Generation Gap

Each generation has their spectrum of technological advances that they
keep up with. Each generation also has a ceiling that once hit, stops their
advancement or picking up of any new concepts or ideas. My Mother can't
set a VCR clock, or work a DVD player. My Grandmother can't read a digital
watch. My Great-Grandmother was unable to work a non-rotary style phone.
With each successive generation's progress, the previous one falls further
behind.
As well as the addition of entirely new devices to the market, existing
ones are becoming more complicated, and require a better working
knowledge of technology to operate. So as time moves forward, not only are
previous generations not catching on to new advancements, they're actually
losing their grip on old ones. What happens to Aunt Millie, who could work
the answering machine that had a tape in it, but now finds they have been
replaced by tape-less solid-state recorders? Or Grandma, who could work
the television when it had a knob or one remote, but is now confronted with
a separate remote for the television and cable box? How many people over
the age of 50 understand the universal symbols for "Play/Pause", that have
replaced the words themselves on virtually all devices? There is an inherent
danger when an entire chunk of the population is allowed to fall behind to
such a degree, that they are incapable of existing in the world they live in.