The fear of credit cards and ATMs

I have been seeing men in their sunset days for quite a while now and can say that by and large, they all appear to be externally satisfied but, in their heart of hearts, they are a dis-satisfied lot. This arises from their incompatibility with the world around them that is changing at too fast a rate. This is borne out by the ad of mobile phone where the son taunts his father saying that the mobile phone he is using was of ‘yesterday’s standard’.
That is just one example of incompatibility.
Another is the rising popularity of plastic money or credit cards.

Everyone flashes his card for purchasing groceries or to book movie tickets or airline tickets or pay the restaurant bill. Here again, the old-timers are at a disadvantage. They prefer to stand in queue in banks to withdraw money instead of using the ATMs – they have got accustomed to handling bank notes. The very touch of bank notes in the pocket instead of the plastic card gives them a sense of confidence that money is at hand.
Moreover, with reports of cards getting stuck in the ATM or theft of the card and the bank account being looted are matters of grave concern. It the pocket is picked, the loss will be only the money kept in the purse but, when an ATM card is stolen, the thief will ransack the bank account and you will be left with next to nothing.
Mobility is another area of concern for these men and women who are past their prime. Their speed of walking has taken a beating and, even though the heart may be willing, the body does not react as it should. And, this leaves the sunset day crowd disappointed. They want to zoom by on those fancy motorbikes and automobiles –but are stumped by the number of electronic gadgets installed in the vehicles.
To the modern generation, automation is the key to success – robotics is in, manual systems are out. Therefore, cars have a whole lot of sophisticated gadgets installed on and around the steering wheel. The controls of the car resemble the controls of a space ship and the drivers fancy themselves to be astronauts!! (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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