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Middle-Aged Managers, the Forgotten Digital Divide

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The digital divide is defined by the role computers play within widening social gaps in our society, as the condition of one group having an advantage over another group in regard to computers, technology skills and Internet access.

This is usually thought of as being a divide between the white middle class and minority communities; but there is another often overlooked class of nonusers, the middle-aged corporate manager. As computer skills play an increasingly important role in building careers, many have not acquired the necessary technological skills needed to keep up.

Being computer illiterate in today’s high-tech business world is almost indistinguishable from being functionally illiterate. And it’s difficult to believe there are successful people in the business world who do not know how to use a computer. Unfortunately, these corporate managers are mistaken in the belief that they can avoid computers and remain successful in the workplace.

In the late 1990’s, I was hired by a successful direct sales catalog company to design their sales catalogs. The Director of Advertising was in his mid 50’s and had, over the years, had a successful career. He was in his late 40’s when desktop computers first came into the workplace and he had no interest in learning a new technology. He assumed, that because he had never needed computer technology to succeed in the past that he didn’t need it now.

At first he escaped learning computers by joking about the new technology, and later he relied on his employees to write his emails, schedules, spreadsheets etc. Eventually, he became the only company executive who didn’t have a computer on his desk. In his stubbornness not to learn the new technology, he had become a dinosaur.

He resisted and resented learning how to use a computer. At the beginning of every year he made a resolution to get a computer and learn all about it; but he never followed through.

When he attempted to modify a computer file himself, he would hold the mouse backwards. When he didn’t get the response he wanted, he’d slam the mouse down hard on the desk in frustration.

Unfortunately he couldn’t keep up with the technological changes that computers had made in the printing industry either, or how design software meshed with those changes. He would give long lectures on antiquated printing techniques without understanding that his concerns about old-fashioned methods could be alleviated with a push of a menu button.

One day the company was sold, and when the new management came in guess what happened? He was forced into early retirement because he lacked the computer skills and the technical knowledge of his industry. Although he had over 25 years with the company, his skill set was inadequate for someone in his position.

Today, middle-aged managers who have never had to use computer technology before are being required to learn by their employers. Luckily, today there are many resources available specifically to help mature executives learn the computer skills they need to remain productive in the workplace until their retirement.

There are countless Internet resources including “help” forums and computer software learning sites. Continuing education programs at local colleges and universities offer everything from how to use an operating system to advanced spreadsheets and presentations. For those who want to learn at their own pace, in the privacy of their own homes, there are companies that offer self-paced software learning tutorials ranging from learning computers, sending email, using the internet and learning business software programs.

As it’s impossible to have a successful career without embracing computers and technology today, the most important thing is to get started. Many successful people, when they come into contact with a new technology for the first time, consider themselves too stupid to deal with it and fear failure. Don’t become discouraged; there is nothing to fear . . . your computer won’t self-destruct if you make a mistake, and soon you’ll become a computer geek like the rest of us.

Copyright 2005, Video Professor Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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