There must be a whole branch of design geared towards older generations. I have been trying to work in this area and have noticed older people are very persistent and will read instructions carefully, but are very hesitant to click and explore things. Meanwhile young people immediately click and interact with everything without any fear but will completely ignore any kind of written instruction.
I was testing a web app out on my dad and he dragged the cursor to the bottom of the screen, which brought up the Mac Dock which immediately confused him and he asked my why I did that. I am not sure how to code around just general inability to use a computer, maybe avoid elements at the edges of the viewport haha.
I've noticed this as well. Ironically, I believe it's because product design was generally worse "back in the day." Normal items you'd buy from a store or catalog could be legitimately dangerous if you operated them incorrectly (electrically powered appliances like lamps and toasters that were not polarized/grounded, for example). So, rather than risk the very real likelihood of breaking your new gadget or injuring yourself, you were better off reading the instructions and only using the device as you were instructed to.
These days, things are pretty much "stupid proof." No matter how many times I insist on it, people my parents' age simply refuse to believe that there is nothing they could reasonably type or click while using their computer that will irreparably harm it. (Yes, of course they could somehow format their hard drive, etc, but there's zero chance you'd be able to do that on accident.)
"I believe it's because product design was generally worse 'back in the day.'"
I don't agree with this generalization. Here's an example: A stereo receiver, even today's A/V receiver, has a certain number of physical inputs. Back in the day, you had buttons on the front to select the input you wanted, clearly labeled. One press gets you the source you want, every time.
Many receivers today force you to press an Input button or turn a wheel to iterate through a list of inputs, a list of unknown size and unknown beginning and end. This is because the display idiotically doesn't show a complete LIST of the inputs at once, or even a moving dot to show you where you are in the list. So you could be one input below the one you're trying to select in the list, but if you happen to turn the dial the other way you'll go through 10 inputs to get back to it. Granted, this is much less commonly encountered now because nobody is going over to his receiver to put a disc in the player, but it was a problem for many years when people were still doing so.
In some cases, older designs were also better for safety. When safety is on the line, the best design (or at least universally-understood standards) often percolate to the top and stay there.
But I also acknowledge that there have been major safety improvements. The other day I rented a chain saw for the first time and was comforted to see the safety brake on it.
Point taken, and I agree. "Design" in general has not improved monotonically in time or across all types of products. I still think that it's like the stock market in that it has, overall, gone "up" over time.
> people my parents' age simply refuse to believe that there is nothing they could reasonably type or click while using their computer that will irreparably harm it
Do you not tell them not to click on links in email messages? That doing so could infect them with malware?
Fair point. I wasn't thinking about that angle. I'm mostly talking about them exploring menus and options in applications. But, you're right that you can cause some damage (mostly to your meat-space self) by clicking naughty links and/or running untrusted code.
I was testing a web app out on my dad and he dragged the cursor to the bottom of the screen, which brought up the Mac Dock which immediately confused him and he asked my why I did that. I am not sure how to code around just general inability to use a computer, maybe avoid elements at the edges of the viewport haha.