at light speed!
(A Baby Boomer who savors the moments he can…)
9 November 2009
at 11:28 a.m.
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labmonkey (Anonymous) says…
I would be happy if people came into the 21st century and use debit cards at the grocery store. I hate being in line and see the old lady or even obstinate soccer mom pull out their checkbook and slowly write a check. Use a damn debit card and write the total on your ledger if you don't have or are too stupid to use online banking!!!
9 November 2009
at 12:20 p.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
ronda, beautiful post! you are so eloquent, humorous and at the same time, oddly poignant. i can only aspire to be the writer that you are. :)
9 November 2009
at 12:22 p.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
monk, i used to be one of those debit card afficianados but, alas, i no longer am… i admitedly don't keep track of my debit transactions (i always relied on online banking instead of writing it in a ledger— big mistake!). i now use cash or write checks. i am a pretty fast writer tho— so i don't think i was one of those “soccer moms” who you got stuck behind in line. ;P
9 November 2009
at 12:24 p.m.
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Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
Well, I am sixty-four and know quite well how to use a computer. For the love of pete, it took him fifteen minutes to get into google? Someone this dumb should not be a professor.
I have folders on my bookmarks so I can find anything I want.
This man is not aware of the address bar where you can type in google.com?'
If he is teaching from google I would not have a lot of respect for him as a professor. He probably has tenure so, like the Supreme Court Justices, he is there for life.
Do some research on professors at KU and try not to get in the class of someone like this if it can be avoided.
9 November 2009
at 12:36 p.m.
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justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…
I suspect the author of this blog has a different 'time frame' then he may have. What is fifteen minutes to her is actually one minute in his world. Everything, and I mean everything takes on new meaning as you age. Hopefully respect for the elderly and the intelligence they use to 'decidedly' move slowly will be one that most young people learn.
What is the reason to rush through life? Seriously, so we can die faster! Slow down and enjoy the wait, talk to whomever is beside you in line. And trust that their way may not be your way, but it may be the best for them. Chances are the person using the check isn't up to their eyebrows in debt……..
And now everyone knows what an old bag/hag I am. I'd cry but then you would all think I was related to Marion. ;)
Mel, I hope you signed up to write a novel this month! If so let me know how it is going for you. I am on target….well, err…sorta.
9 November 2009
at 12:51 p.m.
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mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…
I used to write checks all the time, but now rely on the debit card. But I used to make out everything on the check but the amount as I was standing in line. Those who wait until they get to the checkout stand and watch all the items go through before they even write the check are the ones I would like to shake silly. Course the ones who wait to scan their card after all the items are through kind of drive me nuts also, especially if they have trouble with credit vs debit.
9 November 2009
at 12:58 p.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
momX3, i agree… atleast have your hand on your checkbook and pen so that you can start scribbling as soon as that last item is rung up! as for debit cards, they are a big no no for me, as i previously stated. i'm glad you are more responsible when it comes to those little plastic things. and credit cards… what are those? i haven't had one of those for several years now.
9 November 2009
at 12:59 p.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
ronda, yes i did sign up for the novel writing contest and thus far am having a blast! i have a good dent knocked into that 50K word goal, girl… i'm gonna get there! even if i have to type over and over again “all work and no play…”
;P
9 November 2009
at 1:05 p.m.
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Boston_Charley (Anonymous) says…
Not sure I completely understand the point of this entry.
1) A 50-ish professor is annoyingly slow while using a computer
2) Ageism leads to technologically proficient, yet linguistically compromised, journalism students.
4) The writer isn't pleased with the direction the journalism school is taking.
These follow from each other how?
The writer sounds like a cranky old fart. Cranky old fartness has no age limits.
9 November 2009
at 1:06 p.m.
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AnnaUndercover (Anonymous) says…
Great post.
9 November 2009
at 1:27 p.m.
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RoeDapple (Anonymous) says…
She's baaa–aaakkk!!
9 November 2009
at 2:05 p.m.
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Cappy (Anonymous) says…
The best thing about ageist young people: Knowing they are going to get old and there's a crop of arrogant even younger kids coming up right behind them.
9 November 2009
at 2:10 p.m.
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Pywacket (Anonymous) says…
(rolling eyes at the smug and fatuous of any generation
A new coworker some years back informed the rest of us that she loved music so much b/c she was still young—or something to that effect. While highly intelligent, she was very full of herself and certain that she and her generation had invented sex, rock & roll, drama, and angst.
Those of us who knew better (some as young as she) laughed out loud and she found herself trying to qualify her statement or explain it away. As she proceeded to mature over the next couple of years, we chided her about the “music is for the young” comment and she was quite good natured about it. It did not take her too long to realize how condescending and ignorant she had sounded.
She also found that the rest of us were not quite ready for the nursing home. I will never forget going clubbing with her and being hit on by guys her age while she stood there waiting to be asked to dance. Before that, I suspect she thought that we “elders” went and played bingo in the church basement after work.
Don't be too hard on Lauren, folks. She'll get over herself in a few years. We were probably just as insufferable when we were her age. Maybe if she saw her prof in a different light—doing something with ease that she herself had no idea how to master, for instance, she would realize that everyone has different capabilities—and that just because he doesn't share hers does not mean he's hopeless.
Boston Charley~ Your last two sentences are priceless.
9 November 2009
at 2:56 p.m.
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Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
It sounds to me like the professor didn't have any idea what he was going to do when he stepped into the classroom.
He could have given the class a list of things to google and they could have done that anywhere on their laptops.
I am sixty-four, did I say that before? Well, I get pissed at “old people” who take forever at the checkout, or who creep ahead of me in line when I am trying to get it done and out so I can catch my bus.
I also don't see any reason why those riding carts cannot go faster. It does get irritating going so slow.
9 November 2009
at 3:36 p.m.
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rse1979 (Anonymous) says…
What you got against 3's, Boston_Charley? 3-ist!
9 November 2009
at 3:36 p.m.
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JJE007 (Anonymous) says…
Lauren,
I'm afraid you may have eaten too many Soylent Green wafers. I think you have developed Mad Pentagenarian Disease!~) Don't worry. It's all the rage!
9 November 2009
at 3:42 p.m.
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LarryNative (Anonymous) says…
Hey labmonkey,
Debit cards charge the business an average of 2.5% of sales. Businesses raise their prices to consumers to cover these costs. Debit cards may be faster but they are also the cause of rising prices.
9 November 2009
at 4:06 p.m.
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Boston_Charley (Anonymous) says…
rse1979—
woops, guess ageism made me a bad proofreader. Or else I've just gotten way too old to count!
9 November 2009
at 4:18 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
I'm curious if this was a class where the whole class could see what was on the professor's monitor, or if he announced he was going to search and then they all waited for the search answer to come up.
Here is why I choose to mention this.
How many 'other tabs' did he have open at the time that were taking up the hard drive?
Say, had he just started from a bad restart, and his computer really really hates restoring a previous sessions of say..56 tabs?
I know a lot lof you may only open a few tabs at a time, but I've read threads where many people routinely keep tabs open and just reload those tabs with one click instead of taking the time to open them up one at a time.
That reload can take a long time just if they are regular information websites.
Then…heaven forbid, it is a download heavy site. There is probably a better term for that, but for instance, I've been working with some threads that people have posted .gifs on. These threads don't just post the links to the gifs…they actually show all the gifs.
This meaning all of those pages of photos, drawings for sometimes 5 gifs per person, 2x2, 4x5 inches..each thread will grind that hard drive for minutes and minutes. And that is just one thread.
If it has a link on it to another, and another..and they are all open in tabs…
I'm wondering if that professor may have had something going on there was was tying up his hard drive. He's busy working on it before class, doesn't think for prepare it to be ready to quick start at the beginning of class, after all Lauren, he is a man, lol.
If he were a computer instructor, that would be one things, but he's not, he's just a man.
Here is another thought. What you are describing may have nothing at all to do with his age. If may be that he chooses to do things using his own pattern of doing it, his own way.
The way that he may have first learned it, even if someone has tried to show him a faster way. It's the way he is, and you've run up against the same thing him mom, his dad, his siblings, his friends…his wife, his kids…have been beating their heads against the wall since he first picked up a baby spoon to eat.
Nope, he's going to do it his way, the hell with the way others do it. No hurry.
9 November 2009
at 4:46 p.m.
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vanguard3 (Anonymous) says…
Instead of writing a blog, how about set the professor's homepage to google.com and quit yer infantile b1tchin'?
9 November 2009
at 4:47 p.m.
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vanguard3 (Anonymous) says…
Sorry, I must be an ageist, too.
9 November 2009
at 4:50 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
Anyone thinking ccleaner.com without removing his history in case he uses it to access sites?
9 November 2009
at 4:53 p.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
maybe he was just an old fart like charley suggested, mult.
9 November 2009
at 5:03 p.m.
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kmat (Anonymous) says…
Lauren just seems to be an immature 21 year old. I remember my parents telling me how I'd grow up one day and realize that they weren't stupid. Fortunately for me, I figured it out before I was 21. Looks like Lauren hasn't reached that point yet and still thinks only young kids have any brains. Don't worry Lauren, one day you'll be older and brats like yourself will be disrespectful to you because they think you're old and slow.
Did your parents teach you any respect for your elders?
9 November 2009
at 6:02 p.m.
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jayhawklawrence (Anonymous) says…
I have just turned to the age where I can finally start getting discounts at restaurants. I have always loved writing but I also love technology. One of my passions since the mid 80's has been computers and software. I have studied and written programs in many programming languages and currently am learning to program Android phones, all for fun.
After 9/11 I was unemployed and decided to go back to school for a year full time. Many of my classes were writing or computer programming classes. One class was a computer hardware class and I had a lab and a partner who worked as a tech for a Lawrence company. He was about 25 with an attitude and in one class I watched him tear apart our computer with that attitude that says, “stay out of my way old man.”
Well, I knew we had to put it back together. I watched knowing that he was going to have problems and after allowing to sit there behind a pile of parts with a frustrated and lost look I asked if he might give the “old man” a try.
15 minutes later, the PC was back together.
Never judge a book by its cover, or the amount of grey in an old man's hair.
It's funny that this young person is probably still fixing computers for a living. No one would hire me for that job. I'm too old.
9 November 2009
at 7:09 p.m.
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lauren_keith (Lauren Keith) says…
All,
Thanks for your feedback. I don't doubt that there are many “old” people who are great at using technology. That's the trouble you get in with any -ism — it's a generalization.
I'm still trying to figure out my place and my generation's place in pointing out to older people how to use Twitter, Google, etc. I don't want to come off rude, and frankly, I know that some students enjoy keeping silent about how to work the computer or projection system — it could mean that class will be canceled if it's not figured out!
I have great respect for my elders, and I know that I can learn a lot from anyone, young or old. But I don't need to learn how to use Twitter in journalism school or how to do research using Google. Teach me something I haven't figured out myself.
9 November 2009
at 7:44 p.m.
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Irish (Irish Swearingen) says…
lauren I think you wrote a good blog and have nothing to apolosize for.
People don't automatically get smarter or wiser as they get older. Sometimes they just get vain, creaky and obnoxious.
I think people should be respected because of who they are not because of their age. Children deserve respect also.
9 November 2009
at 9:34 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
I love this bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q85rPq…
10 November 2009
at 4:58 a.m.
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grammaddy (Anonymous) says…
Slow down everybody. How much time does it actually take to write a check? Who is in such a big hurry that they can't wait that long. We should all slow down and smell the roses. My grandson is a whizz on the computer, but I can still add up numbers in my head faster. He's allowed to use a calculator in school. I never was. Theres a lot to be said for slowing down a little.
10 November 2009
at 6 a.m.
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jayhawklawrence (Anonymous) says…
I was probably 13 when I discovered that I knew everything.
My daughter started a little earlier.
We are in the phase where I am learning right and wrong from a teenager and seeing myself all over again.
Life is good.
10 November 2009
at 6:08 a.m.
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BigPrune (Anonymous) says…
Banks want people to use debit cards because they make more money, not just from the merchant but also fee income from people who rely on debit / internet banking. Of course those are never up to date if you try to balance your checkbook online and banks count on people overdrafting their account - especially college students. I know, I used to be a banker - no lie. If you notice some of their advertisements - they try to stigmatize people who don't swipe their card.
The smart thing is to pay cash or write a check and try to have patience. Does anyone have any patience anymore? I keep wondering if I should throw my cell phone away. Remember how life was without the cell phone?
As for professor taking too much time, perhaps the young lady writing this blog needs to learn patience as well. Google is a great tool, but the key with google is the words you use when you initiate searches. Heck, just last week, I found someone online after over 20 years of no contact. Nobody else could find them - using google. Took me 5 minutes and there were 5 others looking.
10 November 2009
at 9:47 a.m.
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honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
^^ prune, what you speak is the truth. when my son who just entered college got his first account w/ bank of america i told him to super duper careful when he uses his debit card, to keep his receipts and always be aware his account balance because BOA will penalize the bejeezus out of you if you overdraw w/ that debit card. and, after speaking to several people who had BOA accounts, i realized that this was one of the main ways they make their money. and of course, most of their advertising is centered around the use of their debit cards.
11 November 2009
at 7:39 a.m.
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vanguard3 (Anonymous) says…
Honey,
I had one credit card company, Washington Mutual, sell my credit to another corporation because I was paying off my account in full each month (read: no interest, no over charges). Seems that they wanted to keep me on a leash of dependence. WaMu was one of the first to crash, precisely because the were sitting on top of the credit bubble. Karmic, I'd say.
11 November 2009
at 7:45 a.m.
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vanguard3 (Anonymous) says…
Lauren, pause for a moment and consider that computers are easier for you than for older folks, because you grew up using them. Imagine all of the things the older folks grew up learning as it happened. Don't lose sight of the wealth of information that a professor has simply because he may not use Twitter. I guess the point is that humans amass knowledge over the years from education. They also amass wisdom (hopefully) by living through myriad interpersonal interactions, some good, some bad. Those two things, coupled together, are the tools we use to live a better life. That should be the point of any education, right?