Returning to visit Dad back home, when I stepped into the house I immediately found it stifiling. No wondows were open, and the temperature insise was 88 degrees. Years ago, at the insistence of my mother (who is now in the hospital), Dad put in central air, but uses it only reluctantly. Now that Mom is out of the house for a while, Dad shut off the air. Why? “I don’t believe in air conditioning.” We’re now having thermostat battles; I’m trying to keep the house in the mid-70s (Fahrenheit), while Dad would prefer it as a sauna. No, he’s not one to get the chills at what the rest of us would consider normal room temperature, either.
My girlfriend’s parents seel the same way, although they are sane enough to believe that some open windows and cross-ventilation are a good thing. They don’t have central air, and the temperature in their house during the summer is normally in the high 80s. They, too, don’t "believe: in AC.
This is just two examples, I know. No, this does not apply to all senior citizens. I know some in the older crowd really use and value air conditioning. It’s just that I tend to hear the “I don’t believe in AC” mindset voiced far more often by seniors than by those who are younger. I’m curious: why don’t old folks “believe” in AC?
Seconding money. My (late) paternal grandmother had all kinds of issues about wasting money – the Depression wormed into her soul, I think – and AC was on her list, along with throwing out perfectly good food that was just a year or five past its expiration date, and using anything but 25-watt lightbulbs.
Money, plus when people are older they move around less and don’t need as much cooling. Older people also grew up without air conditioning and people are creatures of habit.
I am 49. I don’t have air conditioning at home. If it is hot enough to be unbearable (only a coupla nights a year) I go out to a nice, cold, smoky bar.
Then why aren’t they saying, “It’s too expensive. I’d rather not spend the money.”? Instead, they’re using language that implies they think it’s a false religion.
Yup, money. My folks (some of the biggest cheapskates on the planet) have central air, but only turn it on (if at all) “after 7 when the rates are lower.” (Is anyone else thinking of Miss Daisy?)
Two years ago I spent a week at my parents’ house to help my mom after surgery. I set up a reduced version of my office in an upstairs bedroom so I could work whenever I wasn’t helping my mom. It was like an oven up there. Later I found out that my mom had been trying to get my dad to turn on the AC so I wouldn’t roast up there (they almost never go upstairs), but he wouldn’t because it cost too much. :mad: If I’d known this conversation was happening at the time, I’d have given them a $20 (or whatever) to turn on the goddamned air for a week.
Attitudes get very set in some people. Once upon a time, air conditioning was rare outside of movie theaters. People got used to assuming it was expensive to install and run and no amount of facts and figures will change this conception. They got used to compensating in a certain way and don’t want to change.
Other reasons I’ve heard: “I don’t like the feel of refrigerated air.” “It means I have to close the windows and lose touch with the outside.” “I’ll catch cold.” “It’s unnatural.”
We don’t have A/C. Our house didn’t have it when we bought it, and it’s not worth it for the two months a year that we’d use it. We do keep the windows open and use fans, though.
I’ve noticed that when I take walks in the evening, it feels pleasant outside. Unless I walk to the grocery store or some other place with A/C. When I go outside after that, I immediately feel so hot and sticky. Maybe that’s part of it? It’s easy to deal with the outside temperature if you’re not used to an artificially cold indoor temperature.
I also love having open windows. I’d say my windows are open for part of the day or night for about 8 months out of the year. Having to close windows and keep the house sealed up tight because of the air conditioning would be a real drag.
Because expensive luxuries are morally wrong, denoting decadence, waste, sloth, and eventual ruin.
Everyone has moral issues with something like that, I think. I don’t believe in having a DVD player in the car. My mom doesn’t believe in belonging to CostCo (or in AC, or in dryers). Some people (like me) don’t believe in letting their daughters have Barbies. Lots of people don’t believe in throwing tin cans away or owning SUVs. Quite a few Dopers don’t believe in declawing cats, wearing shoes in the house, or hanging toilet paper the wrong way.
The money thing is a big one, but to echo a post above - the way it feels outside in warm weather if you’ve been in AC.
If the senior in question gardens like my mother does (age 77) then going outside to tend the garden after being in the AC is an ugly proposition. THat’s actually the reason my mother cites for not wanting AC in the house, though I know money is a factor as well.
The first house I owned did not have AC, and when I would get home after working in an air-conditioned office all day, I spent 45 minutes laying across the bed in my skivies under a ceiling fan in melt mode.
Also growing up in a house (Mom’s house) without AC and I can attest to the fact that going into it occassionally causes you to have to climatize as well. I can remember vividly thinking I was going freeze to death trying to sleep in an airconditioned hotel room on a high school field trip.
It’s a body temperature thing, if it’s not a money issue. Ma does something and she’s hot. 30 minutes later and she’s complaining it’s so cold. The thermostat is the same the whole time at 75F.
This 80 something lady she is getting sick of helping, runs the air and heat alternating everyday, regardless that it’s summer. She complains about the utility bills all the time, but it doesn’t stop her.
My grandparents never used it either. They were from a small Brazilian town and never had it until they were in their 70s. My dad bought them a window unit and to the best of my knowledge, it was never used. My grandmother isn’t all that fond of it when she visits my folks either and she won’t turn it on in the room she sleeps in.
My mom doesn’t use it all that often either and only uses it on nights where it is in the 80s. My dad on the other hand thinks it is the greatest invention of the 20th century and likes to keep his space the same temperature as a meat locker.
My grandparents (in their early 90’s) until recently lived in a small house with no central AC. In the summer on hot days they would keep all the windows closed and pull the shades down “to keep the house cool.” It was like a coffin – hot, humid, stale air. Grandma wouldn’t even let us use the ceiling fan! “It just wastes electricity!”
At my grandfather’s urging, my uncle bought them a small AC window unit for their living room. Grandpa loved it, except that grandma would never let him use it. She’d let him put the fan on “low” but not turn on the A/C - just the fan!
Last summer I was staying with them for a few days and my young kids were hot and sweaty and grumpy, so I turned on the air conditioning. Grandpa was happy – until Grandma walked in. “Why do you have that on? All it does it blow cold air!!” I didn’t point out that that is exactly what it’s supposed to do.
Anyway, I think it’s about the money. Grandma uses tea bags several times before throwing them away, too. And you only get one ice cube in your drink! Don’t ask for another!
This is actually one way to keep things cooler (than they would be without AC) that used to be done more often. Keep everything tight as a drum, heavy curtains on the windows to keep the sun out, and it takes a lot longer to heat up the inside of the house. The trick is to open it up at night, after the sun has gone down, to air it out and let the cooler night air in. Seems a lot of people forget that part!
And when it melts, we’ll refreeze it and use it again!
Thrift is what made this country great and it’s why we aren’t in the poorhouse (yet)! Save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves! And get off my lawn!!
While it’s true that our current crop of fogies remember the Depression, there’s not a doubt in my mind old people feel cold more than heat.
Really old people tend to be thin; my grandmother’s retirement home is full of old birdlike women and tall, thin men. Simply put, fat people don’t usually get really old; they die before they can. So you’ve got old people who are thin, have slowed matabolisms, aren’t very physically active, and are just more frail and weak than you are. It’s to be expected that they’ll always think it’s cooler than younger people do.
