Technology and the Underachiever

Today is the first day of "MimeofLife".  This blog site is created to share the many thoughts that I have about the "situation rooms" of life.  It will surely spark the interest of some, tap the ideas of others and validate the like minds out there that connect with my sentiments.

My first concern is with computer knowledge.  Yesterday, a twenty-two year old college student asked me, “Why are your computer skills much more advanced than mine?  You’re a lot older than I am.  I should know more than you.”

Her tone was very “matter-of-fact”, but innocent.  Clearly, I came of age several decades before she was born.  My instincts tell me that any one under the age of 40 should be highly functional in the technology realm.  However, does my age determine whether or not my technological skills are competent? 

Technology is no longer new.  It just “is”……  How do we learn to efficiently use computers, cell phones (and all its options), microwave ovens, ATM machines, Wi-Fi, hot spot, social networking, the connections between each, “and on and on and on?”  Who is minding the training store? 

Technology changes very rapidly, day to day.  If these modern conveniences are to make my life better, how do I keep in step with the pace?

Some technological things I never learned: 

    (1) To set a microwave oven to varying temperatures, i.e., low, medium or high?

    (2) The use of “Print Screen” key on a computer?

    (3) The bulbs to use in three way lamps when traditional bulbs are banned?

    (4) How to use computer programs other than “Word” and “Powerpoint”?  

    (5) Does “mechanically separated chicken” mean more than using a machine on a bird?  

    (6) Fossil fuel comes from burning what?

    (7) How to set up a blog site?

As technological mechanisms in the world evolve and change, it seems that with no instruction, apparently we are “just supposed to know”.