[lacampbell]

I asked him how come he didn't know how to copy-paste. His response was - I am retired now and there's nobody to tell me or teach me. I can see the cognitive decline.

Are you positive that for the 15 years he spent using a computer at work he just wasn't constantly asking younger people in the office to do stuff for him and never learned because computers are scary?

I've seen it before from people who have been using computers at work for decades.

[pbhjpbhj]

I don't want to suggest I'm diagnosing anything, but my Mum taught some computer use as a high school teacher. She ran a computerisation project as school librarian. In retirement she did computer courses and helped w charity at which she used computers often. Then she started having to write down sequences of instructions for relatively basic things (like 'cut&paste an image into an email') to the point of not being able to do basics. By this stage, frustratingly, one could try and teach here very basic things and it was like she had no short term memory at all. She'd go along with things, make the right noises as if she were taking things in, do things as you talked her through it. Then you'd say "right, now try by yourself" and she'd just be lost and not know where to start. The year after (about 4 years ago) she had a mental health crisis, and was diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease (I realise now, her dad had Alzheimer's too).

This progression took about 12 years.