Observations

Out of all the people I encounter throughout the course of an average day, I am most fascinated by the individual that does not understand technology. And while currently that is very uncommon to come by, I always enjoy observing these people. Watching them figure out how to enter a number into their cell phones or composing a text message. My personal favorite is the man or woman that cannot seem to figure out how to operate their personal computer.

“What’s email,” and “If I press this will that fix it,” are both common phrases you can expect to hear from them. I guess it makes me wonder what I would be like if I was not as technologically well informed as I am. What on Earth would I be like if I did not know how to send an email or respond to a text message. It is a scary thought really. I always wonder what the people who are not as lucky as me do for a living. And while most of the time it is an older individual that I observe, a young person tends to sneak into the mix every once in a while. How can a 23 year old survive in this society, economy, or world without knowing at lease the basics of how to use our current technology? Something as simple as picking up the phone can be terrifying to these people.

Cell phones are one thing, however. The people that I have the most fun watching are those that are clueless when it comes to operating their laptop computers. We have all see the ones that, once they get their PC fired up, lean in and position their face only inches away from the screen. I have never understood this and often times wonder why this happens. Will they absorb the knowledge that is contained on the device faster because their face registers the information faster than their brain? It is my personal belief that each city, town or province should hold town meetings and give their citizens Computer 101. Because like it or not, its here to stay and each and every day people get further and further behind. Leaving the rest of us to catch them up when they need to access something electronically. Do not get me wrong; I am not complaining. Just intrigued by this.

I spent a good bit of my youth teaching my mother how to change the channel or set something up to record on TiVo and after a while, she got it. Repetition is the key apparently!