There they go again -- the media sneers about 'Grandma' and technology

Fast Company marks a trend -- let's stereotype older adults as Grandma.  Rant on. The latest article title was the last straw. Undoubtedly, as with the others, it was selected by young headline writers: "…the next hot market for wearable tech -- Grandma." Never mind that much of the tech wasn't wearable -- this one pushed me over the edge. So I looked around for other examples because I have seen it so many times -- there was the Huffington Post, 'reconstructing Grandma' and Amazon -- 'Grandma Talks Tech (baby boomers take to iPads too!)'. And Popular Mechanics -- 'smart tech will take care of Grandma.'

So very little thinking is in the thought from Big Think. These article headlines are built upon the assumption that older adults of indeterminate age are somehow refusing to use all of these new-fangled thingamabobs. Consider 'Getting Grandma to Embrace Technology' where the URL is neutral, but the headline made a sneering statement. Check out CNET's over-the-top patronizing -- Make any Android easy enough for Grandma to use.  Of course, there was no thought about how Android is not easy to use by anyone until your unique version has been wrestled to the Settings ground.  Then there's the Christian Science Monitor: The aging survey 2013: Technology is a big hit with Grandma (and Grandpa) -- those really old folks that are over the age of 60. Whoa, given the latest life expectancy upgrade, isn't 60 the new 40?

Check it out writers, maybe 'grandma' isn't the right terminology for that great article you wrote? With all of the inherent assumptions in that stereotypical sea, want to know something? Some older adults who might appreciate new technology are not yet grandparents! There are even 15 million baby boomer women who never had any children. Some of them who are, uh, parents of people who have children may not like being called grandma. And yet another segment, grandmothers raising their grandchildren, could be more likely to be living in poverty than their peers and can't afford that so-called wearable tech.

Headline writers -- think more carefully about stereotyping. We regularly see references to teens, boomers, GenX, GenY, and yes -- even seniors.  Those market segment words -- and the references that contain them -- make no value judgment about the sophistication or deficiencies of the subjects' knowledge of technology -- consider Pew's report on tech and teens or this article about baby boomers embracing technology (apparently it had not occurred to PC Magazine that they might be Grandmas). Let's let 2015 be the year in which lack of sophistication about technology is viewable as a market opportunity -- for new readers of standard websites, not stereotypical age-specific editions of publications like the Huffington Post.  Let's see publications like Fast Company -- with a readership that is 61% male, with a median age 42, do a bit of demographic self-inspection. Who knows, maybe they would see more readership among females on the far side of that median. Rant off.