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Why are older people more gullible?
I am amazed to read that the victimes of most scams ( not just phishing ) are older people. This contradicts logic that the older you are the wiser you get due to more experience. So why are older people so much more trusting then younger people? I suppose a certain percentage may be due to senility, but there must be some other reason.
In a word *irrationalism* the deliberate rejection of reason as their ONLY means of gaining their knowledge.
You are right about why older people are easier to scam than younger, it is because they have found a state of mind some of them call the comfort zone, and they are easily fooled by people who know how to manipulate these created minds.
I think older people are also less familiar with technology. My parents don't touch computers...Cable television and cordless phones are pushing their limits.
Also, some older people figure if its on paper than it must be real. They don't realize how easy it is to create fake business cards, references, etc.
Plus if scammers target older folks more than other groups, it makes sense that the percentage of those falling for the scams would be significant. Older people have more to lose (therefore scammers have more to gain) than many younger people who are just starting off in life.
This is not true. You have made a general case from a single particular one: a fundemental philosophical problem. Consider.
- Old people have more money and are therefore the targets of scams which do not affect younger people.
- Old people have more bank accounts, savings, trust funds, property ad infinitem..
- Some old people are less used to IT than young ones that have been taught how to use them from early school (your example was phishing).
- Older people are not more trusting than younger people. It might be said that, as old people are more used to loans and purchasing they are more vulnerable as these are not novel. A young person might never have had any financial dealings are are more wary becasue they are in ignorance: it is the very experience of old people that makes them vulnerable.