Your Computer Is Only as Good as What You Can Make It Do: Choosing and Using Your Computer or Cell Phone

 

We Have the Power of a Mainframe

Computer at Our Fingertips

Today’s computers and even your cell phone are very fast and very powerful.  What you can now hold in your hand, has the same computer power as computers that used to fill several rooms.  Suffice it to say, that today’s computers and cell phones can perform any task you need.

 

What computer should I choose?

 

How and where are you going to use your computer?

Is portability important?

Do you need a large screen or is a hand held device what you need?

 

 

Computers Have Gotten Easier to Use

If you are patient enough, you can set up your computer to do most things by following your voice commands.  It will even type what you say.  If you can type with two fingers, you can master your computer.

Computer Basics Are Quick and Easy to Learn

Did you know you can learn all the basic skills you need to be the master of your computer system in one hour?  You will quickly begin to feel comfortable with your computer.  In less than 15 minutes, you will send your first email.

 

Imagine being able to initiate a video call with your favorite grandchild.

 

You Are NOT Going to Break Your Computer

 

 

 

So, with a bit of patience, you can learn to playfully try new things on your computer.  If you don’t get the result you want the first time, simply try again.  You will soon have a friendly assistant.Short of spilling your coffee or smashing your computer in frustration, you cannot break your computer.  No matter how lost you become, starting over is as easy as powering your system off and on.

 

 

 

 

 

Technology and Aging-Adapting To Change

Things have changed greatly in the last 200 years.  We have gone from people groups that are largely confined to one geographic location, to individuals who traipse across the globe at high speeds and for various reasons.  We’ve been to space.  We no longer depend upon our own feet or the feet of animals to travel.  We do not need to be in the same room in order to communicate with someone else, or even write something via a paper letter with envelope.  Technology has come a very long way in areas of convenience, but also in areas of need.  Medical advances are remarkable when you consider what even one disease would do to people 75 years ago.  In those days, if you were diagnosed with cancer, it was a certain death sentence.  Now, cancer survivors are numerous.  Technology has made many beneficial changes to our lives, but it has also come at a price.  Those who are younger do not understand the price that has been paid, because they do not remember what life was like before.  They speed headlong into the “biggest, newest, greatest” without understanding the implications.

Somehow, though, those of us who are aging are still here despite all these changes.  We can resist the change by not using any new technology, but it will come at a higher price to us and our families.  We can say that we’ll not learn to use a computer or even a smart phone, but we will miss much of what is going on in our grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s lives if we do.  Adaptation to change, as well as resistance to change both come with high prices, so we need to have some guidelines in place in order to decide which things we’ll take a stand on & which things we’ll decide to be flexible and learn from.

One of the most important guidelines is ethics.  If your conscience is burdened by something that is happening, the right response is to abstain from its use.  For instance, if there is a treatment that is using cells obtained by an aborted baby, and you are against abortion, you would stand against that treatment even if it would benefit you.  There is not much you can do about other people using it, if it is legal, but for yourself, you can still make that decision in the US.  If you are against cloning or even hybrid plants and some of the advances being made use that technology, you are not required to use them.  Your decision not to buy them and your advocacy against them can make a difference as to whether others choose to use them.

Many newer technologies are not necessarily moral or immoral in nature, however.  Take social media.  Its ethical use is dependent upon the person who is using it.  It can be used for ill, in things like bullying, accusation or even human trafficking.  It can also be used for good in keeping up with friends and family who live far from us & keeping in touch with younger generations.   If you decide not to use it because other people are possibly using it unethically, you will also be closing yourself off from several of your friends and family that might truly enjoy having closer contact with you.

Another guideline you might like to set is use of time.  Some newer technologies promise to make life easier, & they can, if you are willing to put the initial time into learning how to use them.  If not, they can suck away your time and energy in frustration.  Decide how much time you’d like to expend while using that technology and stick to it.  Do not allow it to take over your life or it will surely smother out the other things that you used to love doing.

Being adaptable is a hallmark of the human race.  We’ve had to learn to adapt over time so that we could survive and thrive in the environments that we chose to live in.  It does not change just because we get older and would prefer that things stay the same.  Ask yourself today what these changes mean to you and whether you should consider being more adaptable in certain areas.  Also ask yourself which changes you see serious implications with and that you need to warn the younger generations about so that they could potentially avoid some pitfalls that you foresee.  We all need one another, whether young or old.  Adaptability will serve us well as we try to bridge the span between our history and our future.

Understanding For The Next Generation

  Am I the only one who feels like times have gotten too easy for the younger generation?  Times have changed, I know.  I'm very aware of the things that have occurred in the past years.  It seems as though new technology & new inventions have made us less inclined to be able to deal with the harsh realities of life.  These days, even if you live far away from civilization, you have the ability to have heat at the push of a button, start your car from inside our your house in order to let it warm up in the winter, communicate immediately with almost anyone that you desire to & get any kind of food in any season of the year.  The amount of progress that society has made in these ways & in the medical field during the last 70 years are astounding.  If you can get the right diagnosis & get to the right kind of help on time, they can usually help you out in dramatic ways that would have been thought nearly miraculous in earlier days.

Because of all of these new developments, I can sometimes feel as though the younger generation doesn't appreciate how easy these things are, or that they are somehow softer than previous generations.  It feels as though they might not understand all of the sacrifices we had to make in order to survive.  But, really, is it too easy for them?  When I look at the other side of the coin, I realize that they may not have to plant a huge garden in order to survive, or chop wood in order to stay warm, but they have many more things to worry about than we did.

They have to worry about all of the things going on on a global scale.  This is a fairly new phenomenon.  They have access to news from all over the world at any time of the day or night.  Maybe that's progress, but oftentimes, it is an extra heavy burden for them to bear.

They have to work on technology.  A wireless & paperless society surely seems to need much more paper & requires more wires than we were promised.  It also requires constant maintenance & updating & new learning for each new device that comes out.  I don't know about you, but that seems far more exhausting to me than hauling a load of wood.

They often don't have the option of taking a break.  Being accessible at all times goes with the territory in a number of careers these days, especially in business.

Things may be easier for the younger generation in some ways.  They are far more difficult in other ways.  We'll find that we both need one another in the coming days.  We need to learn from them in order to function in the world that is emerging.  They'll need to learn from us in order to not get swallowed up by it.  Let's all hope that we can be gracious with one another as we pass the baton from one generation to the next.