Recycling Me

More than once recently, it occurred to me, that some of us (baby boomers) are a threatened, if not endangered species, despite our great numbers. Moreover, we face becoming obsolete, if we don't watch out. In a world of recycling, it's time our minds became greener, while we also concentrate on our bodies becoming leaner. It's gotten so bad on a daily basis, that I've realized I am now constantly recycling me.

I have to (and so does the rest of my generation) make room mentally for technovations and the use of them almost daily. The learning curve is a wonderful roller-coaster ride. It's filled with exciting new ideas, new concepts, and a whole new secret language -- for which there is no apparent "Techno Speak in 10 Minutes a Day" on the shelves of my local Barnes & Noble.

Buried within that learning curve is another world of rules unspoken. They are the rules of techni etiquette. For some of us, it's a bit like being invited to a party and being the only one who doesn't speak the language. Because of this, I find myself in mental recycling mode, filtering out old ways of doing things and replacing them with new ways, new vocabulary, and new rules of etiquette. New is good and I'm not complaining, just observing and going on record. 

On so many fronts in our lives, the rules have changed and nothing has changed more than simple etiquette in a technological world. Many of us are so lacking in tech etiquette skills. With all of our new found gadgetry and knowledge, that the world has suddenly become an exceptionally "rude" place to dwell.

It's no secret to any of us, that the problems are far worse than this. Just get in your car -- suddenly your life and safety become a risky question mark -- as cell phones, IPods, and text messaging compete for drivers sharing the road with you. You can't go anywhere without being subjected to the sometimes very personal conversations on cellphones. Your ears are bombarded with music belonging to another's tastes, blasting loud enough to wake-the-dead. Still worse, it seems like everyone is distracted, while they tend to their electronic babies.

Technovations have rocked our world in terms of knowing what in the @#% our children, grandchildren, and the rest of the world are talking about.

The first time my eleven year old granddaughter told me, "TMI grama,"when I was explaining all the reasons she couldn't do something -- my ears did a double-take. Not one to let on to a wet-behind-the-ears kid, that I didn't have a clue as to what she was saying -- I naturally kept talking on and on.

Our generation was offered shorthand courses, as part of the California school curriculum back in the 1960s. So, knowing how easy it made my later life in taking notes, I'm all for the many uses of shortened to-the-point conversations to a point. However, learning text messaging definitions of much younger generations is a bit much sometimes.

By my guesstimate, I've already added about fifty of the nearly thousand common text messaging abbreviations to my brain cells. In my marathon run of trying just to keep in the race, I've found sites such as Webopedia: Text Messaging Chat Acronyms and Smiley Faces invaluable.

Frankly, if you are a parent or grandparent, you'd be wise to check out some of the new chat acronyms, especially those to do with drugs, etc.

I'm personally fond of ones that apply to my generation, for example:

• CRS -- Can't remember stuff
• BTDT -- Been there, done that
• DUR -- Do you remember?
• OL -- Old lady
• OM -- Old man

Text messaging has it's own set of technetiquette and some of the following rules of manners apply:

• Think before you add someone to your "friends" list
• Always ask if it is a good time to be texting, especially if someone is at work
• Keep your phone on vibrate in public places so everyone else does not hear constant text alerts
• Keep it short, long text messages are hard to answer
• Don't go crazy with smileys
• Find a more personal way to send bad news

Electronic situations have had some of us scrambling trying to figure out even the simplest devices in our home. It's hard to keep up. Recently, we switched from a satillite system back to a cable system. with our televisions and DVRs.

Even the remote to the new system, was a huge learning curve for the two oldest in this household. They looked similar, but the protocol on certain portions of using it, was backwards to the previous remote. There were a lot of firm and loud sounding words flying around as we worked through it.

What's easy for anyone under the age of forty, isn't always immediately easy for the rest of us over that age. Even here on hubpages, simple explanations about how to add some feature, occasionally leaves me saying, "What?" The knowledge to be gained by some of those, more technically inclined, keeps me young at heart by recycling my mind mentally. I am greatful for all the help that is available online and in awe of how much some of you know.

Now, personally I don't use a PDA, but it's not because I don't want one or couldn't use one. In fact, being the "early adopter" that I am, I raced out bought some of the expensive early ones on the market. Wearing no line tri-focals that don't restore my vision to 20/20 -- I just can't read the screens without feeling some distress after a few minutes of squinting.

So, it's by observation that I make the following points:

• Being asked by young friends and colleagues to "wait just a sec" while they check out some emails, that they got while on the drive over -- seems just a tad bit rude, if it is not business related. I'm not interested in waiting for them to reply to their boyfriends or girlfriends.
• Checking PDAs in front of others, while making them wait, is sort of a signal that either "I'm bored" or "I don't really want to be here with you."

To me it goes back to something more "basic." We all need to remember to "be in the moment" and give other people the common courtesy of "tuning in" to being with them without distractions.

If someone mentions the world before email, I almost have to laugh in memory of a certain high powered executive I once reported to. Like many of his generation, while he understood the need for computers and all the technology that went with it -- he wasn't along for the ride willingly. At the time, I was a market research analyst for a Fortune 500 company in the business of selling information.

This former IBM executive, detested email (I'm not sure why). He assigned me a project to report back to him, on how we could replace email by broadcast faxing. He did not want to hear that emailing, was a superior method of sharing information. He was the best example of the resistance that some of my generation (and those older than us), have had with feeling overwhelmed by learning all of this new stuff.

Personally, I don't want to live in a world without my IPod or email. I have an adult son, my only son, who lives more 18,000 miles away. Email, text messaging, instant messaging, and cell phones allow us to talk everyday. Without them, I'd miss out on all the daily details of both his life, and that of my newest baby granddaughter, Afia.

Whoever the techno nerds were, that dreamed up this device are -- their mothers should be proud beyond belief. God Bless IPods! In time, I think we will all look back and wonder what we ever did without them?

IPods and similar devices are wonderful nerve soothing devices that make the world a better place as far as I'm concerned. They are a must have when you go to the dentist, are undergoing a medical treatment that requires no sedation, waiting in long lines, traveling on international flights, having blood drawn, etc.

Years from now, if my adult children ever pack me off to a nursing home, the first thing that goes in my suitcase, better be the latest and greatest IPod like device invented.

Of course, IPods like everything else techie should have some rules:

• Everyone wants and deserves above all, to be listened to, so only taking out one ear bud, while someone talks to you -- just isn't polite.
• This one is for my darling granddaughter -- "If your IPod is so loud that I can hear it clearly, when you have both ear buds securely in your ears -- turn down the volume."

Blogging is an area that I'm pretty OK with, in terms of the technology part of it. However, I do have some concerns for a lot of people out there blogging. This is just my opinion, but it seem like an awful lot of people are writing blogs that might be embarrassing themselves, their families, or giving away far too much personal information.

My grandmother used to tell us, "Don't ever write anything you wouldn't want the world to see the next day on the front page of the newspaper." Seems like a good rule for blogging, especially public blogging. Do you really want your father, mother, grandmother, and potential employer to know that much about certain subjects, like your love life? It's important to have a sense of propriety and know what is socially appropriate.

Pin numbers, passwords, security codes, and security questions -- when will it all end? Or more importantly, how can we keep track of it all? For me, this is the most overwhelming side effect of living in a high tech world. It's a necessary evil, just like having to take certain medicines and undergoing certain medical procedures. It's important to our financial and personal security. However, the end result has left a lot of us longing for simpler times -- when we only had to remember our name, our address, our telephone number, and maybe our social security number.

To my sixty-six year old husband, the cell phone has become the greatest thing invented since the calculator. We know this because for the first six months he used one, he started every call he made to us with, "This is the greatest invention since the calculator" without so much as a "hello" or "this is me."

However, each time we have upgraded our cell phones, the bells and whistles of this technology are far too complex for our personal caveman. My daughter recently showed him how to set the alarm, before he left on a business trip. Unfortunately, she forgot to tell him how to unset the alarm. For three weeks, his alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. (driving both him and his business partner nuts as they were sharing a hotel room).

He could not understand what she meant when she said, then press the "soft" key and go into the "settings" menu. Pretty basic for her, confusing to him, so he ended up wrapping the phone in a towel, placing it in a trash can as far away as he could get it. By the end of that trip, he was threatening to throw the @#$% out the window.

Still, even he admits he doesn't know what he'd do with out it, when he's away on business. This from the man who keeps it turned off when he's not making a call (to save batteries). Generationally, the older you are, the harder it is to make room mentally for technovations and be open to them enough to not see them as an intrusion in your life.

Like all other "great inventions" of today, the cell phone has it's own set of social etiquette rules:

• It's rude to use one when you are interacting with someone else in person
• It's rude to have very private cell phone conversations in public places
• It's rude to have cell phone arguments in public places
• It's rude to not silence your cell phone or put it on vibration in public places
• Obviously, it's dangerous to use your cell phone while driving without a wireless device (and sometimes with one)