Out of Touch...

She first noticed it with the touch screens. Nothing would work. 

"Just swipe."

"I am swiping, nothing is moving."

"Look, here, watch."

"Do you think this is complicated? Like I am somehow not understanding the process? Put your finger on the screen and move it around seems like something you need to explain to me?"

"Well, I mean, you aren't doing it."

"No, I am doing it. The screen isn't responding."

That was the conversation, or some variation, each time she tried to get a phone or a computer monitor repaired. Finally one repair shop suggested she use a stylus. They had some that worked the same way a finger would, maybe that would be her answer. And it was. As long as she never lost her stylus she was fine. 

Then the sinks and the towel dispensers stopped working.

You know the ones. The automatic ones in public restrooms. No matter how she put her hands under, around, near, on top of, the sensors they wouldn't work. She couldn't trick them with her stylus either. Sometimes she'd just ask someone to run their hands under the sensor to turn on the water so she could at least rinse off. At least the toilets all had override buttons. She started carrying paper towels and hand sanitizer in her purse and that was fine. 

Until the doors stopped working. 

Do you know how many automatic doors there are in your day to day life? The number of places that just automatically open to you as you walk up to them. You walk up, the door opens, you go through, the door closes. Easiest thing in the world. Except for her. She'd walk up and nothing. Usually there was someone else going in or leaving that she could just drift with, but sometimes she was stuck there waving at the other side trying to get someone's attention. They would walk over to see what she needed, the door would open, and she'd be back in business.

She needed to stop at the grocery store one afternoon just to grab some cheese for dinner. A quick stop. In and out in five minutes tops. Except the store was really empty. It took her five minutes to get someone's attention to walk toward the door to open it. Then the only lanes open to check out were the self check lines. She'd left her stylus in the car so she couldn't use them. Heading up to the customer service desk to see if they could check her out she ended up in line behind two other women. 

"I can't use the self check out. The touch screen is broken. Nothing happens when I touch it."

"I will show you how."

"Do you think put your finger on the screen is complicated and i'm just not understanding it? They don't work."

"They seem to be working for them." with a gesture toward the line of people successfully checking out by themselves.

"Well they don't work for me."

"That's why I'm in line as well, I can't ever get those screens to work."

She lifted her hand, "Me too. I have a stylus I use for my phone, but I left it in the car. So I need a checker. If you want to walk over and touch the screen for all of us, that would work as well."

"I don't understand the problem. You just touch it."

"And we are telling you, that nothing happens. So either you can ring us out here, or you can come touch the screen there, or we can walk out with our groceries for free? That seems like another option as well."

Even as she said it she realized she was bluffing. She couldn't walk out of there unless someone let her out. But it worked. He went over to the self check out and pushed all of the right buttons to let them get on their way. 

When she was done and walked out with a lovely young family who triggered the door just fine she found the other two women waiting for her in the parking lot. 

"When did it start?"

"Excuse me?"

"When did it start for you? Or I guess when did it stop? When did the touch screens stop working?"

"A few years ago. I mean, it was gradual really. It wasn't like one day I woke up and my screens didn't work. They just stopped working all the time. Then eventually stopped completely."

"How old are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"How old are you? They stopped for me when I turned 58."

"They stopped for me at 63."

"I just turned 65. So they would have stopped around 62 I guess."

"Yeah, I've never met another under 60. A few who are still fine well into their 80s though. But 60s seems to be the time."

"The time?"

"When technology just escapes you. You no long are able to keep up. I always thought it was funny when my parents couldn't program the clock on their VCR, I thought they just couldn't figure out the buttons. Now I know the buttons just rejected them."

"The buttons rejected them?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense, right? Designed obsolescence. You've heard of that right?"

"When a product only lasts so long before it just breaks and you replace it with a new version? Sure."

"I think this is designed obsolescence."

"But they work fine for other people."

"Oh no, not the products. Us. They are making things that don't respond to older people. We are obsolete. Life is for the young and all that. I imagine one by one things will just stop working for us until we finally get the hint and die."

"So...tell us about this stylus you have. Does it work on sinks?"