It’s always interesting to see how our elderly counterparts react to changes in technology, culture, and society as a whole. With the arrival of extremely advanced technology in the 21st Century, these reactions have become extremely prevalent. One such field of technological innovation and advancement is in the automobile industry specifically in electric cars (i.e. Tesla). Coming from the age of old muscle cars such as the challenger, barracuda, charger, and mustang, it may be safe to say that our seniors may not approve of the small electric and fuel-efficient cars that dominate the streets today-however, one such 97-year-old man had to say otherwise.
The near-centenarian was introduced to one such millennial vehicle, produced by Tesla. His son, Zac Carmi, had recently acquired the vehicle and wanted to get his grandfather’s opinion on it. In a video posted on YouTube, the elderly man can be seen inquiring about the features of the vehicle, specifically about how it’s recharged. Coming from an era where gasoline ruled the road, he has trouble wrapping his head around how the car is refueled. As you may know, the Tesla is a completely electric car and is “refueled” via a special wall charger that can charge the vehicle in 3-4 hours. The curious old man finally comprehended it, once he had entered the vehicle and saw that it made very little noise while traveling down the road. Electric cars are also very effective at accelerating due to the lack of valves and pistons that need to get going in order for the vehicle to speed up; a process known as “Immediate Power”.
If you’re interested, the video is available below so that you can see the old dude’s entire reaction, while letting his grandson show you some of Tesla’s impressive features
As expected, the 97-year-old man was speechless, as this technology was something completely new to him. The ability of the car to accelerate coupled with the always updating touch screen GPS-system blew away the older man, who was born right as roads were being repaved for cars instead of horses. Coming from that era to a time period where the car drives itself must be completely unreal, and this is definitely reflected in the man’s face during the video.
This is just one instance of how our elderly populace is reacting to advancements in technology, as improvements in cellular, computer, and culinary devices are also very prevalent. It is important that we keep our older counterparts up to date with these new devices, as they often are very beneficial and make life easier for the elderly.