Remember the good old days before technology invaded nearly every part of your life?
Face-to-face conversations were a common occurrence, and nobody wore little buds in their ears. Back then the majority of drivers actually kept their eyes on the road, and there wasn’t some disembodied voice commanding you to take a left at the light.
In the good old days, you might have to wait up to a week to show your vacation snapshots to friends, so that gave them time to receive your postcards beforehand.
TV advertisers had you right where they wanted you. Skip the commercials for a trip to the refrigerator or a bathroom break, and you risked missing a key part of your show when it came back on–with no chance to watch it elsewhere until the summer reruns.
The good old days seemed pretty good at the time, but there’s no turning back now. Especially when you have grandchildren. If you aren’t already embracing 21st-century technology on your own, they’ll gladly expose you to everything whether you’re a willing participant or you’re kicking and screaming all the way!
A Tech Tale for Grandparents
Got our first PC or Mac
And a cell phone way, way back,
But there’s so much that we lack
Toward being tech heads.
Email, pay bills, surf the Net.
Book some travel? Sure, you bet.
Basic phone calls, no text yet
’Cause we’re not tech heads.
We hear iThis, then iThat.
They say try this, then try that.
These gizmos are where it’s at,
But we’re not tech heads.
* * * * *
Got the big HDTV,
Tivo, too, and DVD.
They can work so easily
If you’re a tech head.
Got a zillion channels and
All these movies on demand.
We try to be in command,
But we’re not tech heads.
More remotes than we could need,
All with buttons we can’t read.
Help us make them work, we plead.
We’re so not tech heads.
* * * * *
Got ourselves an MP3.
Can we download tunes? Let’s see.
Where, oh, where’s the USB?
We’re just not tech heads.
Figured out the playlist now,
Lots of oldies, goodies. Wow!
Not so hard when you know how.
Oh, to be tech heads.
Love to listen all day through.
Sixties songs, it’s déjà vu.
We could swap some songs with you
If you were tech heads.
* * * * *
Got a camera, so advanced.
Digital, all fancy pants.
Can we work it? Not a chance.
We’re still not tech heads.
Then came grandkids and we knew
Our tech-fearing days were through.
Can’t miss kiddie pics. Could you?
We must be tech heads.
So we’ve learned to upload fast,
Photo sharing’s such a blast.
We have seen the light at last
And we are tech heads.
* * * * *
Got a webcam, showed some ’tude.
Oops! It caught us in the nude.
Never meant to be so rude,
But, hey, we’re tech heads.
Shhhh. Don’t let the grandkids know
We’re a YouTube video.
Fifty hits a day or so.
Oh, boy, we’re tech heads.
Watch for our Facebook debut,
Where we’ll post our thoughts for you.
This tech world is great. Who knew?
Let’s all be tech heads.
Diana J. Ewing is the author of The Baby Boomers’ Guide to Grandparenting
