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It used to be said that the young would look to their elders, and some would state "those wiser", for perceived guidance when problems regarding fitting into society would occur.  But recent research has shone the spotlight on how a change of attitude was taking place when the focus of attention was aimed at the use of the modern phenomena of technical devices especially with regard to the vital issue of tech support within today's world.

The source for this change of attitude is covered by a survey carried out on behalf of our knowledge-harvesting friends at Kaspersky.  Realising that the older generation, those of us aged 55 and older, were being left behind when it came to an understanding of technology awareness, Kaspersky set about surveying 2,000 nationally representative adults, aged 17+, through the offices of Arlington Research.  Not just restricted to the UK, this research was carried out in 12 other countries with a total of 11,000 interviews being conducted. 

The results of the survey revealed, not unexpectedly, that the older generation often looked to younger family members for any tech support that they felt they required.  Of those questioned during the survey, around 33%, of the over 55-year old participants, considered themselves to be tech novices who, on a daily basis, would be faced by problematic tech challenges that would require support from a third party that would consist of younger family members who were on hand and available to provide assistance. 

When faced by such challenges, four out of ten, aged 55 and older, confessed to using the family help line and would call it for assistance from the young to deal with the problem,  In some cases, approximately 7%, indicated that bribery could be used to ensure they got a better responsive action from the helper who would be asked "Can you just?". "Fix the Internet" or "Secure my online banking app?" questions that were worrying those of the older generation.

Digging deeper into the results of this survey revealed that 32% of the older generation described technology as being empowering, as it had the effect  of making them feel liberated, although they still suffered from FOMO (a fear of missing out on what was on offer) through a lack of a deeper understanding of knowledge about the tech and related issues.  A surprising 19%, of older respondents questioned, admitted to having more confidence in the support they received, bribery issues aside, from their children than  that available from a professional company provided service. 

Whether dealing with family or company support, the majority of those over 55 years were ready to admit to requiring  at least one technical cry for help for tasks that included router security, installing cybersecurity or dealing with virus attacks.  Can you but wonder than 60% of those over 55s are maybe less than confident that all their devices are up-to-date with regards to security issues?  Just ask the nearest child, as they probably know best and can offer the support required to provide the correct solution!

https://usa.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2019_tech-support-burden-on-younger-generation