Old People & New Technology

Ok ... Follow my logic.

[1] Old People don't understand New Technology.

[2] Someday, I will be an 'Old Person'

[3] Therefore, in the distant future, I will not understand New Technology.


This frightens me. You see, in my current line of work, I find myself teaching 'Older People' a lot of stuff about computers. Simple things, like How to attach files to emails, How to resize photographs, and even How to organize Desktop icons into folders. The simplicity of these lessons makes me realize that there is a DISCONNECT in the minds of my elder associates. It's not that they can't understand the concepts, it's that they subconciously choose NOT to.

At what stage in life, and in how many ways, do we make these subconcious decisions that we can NOT understand something that others clearly can? Why is the statement 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks' so evidently true? Could it be our sinful nature? Or our selfish bent? Our impatience and pride? How'bout our addiction to comfort and our fear of failure?

The problem dear Brutus, lies in us. And I realize this is already manifesting itself in my life. PERFECT EXAMPLE ... Html coding. I personally know virtual cloisters of people who do coding/programming for a living. There's nothing inherently 'special' about these people. They're not exceptionally brilliant ( No offense Jeff, Jon, Chris, Jack, Christian, etc. ) or noticeably more sophisticated than I or anyone else . . . they just learned how to code. I, on the other hand, did not, and frankly I feel intimidated by the concepts. When conversation strikes up, I TUNE OUT or TURN OFF. I am selfish. I like my comfort. I hate to feel like I am failing. I am impatient. I am sinful.

The appeal to give in to these characteristics is only going to INCREASE as I grow OLDER. And someday, some young whippersnapper is going to be Re-Explaining to me for the 10th time how to Transport my hologram to the meeting in Tokyo or how to Hyper-hydrate my vegetables for supper. The hope is that by realizing this all now, I'll be able to tell that young punk, "Hey, I've been transporting holograms since you were crappin' yella and I'll hydrate my OWN DAMN VEGETABLES thank you very much!"