It is “hard to understand” — all the more reason to make an effort. There are some “old ways” that are significantly different in outcome as well as in action. E.g. I have a friend who writes me letters by hand and I return correspondence in the same manner. I have found it slows me down and what is written is very different than it would be if I typed. It takes more time but it is time really spent with the person I’m writing to and with myself thinking and writing slowly. What ends up in the mail reflects that and I often discover stuff in the process.

Everything else I do is digital, and it is not the same, and it is not necessarily better.

A minor correction, Omar. I believe it should say “I’m 62 years young.” I also must send props your way — it’s great that you are willing to learn new technology. My dad is your age and has no interest in technology, whatsoever. He doesn’t even have an email address.

As I have mentioned before, part of my job entails teaching 5th graders Math. Even the text book companies for elementary students have made the books available online. I always encourage my students to access the textbook online versus lugging their heavy textbook home when needed. I think e-books, as an option, are a great idea.

I like the point you make about how it’s useless to try and teach your father something beyond what he’s comfortable with. I think slowly exposing people to technology, and then giving them hands on experience, can help them become more comfortable with and thus more willing to learn.

I enjoyed reading your comment very much. You have the ability to absorb your readers into your subject. If you are not a writer, you should consider the possibility. Great post.

My mother, who’s the same age, has always been a technophobe, refusing even to get a microwave long after they were common household appliances. The only thing she does on a computer is type her letters on an old DOS machine running Wordstar which my Dad set up for her. It’s set up so that a batch file runs and starts up Wordstar for her automatically. Recently the machine went toes up, and there was a minor crisis in the family to try and find her an old 386 machine. Thank God for eBay.

I am middle aged, but have four computers, one a Mac, one running Vista, and two XP machines. I live alone but have wireless set up, with a printer and a DVR on my network. I’ve hacked a DVD player to play Region 2 disks, figured out the bittorrent thing, and have posted videos to YouTube. I’ve played around with HTML, enough so I can set up a website for a group that I belong to, and have two blogs. I frequently try new software just to see if there’s anything I can do with it that would make my life easier or more fun.

Of my siblings, I definitely use the most new technology, but they all use computers and digital media in some fashion or another. Only one of them is a technophobe, using his computer only for email, word processing, and web surfing. He gets easily shook up when he’s got to learn a new operating system — even though the changes from 98 to ME to XP to Vista have been for the most part, only cosmetic. I had to send him step by step instructions for how to add an attachment to an email, which he tells me he refers to all the time! I would have to say, however, that he, like my Mom, is slow to learn technical things, and without any obvious reason to try new things, just doesn’t see the need to make an effort.

For example, I figured out how to use HTML because I needed to make a website. I figured out the bittorrent thing because I was keen to see a BBC show that wasn’t available on these shores. I figured out how to hack my DVR so that I could take its recorded shows and burn them to a DVD. I must say, however, that there are three things one needs in order to do this: a strong desire to want to do them, time to spend searching for software and explanations of how to do these, and patience to be able to sort through vague or poorly written how-tos and to put up with snotty remarks on user forums. Not everybody has that amount of time and patience, even if they might have the desire. I would argue that youths have plenty of all three ingredients, whereas older folks are either busy with their day to day responsibilities (raising a family and earning a living to support them) or have long since learned that all things new and shiny aren’t always neat, and they certainly aren’t the most important things in life. It’s all a matter of perspective, and those who would laugh at older people for failing to “keep up”, are only demonstrating the eternal truth that only with age does one get wisdom and maturity.

As for eBooks, well, I’ve used them, but still prefer to read something printed on paper. I agree that it is a boon to be able to get college textbooks as ebooks that can be readily stored on a computer, however, I could not imagine trying to grasp the material in them solely by reading it on a screen. I still haven’t found anything equal to the portability of the printed sheet, and the ability to page back and forth when trying to comprehend a complicated concept. For example, trying to use references when reading a text that’s heavily annotated with them is a pure pain in an eBook, even if the references are all linked. It is too easy to lose track of where you started from. It’s not all that easy in a printed book, either, but as long as your don’t run out of fingers you can always retrace your steps to get back to where your original question started.

When I really need to study out an equation or a proof, I need it printed on paper so that I can put it right in front of my nose and stare at it, and scribble notes in the margins. eBooks cannot replace this experience, which seems to be the only way I can learn things. Reading a novel, by comparison, is pretty much a linear progression from one end of the text to the other, and apart from the constant need to recharge batteries, is a reasonably adequate experience on an electronic device.

At work we all refer to the National Electric Code frequently. We have it both in eBook form and in a hard copy. Although the eBook version is easier to search in, we use the hard copy when trying to page back and forth between widespread sections as we try to interpret exactly what some of its obscure or opaque text is trying to say in a practical sense, and how it should be applied to our real life situation.

Computers have revolutionized engineering drawings, and no engineering shop would dare be without AutoCAD (or something like it). However, there still isn’t a computer screen big enough to properly display a complicated drawing allowing those who are looking at it to take in all of the information it contains. Whether several people are discussing a design at a meeting, or whether the construction tradesmen are trying to assemble a piping run or wire up a control panel, there isn’t a computer screen that affords the scope or the portability that a single paper copy of the drawing provides. And you certainly can’t scribble notes on anything displayed on a computer screen.

It really depends on what people are willing to invest time in. If you’re not interested, it becomes very challenging as you don’t use new technology every day. Especially if you want to do it well. Not doing it well could mean losing your emails, pictures and online bought music due to a hard drive crash – the people this happens to are very likely to be discouraged from going digital again imo..

I also prefer physical CDs or DVDs to digital content. Because … most of the times i will be paying around the same and a physical media is something “seeable” so the little diference compensates the “extra”.

On the digital photos … i fully adapted a very long time ago. I already bought a lot of digital cameras, and intend to continue. I rather print any photos, and those i remember we’re to make large posters.

My boss wastes full loads of paper as he can’t read almost anything on screen. Sketches of works, emails, everything must come printed in paper and they also archive copies on paper. And we’re talking about a person who spent this year about $2500 (in euros) in a Desktop pc … to gather dust around … as he barely can use a mouse.

This and the following comments remind me of my 80 year-old grandmother’s doctor’s advice to her to stop smoking after 65 years. My response to him was “Why?”

These people are not “struggling” they have adapted the technology to suit themselves and functioning quite well without any further changes than necessary. A recently retired executive, asked me if he should finally break down and buy a computer. I asked him “To do what?” He didn’t want to do anything it made possible. He donated his cellphone, threw away his answering machine, and went about life as he chose to do.

There are others, both young and old who are eager to climb into the newer technologies. But, if you have been around awhile, you quickly see that is an endless treadmill. Many of the comments above sustain this endless pursuit of the latest and greatest new device or technology. If you old tapes still provide you pleasure, why replace them. Better is a relative term.

These “struggling” people you refer to simply prefer different choices, neither better or worse than yours.

Have a great Christmas, folks.