Life Is Fine for an Old Schooler in Seniorville, Thank You
Growing up in the 1950s, I don’t remember ever hearing the word “technology,” certainly not “techie.” My heroes — Lone Ranger, Sky King and Dobie Gillis —never uttered those words. Nowadays, technology discussions are common.
Think about what television, telephones, banking, cooking or just making ice was like 50 or even 20 years ago. Remember home computers with floppy disks and a dial-up modem that tied up the only phone line in the house? Now we can carry a computer in one hand — and it’s a phone line, too! Forget going to the library to research an interesting topic; now an iPad the size of a magazine provides entire libraries and more from the comfort of our sofa.
Not long ago, we’d spend an hour at Figueiredo’s or The Domes Video, searching for the perfect VHS movie for the weekend. Now I just log in to my preferred movie provider and, Presto! I’m watching first-run flicks from my living room. I meet with my doctor over Zoom and handle banking with Venmo and electronic fund transfers. With all the time I’m saving, I can binge-watch an entire season of my favorite TV show in an evening on my wafer-thin, 60-inch television with access to a zillion channels.
My son teaches computer technology to elementary students. They program robots and do homework assignments on the school’s take-home laptops. Third graders are more technologically advanced than I am! Their parents, raised in the tech era, have no fear of computers. They wouldn’t hesitate to ride in a self-driving electric automobile. Me? You first.
I could easily become discouraged thinking how technology is passing me by. Not connected on an hourly or even daily basis, I can’t keep up. Like generations before me, I’ve accepted and am comfortable being “Old School.”
Senior citizens have wisdom, maturity, memories and knowledge gained from many precious life experiences. We’ve learned right from wrong, what makes us happy, what’s important and how to relax. Plus senior discounts.
Robert Cherry, 75, is a contented Old Schooler on Humboldt Hill.
