Age Discrimination

In my email today was an invitation from a computer magazine, which invited me to participate in a consumer products survey.  They said it would require only five minutes of my time. So, being retired and without much to do today I thought, “what the heck,” and clicked on the link to the survey. Their five-minute estimate turned out to be about four minutes and fifty-five seconds too long. The very first thing I was asked was my age. After I selected the 60 – 69 year age range that was it, the survey was over. I was told that I “did not qualify to complete this particular survey.” 

Why did they immediately assume I wasn’t qualified to answer their questions? They immediately thought I was some old geezer who wouldn’t know an ethernet adapter from a network bridge or proxy server. Well, maybe I don’t, but how could they know that?  They should have at least asked a couple of qualifying questions before deciding that too many of my brain cells were shriveled from old age. I know some young people who don’t have a clue when it comes to computers and electronics. And these are the people from whom the magazine is eagerly seeking opinions about electronics? 

The survey was biased and the results can’t be statistically significant when the only qualifier is a person’s age. The only assumption I can see them deriving from their data will be which age group is the dumbest. I hope it turns out to be the 20 – 29 year age group. That would serve the magazine right. I have to go now. This is Senior Citizens’ Day at the local supermarket.