All my adult life, I've struggled with Modern Technology and I'm wondering if this is autism related, I was diagnosed as autistic last August and I am currently struggling with adding contacts on my Yahoo mail contacts list via ,mobile phone and I gave up in frustration that I can't work out how to do it.
is it because I'm a 52 year old man and Modern Technology is for the younger generation or is it definitely Autism related?
I also don't understand the attraction so many people seem to have with it
I completely agree with you. I see people spending their whole lives on their phones and I feel baffed, I think what can you find on there that is so interesting? But then when I have a phone in my pocket I end up wasting some of my time on it so I guess it is simply addictive. People feeding an addiction rarely enjoy the thing they are addicted to, that is the very nature of addiction.
I agree that everything is very distracting. I think there is definitely an element that it exacerbates some of the neurological things us autists struggle with, flashing lights, constant distractions, flicking from one thing to the other, absolutely destroys NT minds let alone autistic ones
Hah I remember that too, sounds like we are a very similar age I did O level computer studies too but in the fifth year at secondary school. Our year was the last O level year I think. We had BBC computers and the classic green screen...although the highlight for me in computer studies was one of my schoolfriend's popping a snowball on the teacher's chair and he sat on it. He got into a lot of trouble but was very funny 
No Billy, I just don't understand it. I also don't understand the attraction so many people seem to have with it, I've looked at other peoples faceache and stuff and I just don't see the attraction, I see annoying distractions and I really don;t see the need to look at pictures of other peoples dinners. Nor do I see the attraction of you tube, I know some people find it useful for finding out how to do thngs, but I don't, I find it confusing, the adverts awful, the music accompanying so many vidios makes me want to kill things, so I don't use it at all, I know that makes me weird and possibly unique here, but thats how it is.
Interesting question. I have always struggled with modern technology too but for a different reason. I know how to use it I just don't see it as a valuable or good thing and I find too much time in front of it is overwhelming and bad for my mental health. I think it's actually bad for most people's mental health but sadly the world in general doesn't seem to see that
I think there may be an element of autism to it. I think too much technology and screen time can be overstimulating for the autistic brain
We're a similar age, I remember doing sponsored events at school to try and raise money to buy computers. My older sisters never touched a computer at school but I ended up doing Computer Studies o-level (was the last year before GCSEs) but I had to go to the Tech College to do it.
You're 10 years younger than me and you had computers in primary school?
I'm 58 and from a similar area to you (small town on the west coast of Scotland) and we had BBC Micros in school for us to practice programming on.
I think these were probably the first reasonable priced commercial computer a school could buy so you missed it by aout 5 years from the looks of things.
All this stuff makes me feel so old, I feel like a resurected ancient artifact.
I just see it as valuable learning material from having seen what worked well and what didn't from wave after wave of technology adoption over the decades. The lessons learned back then are still very relevant now at the people side of things.
Using this sort of project management approach (the lessons learned and applied side) has given me quite and advantage over my peers in my career.
I don't like the lack of choice. I turn the data off my smartphone a lot of the time to get away from it. I find tech stressful, I find online shopping stressful, don't get me started on social media... When I went back into education I was forced into getting a laptop and a new phone because everything is online. This came as a shock to an 80s kid who grew up with pen and paper. I was told (in a light hearted way) that I'm not very sustainable as I print everything out because I find it easier to read - struggle switching between tabs - but I had to laugh because the people who told me that get a new phone every year and I had my previous one for eight years. The production and waste of smartphones far outstrips a few pieces of paper! No one sees it though, to them the phone is the best thing in the world.
I agree with this.
I'm definately becoming more technophobic, all these things that are supposed to be intuitive and aren't, well they might be if you have every previous model. I just end up feeling frustrated and disheartened before I even start, wondering what new hell I'm about to have inflicted on me and how much more complcated its all going to be?
It wouldn't be so bad if I felt I had any choice in the it, but any ability to chose is being rapidly eroded, with no real way to to do anything other than get someone else to do it for me, which I don't have, or walk away, which is getting more and more difficult.
Not computers at school, I think I got an Atari or something similar to start with. Good old space invaders or so like that. Although I had an ingersol I think it was called with the games like tennis which was hitting a fit with two dashes. My first proper computer was the good old zx spectrum when it first came out, I think I was at secondary school when this came out.
You're 10 years younger than me and you had computers in primary school? We didn't even have them in secondary school, my school had none at all, the top maths group were allowd to go to the adjoining boys schools to have one lesson a week in computers, it was all hole punch cards back then.
I remember my dad getting a digital watch and a calculator, I remember transistor radio's small enough to be hidden under the bed covers, and listening to Radio Luxemburg at night. I was in my teens when cash machines started to make an appearance.
All this stuff makes me feel so old, I feel like a resurected ancient artifact.
If its any consolation to anyone, I became even more of a "technophobe" after I was automatically deemed a "computer whiz" due to being labelled with Aspergers Syndrome, and being criticised, moaned at, whinged at, and even having threats of violence made against me because I didn't have the faintest idea how to repair someone's computer problem.
https://help.yahoo.com/kb/sln22077.html
I don’t use yahoo but I found these instructions on how to add contacts to a yahoo mail account. Just click on the link.
I don’t think autistic people are particularly prone to technology struggles. I know some people younger than you who are great using technology until it comes to something like adding contacts, so you are not alone. In some ways, using technology is a bit like learning a new language, and the more often you use it, the easier it becomes. Most of the common problems can be resolved by searching online. I hope this helps.
It's not an autism thing, although I'm autistic and am terrible with tech, so bad I once crashed a digital egg timer! I can't manage smart phones, QR codes, or anything like that. I think some of us are digital aliens, there seems to be a prevalent idea that if you're autistic then you must be good with tech, a bit like the idea that is you're dyslexic then you must be brilliant at maths.
You're by no means alone in not being able to do tech stuff, during covid my civil servant son was redeployed to helping people claim fulough payments and loans, he came across lots of quite sucessful businessmen who couldn't do an email and had no idea of where to find the information required to apply for payments. Most of them had secretaries that did all this stuff for them and with no access to thier secretaries they were totally stuck. My son spent hours talking people through the basics of thier computers.
I get fed up of the increasing digitalisation of society, it's getting to the point where a smart phone and the ability to use one is a vital life skill. Nobody helps to pay for the massive increase in costs of this to individuals, I don't care if I can get all the equipment second hand and PAYG sim cards, it's still money I don't have, that's not benefitting me, it's for the benefit of other's mostly so as companies can employ fewer staff and increase profit, or for the use of government departments for obfuscation and catching you out and doing you out of things the law say's you're entitled too.
My hairdresser has to pay for her sons dinner money via an app that needs you to have online banking, if you don't know how to do it then a teacher will show you! My answer to that would be unprintable containing as many f's and b's and maybe a few c's as it would, I mean how patronising and excluding is that? Whats worse is that many areas round here have very bad connectivity, due to things like forests and mountains.
My message to you is RESIST, refuse to play the tech game, it might cause a bit of aggravation, but all these companies do have non digital ways of doing thing as I found out earlier with Amazon. People will tell you resistance is futile but it's so not.
Hi Craig, I'm 53 and quite ok with modern tech generally, although I struggle with instruction books! Maybe its what you've grown up with, I have computers/consoles from primary school age and feel pretty comfortable with them.
