Basic Trope: An elderly character who is absolutely clueless about technology.
- Straight: 65-year-old Grandpa Bob doesn't know how to use the computer and has to ask his son Charlie for help to operate even its most basic functions, such as printing, copying files, uploading photos, etc.
- Exaggerated: Bob is 200 years old and is completely incapable of using anything that runs on electricity. He can't even read digital clocks, even though he could read the calendar just fine.
- Downplayed:
- 50-year-old Bob can operate his computer just fine, but not the new smart phone Charlie gave him for his birthday.
- Bob can understand technology just fine for the most part, but has trouble keeping up with internet slang.
- Justified:
- Bob has never learnt to operate with most technology, none of which existed during his youth. By the time the fancy machines are invented, Bob is too old to be an effective learner.
- Bob is Amish.
- Inverted:
- Grandpa Bob is a Gadgeteer Genius, while his children and grandchildren are Hopeless with Tech.
- The computers at a business run on such archaic hardware and code that only the company's Elder Employee knows how to fix them.
- Charlie asks his grandpa Bob "What Are Records?"
- Subverted: Grandpa Bob slowly learns how to use his computer and smartphone, and the other technologies he has.
- Double Subverted: By the time Bob has mastered them, the technology has become obsolete, and Bob struggles to understand the newer tech.
- Parodied: Every single person loses their ability to operate technology the moment they reach retirement age. It doesn't matter if they were a Gadgeteer Genius before, they will completely forget everything about the knowledge the moment their birthday arrives.
- Zig Zagged: Bob can operate the computer, but he can't use the smart phone. But then he gets a new phone that matches his computer's OS, and he can use it just fine. Until the company launches a new software update that changes all the UI, rendering him incapable of using it anymore.
- Averted: Grandpa Bob is just as tech-savvy as anyone else.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Dad is calling. I bet he needs some help with the computer. Again."
- Invoked: Bob decides that he's too old to be learning new things, and refuses to keep up with new tech releases.
- Exploited: Charlie is a layabout who refuses to get a proper job, so he charges his own father to operate the tech in order to get more cash from his dad.
- Defied: Grandpa Bob decides to take some computer courses to avoid having to ask Charlie for help for every little thing.
- Discussed: "Are you sure you want to give your father a smart phone for his birthday Charlie? I mean, he's already 60."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Charlie gets annoyed by Bob's constant questions about technology, which he repeats every few days. This causes friction between the two.
- Reconstructed: Bob realises that he doesn't need the newer technologies to survive, and is content to use the old-fashioned stuffs to get things done.
- Played For Laughs: Grandpa Bob's go-to solution to dealing with misbehaving tech is to whack it with his cane and yell profanities at it.
- Played For Drama: Bob tries to fix a malfunctioning computer without his son's help. Because he doesn't know what he's doing, he gets himself electrocuted and dies.
Back to Technologically Blind Elders.
