Oh! I GIVE UP! Technology is Running Away From Me!!!

My 5o year old Aunt expressed this frustrated title last night when we were discussing my new QRReader app on the iPhone. My mother (also 50), just shook her head and stated that she doesn't even know how to text or turn on a PC.

I offered both of them a quick tutorial. It wouldn't have taken long, 15 mins maybe, to get them online and started. But one didn't want to know anything more about QR codes, as they 'wouldn't apply' to her life, and the other said she doesn't have the time to use a computer or a phone and it would be 'a waste of time showing her'.

SIGH!

Look, even at 32 i feel like technology is running away from me a bit - but when my children pick up an iPad and use it with ease first time, I feel a need to grow and change with the move of technology rather than turn a blind eye and hope that I can rely on old methods to get me through the next 50 years of my life.

So isn't the point of ever changing technology to keep improving? To enhance our life? To expand our capabilities? Is it really running away from our ability & thinking, or is fear of change at the heart of these statements?

Does the prospect of failing prevent trying??? Even with a mobile phone or a PC???

I believe it does. Especially for those who have NOT been born into a digital age.

My children have been surrounded with touch screens, mobiles, laptops and digital cameras since birth. Typing on the keyboard and surfing Cbeebies is a natural part of their everyday! When new apps come out, or new software, their view is to thirst after the new and work out how to apply it to their life.

What is it about changing technology that creates fear of the unknown in some, and then thirst for knowledge in others????

This is something I should consider as an educator; the mix of attitude towards using technology in the classroom. what some may find fun and easy, is stressful and creating fear in others.

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PS. This link will take you to the advert on TV in England at the moment, asking those who are knowledgeable, and who have fun with technology to give an hour to help someone else get online. See what you think this stereotypes..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5bR7ixCNVI