Why are the elderly so afraid of Uber/Lyft?

[Anonymous]

I’m on a travel FB group and there are always older people asking how to get from A to B, and whenever Uber is proposed, they have 100,000,001 reasons why they won’t work for them, but they would be open to taking a cab.

One is currently asking if she should RENT A WHOLE CAR to drive from the airport to the cruise port, all in the same morning. Someone suggested Uber and they said no.

Why? And it can’t simply be that they are “scared of change”, can it?

[Anonymous]

You have to use an app, and most older people don't know how to.

[Anonymous]

How old are you? I’m 40 and hesitant with Ubers, I grew up taking cabs and both grandfathers drove cabs. Cabs were regulated.

Uber you are essentially trusting a random person who may have a significant criminal history to get you from point a to be without direct oversight and management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to use an app, and most older people don't know how to.

Evidence of this? I find this hard to believe as someone with an agoraphobic mother who is terrified of technology but will learn to use it if she needs to (Spotify app, Amazon app, etc.) The Uber app is very user friendly.

[Anonymous]

The App and Stranger Danger. They were raised with taxis and feel taxi drivers are vetted more, so they feel safer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are you? I’m 40 and hesitant with Ubers, I grew up taking cabs and both grandfathers drove cabs. Cabs were regulated.

Uber you are essentially trusting a random person who may have a significant criminal history to get you from point a to be without direct oversight and management.

Clearly you don’t know anything about Uber.

[Anonymous]

It is that simple, OP. They are scared of change. My 74 year old parents have a smartphone they hardly ever use, and they've never ordered or paid via an app: it feels utterly alien to them. They're happy to climb into Uber or Lyft if someone else orders one. But I don't think they will ever want to deal with the app themselves.

Meanwhile my 85 year old Godparents run around using all sorts of apps and having all kinds of adventures. They're a lot more in the know and willing to learn new things. Not sure my parents will live to see their 85 birthdays in such good mental shape!

[Anonymous]

You have to install an app and give all your information. They've heard horror stories about info hacks/leaks. They have also heard horror stories of Uber drivers assaulting people. The drivers seem less career oriented than cab drivers, like its a side gig or temporary. These are reasons I can imagine would bother people, I do use Uber myself. I've only had one bad experience with an uber distracted driver who almost wrecked, out of many safe/easy rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are you? I’m 40 and hesitant with Ubers, I grew up taking cabs and both grandfathers drove cabs. Cabs were regulated.

Uber you are essentially trusting a random person who may have a significant criminal history to get you from point a to be without direct oversight and management.

You can’t really be over 40.

[Anonymous]

Think of this way:

Do you commit, OP, to learning all the new AI, 3D life-integrated tools when you're a senior?

Will you work the new-fangled methods with confidence and poise instead of feeling completely at sea? Like the one where you wave your finger just so in the air to order a cheeseburger and fries, or a plane ticket to Paris, or sign a reverse mortgage? Sorry, there's no pen and paper anymore. You'll need to make this little jabbing motion to confirm your payment, and the camera knows how to retrieve your money when it identifies your eyeball. Look in the right direction when you're jabbing your finger, otherwise the transaction won't go through! How can you not understand this??? Your kids and grandkids are so ashamed of you! What, you have cataracts and can't see the invisible screen hovering in front of you? You've lost all depth perception? Eww, that's such an old person thing. Everyone is so annoyed with you. Oh look, you ordered ten thousand dildos to your house by mistake. You should have controlled that finger tremor. Clearly demented. Off to the home with you.

[Anonymous]

Uber's safety reports have cited thousands of reports of sexual violence and misconduct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to use an app, and most older people don't know how to.

Evidence of this? I find this hard to believe as someone with an agoraphobic mother who is terrified of technology but will learn to use it if she needs to (Spotify app, Amazon app, etc.) The Uber app is very user friendly.

DP
They are correct and how you haven't noticed this is surprising. Maybe you should give your mom a lot more credit. This is really common, even with people decades younger. I would be floored if my mom ever used Spotify or Amazon or uber. She would text me a picture she takes of her screen with her phone (not a screen shot) to have me order it for her on Amazon. She's not afraid of technology but there is some mental block. She is brilliant about her career subject matter, which is above most people's comprehension, but it kind of stops there.

[Anonymous]

If they think taxis are safer they are living in the last century. Last cab I tried to use never came despite prebooking then calling company. Last can I used driver reeked of bourbon.

They are afraid to learn the app. They don't have PayPal to use as payment. They won't learn how to verify car, call for help if ride unsafe.

Screw em. I am 75 and use rideshare. What are they rubes who never used computers for work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Think of this way:

Do you commit, OP, to learning all the new AI, 3D life-integrated tools when you're a senior?

Will you work the new-fangled methods with confidence and poise instead of feeling completely at sea? Like the one where you wave your finger just so in the air to order a cheeseburger and fries, or a plane ticket to Paris, or sign a reverse mortgage? Sorry, there's no pen and paper anymore. You'll need to make this little jabbing motion to confirm your payment, and the camera knows how to retrieve your money when it identifies your eyeball. Look in the right direction when you're jabbing your finger, otherwise the transaction won't go through! How can you not understand this??? Your kids and grandkids are so ashamed of you! What, you have cataracts and can't see the invisible screen hovering in front of you? You've lost all depth perception? Eww, that's such an old person thing. Everyone is so annoyed with you. Oh look, you ordered ten thousand dildos to your house by mistake. You should have controlled that finger tremor. Clearly demented. Off to the home with you.

I think I love you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to use an app, and most older people don't know how to.

Evidence of this? I find this hard to believe as someone with an agoraphobic mother who is terrified of technology but will learn to use it if she needs to (Spotify app, Amazon app, etc.) The Uber app is very user friendly.

DP
They are correct and how you haven't noticed this is surprising. Maybe you should give your mom a lot more credit. This is really common, even with people decades younger. I would be floored if my mom ever used Spotify or Amazon or uber. She would text me a picture she takes of her screen with her phone (not a screen shot) to have me order it for her on Amazon. She's not afraid of technology but there is some mental block. She is brilliant about her career subject matter, which is above most people's comprehension, but it kind of stops there.

This is it for both of my parents. There is some mental block at the concept of an app and probably trust issues about security. They use email and FB, logged into, not via app, and have no intention of using apps in general. Both were highly successful in their respective careers and are very intelligent.