Don't miss out - embrace technology

Chris Northover PHOTO/FILE

When I was young, nearly everyone could use nearly all of the technology in every house.

We could all turn on the stove, wind a clock or tune the radio. Most of us could change a fuse. When the new fangled picture-wireless came along, most of us could get that working as well - we only had one channel, after all.

A fast car would do 80 miles an hour (130 km/h) and wasn't expected to stop too quickly in the rain. John F Kennedy was shot and we all immediately heard about it and saw the video soon after. Then came "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind", and Flash Gordon lived.

Soon technology was speeding by at rocket speed. In short order we all had digital watches and wondered about how they worked - no gears or springs to power it all. Just numbers magically changing every second or minute or hour. Not even a tick. Electronic calculators, then the video recorder appeared. This sorted the sheep from the goats.

Would you vote for someone who was unable to handle everyday technology? But this was unfair - at one time anyone who could set the time on a VCR was considered a "guru". But some of us learned anyway. In the 1980s computers were expensive but it was possible to learn them. People in my situation had to burn many midnight candles to master this new challenge. But we managed - sort of.

Then in the late 1980s along came cellphones. Very expensive and hard to use - and you couldn't get reception half the time.

Now they are much easier to use, have better reception, and are certainly cheaper. Not only can you phone anyone on them but you can take photos, play music, send a text message and even find the way using GPS maps.

The question is: How do you live without all this stuff? Sometimes we just want to be whisked back to the 1950s. No complicated procedures to learn or money to spend on stuff that would be out of date before you got it home.

Steam trains ruled the rails. Want to talk to someone? Just wander over to their house.

If they aren't home just go in and leave a note on the kitchen table - no one locked their doors.

But our kids have all moved away - they don't live around the corner any more. If we are honest with ourselves we know we are missing out on so much if we ignore the new technology.

If the car breaks down in the wop-wops how nice it is to pick up your mobile and get help, or use your phone's GPS to find your way.

Or if your kids are in Oz or Europe, how nice to see them all talking on the computer screen whenever they have time in their busy schedules.

Or perhaps to send an email packed full of news to your dearest, or to see their latest adventures published on FaceBook - along with everyone else, that is.

So many of us still lack "digital literacy".

Just as people who can't read are often underprivileged and miss out on so much, today the same is true for those of us who can't use the new stuff.

Help is at hand.

There are organisations such as Computers in Homes, a group dedicated to increasing digital literacy in the community and helping to buy used computers for those who meet their criteria.

Call them. If that fails, just ask a 10-year-old.