What My Father's Computer Taught Me

My father is 89 years old.

He has bile duct cancer, but he eats sushi and maintains his weight.

The other day, his seven-year-old computer broke, and he tried to buy a new one.

However, the store clerk asked him,

"Do you have a smartphone?"

My mother only has a feature phone and does not own a smartphone.

In other words,

we have entered an era where it is difficult even to buy a computer if you do not own a smartphone.

That made me think.

Are they trying to exclude the elderly?

No, that is not it.

Security and SMS authentication are rational, after all.

I felt the same thing at a coin-operated parking lot.

In the past, a locking plate would rise, and you would pay with cash.

Now, it uses camera recognition.

Cash cannot be used; it is cashless only.

From the operator's perspective, it is rational.

Considering maintenance costs for payment machines, labor costs, and the risk of breakdowns, it is cheaper that way.

However, the bill for that rationalization is...

It comes around to those who cannot use smartphones or cashless payments.

Here, I remembered an article by Hideki Wada.

Is the 'short-tempered elderly person' really just a problem of the elderly?

Society does not hate the elderly.

However,

the rationalization of society quietly excludes the elderly from the standard.

It is not out of malice.

That is precisely why it is hard to notice.

Reading this made me a little scared.

It is not that I am afraid of becoming a nuisance in my old age.

I am afraid of suddenly being excluded from the social standard one day.