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Working with and learning to use a “gadget”

A cellphone, a digital camera, a MP3 player, all of these now seems to be gadgets of choice for one who wants to stay up-to-date in the use of technology.

Whether you have one device that has them all, or one of each, the common element is that you have to learn to use it. Otherwise it’s just a useless gadget, and with the cost some of them have, also a waste of money.

For some, the learning to use an electronic device is second nature, something that comes naturally. To others it’s repeatedly being shown how to do something and still not be able to use it correctly. How many blinking clocks have you seen on VCR’s over the years?

There may be many reasons for how well someone readily accepts something new. We all are use to putting a round disc shaped object; a CD or a vinyl record, into a player and out comes music. Even a tape has moving objects, even if it’s not round. Now to hear music, we take a computer file, play it on the computer or move it to a small device with headphones.

We are used to holding a roll of film that holds 24-36 pictures, no wonder some of us have problems with a couple of hundred being stored on a piece of postage stamp size plastic.

Things could come clearer to us if we didn’t already have preconceived notions. Perhaps that is why the young has a lot less trouble accepting things that are new. They don’t have those preconceived ideas.

Studies have found that the youth of today, which may have always been the case, do not feel as if they are a value. But if you want to find out what will be important in our future, ask them. They aren’t afraid of technology and want it.

Is it not time for us to tap into that resource? We may be having problems figuring out how to work our cellphone or digital camera, but a lot of times they have it mastered before the first battery is discharged. Let’s ask them for help. It will help with their self-esteem and we may just learn something

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