I had been thinking this exact same thought about my ageing mother and the iPad I gave her which someone helpfully soon upgraded from nice 6 to 'flat' iOS 7: suddenly all the cues were gone, the button edges, the hints about what was mere text or label and what was functional.
She could no longer guess whether any element was live or not, and the colours were now merely decorative as often as they were significant.
Gen Zero can learn anything, they can survive on a UI diet of white on white; but, like designing for disability, designing for older non-tech users means it works for everyone, except perhaps Jony Ive and the minimalistas (who may 'discover' this flat dullness is not cool next week or next year anyway).
She could no longer guess whether any element was live or not, and the colours were now merely decorative as often as they were significant.
Gen Zero can learn anything, they can survive on a UI diet of white on white; but, like designing for disability, designing for older non-tech users means it works for everyone, except perhaps Jony Ive and the minimalistas (who may 'discover' this flat dullness is not cool next week or next year anyway).