Being middle aged (or older) and using tech

I can speak on this with some degree of experience.  I’m 44 after all.  That age of “I’m middle age” and “when does my midlife crisis begin”.

Fortunately, the latter really hasn’t happened.  At least not in the stereotypical go buy a sports car kind of way.  I couldn’t afford a sports car even if I wanted one.  I also live in Saskatchewan, where a sports car isn’t really practical.

But one thing I love seeing is people my age using tech in unique and interesting ways.  It completely throws the stereotype of “the old dog” who is stuck in their ways and refusing to learn new technology.  In particular, someone like my dad, who not only has a netbook but also a pretty decent laptop (better than mine, may have to rectify that soon).  He doesn’t have a cellphone, but there’s a cost with that and mom and dad aren’t will to shell out the extra bucks for that.  Yet.

I honestly don’t like hearing older people say things like “why do we need things like that” or “when I was your age we didn’t have such and such a thing”.  Well, in the days of carving texts on rock faces, we probably thought “hey, there’s gotta be an easier way of doing this”.  And now there is.

We’ve advanced our ability to communicate so we no longer need to keep a flock of pigeons in order to send people messages.  Now we can have pigeons just for the fine feathered companionship.  Though, the immense piles of shit is a problem.

But when I do see others my age, or older, using Twitter or Tumblr or blogging or posting to Instagram, I think that’s awesome.  It’s another aspect of communication that’s incredible.  It’s even better when those people get excited about technology.  Or go out and buy an e-reader because it’s something handy to have (hint: yes it is because it’s portable and removes the old problem of “which book will I take with me today”).

Babies, infants, toddlers, and preteens get a pass if they don’t know technology very well.  They haven’t lived a very long life.  But we who have seen four decades, we’ve gone through high school, community college, maybe university, possibly college, and we’ve been in the workforce.  There should be no excuse for us not embracing technology and learning new stuff.