Weāve come to a small seaside town
in the south of England to talk to the older generation
about their lives before technology, and how they use it now. I was lucky enough to sit down with a few
of the residents of a retirement community to learn more about
their way of life, and if their values differ from ours in this
modern digital world. Iām Hetty and Iām 93 Iām Gwenda, and I was 90 years old George and Iām 93, I was born in 1924 Iām Margaret and Iām 86 Iām Betty, and Iām 86ā¦ Still a baby arenāt I Youāre just a baby Yes Well I thought it was fantastic! Oh it was different before phonesā¦
you got in contact more, you visited people more,
they came to visit you more. You opened a letter. You had sort of real friends then,
everybody enjoyed one another's company. No it was much different, much nicer I think. I think we lose out a lot with having mobile
phones. Iāve got a friend, and the first day we
met, she sat in front of me at school, we were
both 11, and I still communicate with her. In fact, I wrote to her last Friday! Whatās good about receiving a letter instead
of an email? Well, the friend comes to life to you, you
know, you see what she looks like, see her handwriting,
and you recognise that. It tells you something about her,
the fact that sheās remembered you. Where do you think things are heading in the
future? I dread to think,
I think weāll all end up as robots. Theyāre wasting their life away. Theyāre missing everything around them. People delve into their own world,
and theyāre not aware of the people outside of themselves. If theyāve come to talk to you,
why not talk to you? Why be on your phone all the time? On the bus or on the train, itās annoying! Itās alright for them, theyāve got the
conversation, but everybody else around them is listening,
they donāt want to. This is a dating app, this is tinder. This is a picture of a person, and if I like
that person, I can swipe one way to say yes,
I can swipe another way to say no. And if i swipe yes there's a chance I could
meet that person. And that's how people meet now. Well arenāt they missing somethingā¦ theyāve
gotta result to that? I canāt see how thatās genuine. A 5 minute talk with them and they move on... Iād find something that he did and enjoyed,
and I made sure that I was there! Thereās no technique to it, just chat them
up if youād call it that now.. In person? Yes person to person! What makes a good life is to really
get to know people, and you donāt give yourself completely to a man, until you know it's going
to be something more serious, otherwise, what's
the use? Far better bumping into somebody in the street Do you have a mobile phone yourself? I do. How do you describe it? I canāt do without it! Iām getting into new technology bit by bit. Iāve got a mobile, and Iāve got a computer. Previously I had a brother, who died,
and he left me only a little bit of money, and I thought, what can I buy to remember
him? And that's when i bought my first computer
and I named it Albert. Last year, I had to go into hospital in August
and I didnāt get back home until the 30th December. And that phone kept me in touch with everybody. I enjoy being on the iPad more than the phone
because I can express myself better. If the thing Iām talking about, I can go
on something called GIF and I can send a picture with it. So if somebody is cross about something
I send a scary picture like that. My daughter was going on holiday to
Brittany, and I said have a good journey and I sent a boat going across the ocean. Itās fantastic! Super isnāt it, really marvellous. Have you ever taken a selfie? No Do you know what a selfie is? Yes, hold it in front, take a picture Do you want to take your first ever selfie? Iām not photogenic at all You didnāt smile in it! I know! Do you want to try another one? No It will take a picture of you. My Godā¦ Deary me! You have to smile! Shall we take a selfie together? Good, lovelyā¦ Iāve got the photographs of everybody there,
iāve got photographs of the wife, speak to her everyday, say goodnight to her
everyday Do you ever wish you had this technology earlier
in life? Yes. I would have done more at school. I can learn a language on it you see, if I
wanted too. So, I wouldāve done that. Hmm, yes Iāll probably miss out of that. I just canāt grasp it. Iām gonna ask you one last question,
if you had a piece of advice to pass on to younger people,
what advice would you give people? To keep a friendship, keep your promises
and just love everybody if you can remember, they want you to love them. What advice would you give someone? The same as you did when you said ālook
upā. Loved that! Conversation with people,
if you want to make friends with people, face to face. I think face to face is better than doing
something like that. But then at 93 I would say that wouldnāt
I! Life before phones seemed so peaceful, simple,
and just more genuine. If you made a plan then you had to stick to
it because there was no way of letting them know
you werenāt gonna be there. The values these guys have for happiness are
based around, honesty, keeping promises and love. As simple as that.
This really strung my heart strings. We've lost touch with what it means to be a person really interacting with other human beings because social media has got in the way. It seems like it should be the opposite.