You know you are on the other side of generation gap and fighting a losing battle when you can't even keep from drowning in technology acronym soup, less be able to keep up with it. When I came out of the caves, they were talking about MoSoSo and I thought that sounded a lot like MoMA.
The irony of discovering that MoSoSo referred to the latest social networking enabling technology and not a new art museum was not lost on me. I am so over the hill that even watching kids in action with their Gameboys and Nintendos makes me anxious as does a lot of recent cinema.
The pace and choppiness of the action wears me out. I seem to be retrogressing to an earlier generation that was happy to listen to really slow music, play solitaire with real cards and curl up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea. I can find peace and joy in all of those activities. The chances of me catching with any of the myriad MoSoSo applications is remote to non-existent. Maybe I can leap frog a couple of generations in technology and catch up when J comes of age.
High up on my wish list for future technology is to see user interfaces that don't have multi-function keys that need to be toggled between modes and devices that don't need me to study the user manual like I were preparing for the board exams. A readable font size would be most welcome. How difficult can it be to devise something that the lowest common denominator such as myself is able to understand without burning out every last grey cell that have ? I'm not surprised that Alzheimer’s is getting to be so common these days. The demands of modern technology can burn out older people mercilessly quick.
To my credit, I am perfectly capable of using the self check out system in the public library and only sometimes need help with it at the grocery stores. It seems that the gaming and wireless communication industry has no use for the likes of me and can safely ignore us when designing their goods and services.
I never fail to remind J that there is a time and place for everything. It is possibly the line she will remember me by when I am dead and gone given how frequently she hears it. Instead of having her breakfast she will break into a song and dance number from High School Musical well past eight on Monday morning. She will insist that I watch and applaud the performance instead of screaming at her to finish her milk and cereal. Her sense of occasion is seriously lacking but then so is mine. Consider for example, a person walks into the grocery store with the express purpose of buying detergent because they are fresh out of it and laundry is only half way done. However instead of heading straight for detergent, they wander over to the natural foods aisle and go berserk upon finding goat milk on sale for a dollar a gallon. They at once proceed to stock pile so they can turn it to huge quantities home-made feta cheese. That person would be me. It would not concern me in the least that I ha...
Comments
Think before what you wish for HC !
So are you trashing the so called great UI of the so called great Ipod ? Do you really beleive that a "absolute" guideline like that work ?
And congrats to you ... on the grocery self checkout. Recently even I managed to figure out how to handle stuff without bar code on the self checkout kiosk. But I still have to resist moving bagged stuff to the cart before the billing is completed
Prerona - Its cool isn't it ? Never thought I'd be able to figure it out so easily.