New Technology
Have you ever said: “I just don’t get that!”
You made a judgment about:
Facebook-“I’m not spending my time facebooking with “friends”. What a waste!”
Twitter- “Nobody gives a crap what I’m doing right now… and that whole 140 characters, and #???? I don’t get that.”
Smart Phones: “I’m pretty smart, but how do I make a call with this damn thing?”.
Linked-In-”I’m not looking for a job, why bother.”
Four-Square-”What’s this about getting points for checking in-Is this a video game???”
RSS: “What the heck is Alltop, a circus?”
Tablet Computers: “You have to know how to turn it on. But the “how-to” is on a pdf file. What’s a pdf file???”
New Tech
I don’t discuss Twitter with friends, co-workers, and peers.. My age group doesn’t get Twitter. Even my wife-who blogs- wonders whether Twitter is not a complete waste of time.
I will admit not being an early adopter, even though I had a chance. ( Hint: I didn’t buy Google stock either….)
Facebook is great for keeping up with my kid’s activities, getting the word out about new blog posts, and getting to know others in the nursing and personal finance field.
And yes, I’ve reconnected with a few old friends.
Linked-In
I get great questions from young nurses on Linked-In. How to become the professionals they aspire to be… Questions like “What needs to be on a business card? or “I hear people say you need to “network” but how do I start??? (look for a new blog post on these subjects…)
Socializing on Social Media is great, but is there a bigger purpose?
Why should you bother to learn new technology?
The author of a recent article in the WSJ believes the less older people adopt new technology, the smaller their world becomes. (the author was in his 30′s….screw him!)
He has a point. I see this in my older patients. Many of them have outlived their friends, a spouse, or both. They drop their hobbies, and are mesmerized by the TV-news or trash. They soon become obsessed with problems, their own or the world’s.
What’s the alternative?
Adopting new technology is difficult. There is a learning curve to everything. And it can be expensive.
Add time constraints, and the big question of “Is this a wasted effort?” and soon you’ve talked yourself into staying in your comfort zone. “FTS, I’ll just go watch Jersey Shore!”
Your comfort zone will begin to shrink.
The hurdle to become competent in a new thing becomes higher and higher until most of the world around you is confusing, stressful, or both.
Think about it. Can you see Grandma trying stream Netflix on a Wii, when the last TV tech gadget she used was the rotary dial on her TV antenna?
If you ignore new technology, catching up may be impossible-it’s like trying to climb a ladder with 3 rungs missing….
Hazards to Keeping Up!
There are hazards to “keepin’ up with the kids” though:
- Your friends laugh at you when you say, “Yo Dawg, howzit hangin?”
- When kids see you trying new technology, they look at you the same way your buds would if you showed up with a new toupee, a facelift, or a red Corvette Zr 1 convertible…
- You are so proud of your new My-Space page, then find out it is sooo old-school….
- Spend hours on your Profile page only to hit the delete key by mistake. Can you say brain stroke-not key stroke?
- You sign up for Linked-In, and don’t get Linked-To…
- You thought you were ordering a chick flick and got porn!
Remembering the names of new tech gizmo’s can be tough. Making ‘em work, a whole ‘nother ballgame.
My Blackberry has never been “user friendly ” or “intuitive” to me and now it’s a dinosaur. ” Daaad, it doesn’t even have a touch screen!”
Don’t get caught thinking new technology is not worth learning.
Learning something new keeps your neurons firing. Firing neurons are much less likely to become dead neurons. Firing neurons beget fresh new baby neurons.
If you’re thinking, “What’s a neuron?” Go Google it on your new iPhone or maybe crowd-source the question….
If you don’t know how to Google or wonder “what the hell is crowd-sourcing?”
“As the TV lawyers say: I rest my case!”
{Photo-credit: brendahallowes c.c.}
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Tags: aging and tech issues, dangers on not keeping up with new tech, learning new technology, new technology and aging
I’m only 31, and I’m usually a late adopter for most of it. I just got my first smart phone a little over 3 years ago. Same with twitter. Same with facebook. Now, I’m hooked on some (smartphones for sure), and am eh with others. As the next generations grow up, it’s going to be harder and harder to communicate with them using any other medium. There’s still a few evolutionary cycles left on most of the tech, but eventually, I think it will be a lot easier to learn and use.
I can promise you there will be new things that you have to decide: “Do I bother to learn this?” things we can’t even imagine now. The resistance to learning new stuff is real. I don’t think responding to every short term swing is important. Fads can tease you.
I don’t know, I have really mixed feelings about all this. I work for a construction company doing their IT. All day long I hear complaints from these guys in their 30s-50s about how they have to use this new-fangled thing called a computer now. Seriously, some of these guys have NEVER used a computer and they are so stubborn about even trying it. They always talk about how they are computer illiterate and don’t know how to do anything, but all I see is a guy that won’t try.
On the other hand, my 70 year old Grandma took up photoshop a few years back and is now cropping people in and out of pictures, removing mustaches and all sorts of amazing things. She taught herself and is great at it. She is selective about what technology she even tries but the stuff she does try, she is great at.
I think it does have something to do with person to person, and personality traits but I also think it has a lot to do with pride, “I’ve done things for 30 years this way, I’m not about to learn something new!”
I agree we all have different natural talents. But being stubborn and resistance to anything new will cause you to atrophy. And those who refuse to learn new things are shrinking their world, whether they admit it or not!
Whether it is technology or other new things, we cannot stop learning otherwise we become stagnant. One of the factors in living a long life is social connections. It can be a s simple as a phone call, or social media. It depends on the people in the group. The best part of the social media craze or technology in general is you can participate as much as little as you want.
There is no doubt our options are expanding. There is a danger of just using technology, and not being interactive in-person with your friends, or peers. That can be dangerous too. Topic for another blog post….
I think the types of interactions you get online will be directly related to the types of connections you make. I rarely get any “Yo Dawg, howzit hangin?” because I have a very professional based audience. The next time a friend makes that kind of fun of you, just point that fact out along with how you are connected to several important and inspirational people that they look up to. Then who will be laughing!
Yo dawgetta…. Seriously I usually “know” my audience as well.
I do have to remind myself how easy it is to get stuck in a rut. Learning new things is a “must” in my mind to not become an ole fuddy-duddy.
Thanks for stopping by, Kristi!