in the TECHNOLOGICAL AGE

I do enjoy this information technology, as we called it in the 1990's. The terminology is difficult to keep up with, but there are websites like Webopedia, netlingo or Matisse, to help you understand the latest. Today's internet word of the day is critical mass - a term originating in nuclear physics and adopted into business-speak.  

Different words pop up with each new development AND instead of making up new words we  reuse old ones as brand names or technical terms - Apple, bit, bandwidth, Blackberry, bluetooth, Cloud, dropbox,  Java, mouse, software and tag  - with more added daily.  It's a patchwork of old and new.

When I check my facebook I find as many updates from Art, Medicine, Engineering, Poetry, Writing, Nature, Herb and Craft groups I've 'liked' as I see from my friends.  It's so exciting.  Some days it's a smorgasbord and others it's a feast of information and creativity I can hardly contain. 

But if I get tired of all this I pop over to YouTube and watch Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company make darling little baby covers from Jelly Rolls or Layer Cakes - the lingo is there too, but this is a much nicer world of patches.

As recently as last year I was irritated when visitors dropped at least one phone each onto the dinner table and 'played' with them throughout the visit. But now that an iphone has taken up residence in our house I can see what a wonderful toy it is. When you hold in your hand a device that can check the weather and email, look up the TV program, find an address with a map as well as taking photos, making calls and sending text messages, we know we have completely overtaken Dick Tracy and all that was imagined in the 1950s.

And Dick didn't even get to acronyms!  I can't give in to everything so if you find yourself ROFLYourAO or tgif-ing  .... well, I've just lost interest.  Acronyms started with phone texting and now with keyboards on every i thing acronyms are no longer necessary.  Come on, you can spell great without using 8, and to is just as easy as 2, lets not destroy the written language - but I am glad to see that someone has found a way to make money out of trying to oversee cyber space and redesign these toys or it really would be a big pigs breakfast.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, older people (that is over 65) are less likely to use the internet - well duh!  I know of 5 people in their 70's who use email and search engines daily, and now that I look at the page, the good old bureau of stats only publishes information up to 2010 anyway,  so what do they know about today?

I'm sure older people who use the internet at work also use it at home and will continue to use it after retirement - and their older brothers and sisters jumped in too, even before it was common to have PCs at home our libraries catered for retirees clicking on Ancestor.com or diagnose-your-own-disease sites and emailing children overseas.

For those who are already over 75, not having access to the internet can put them at a disadvantage - 

- some banks charge for paper statements, to encourage on-line banking, 

- when paying bills often only Bpay or direct debit is accepted,

- the Post Office no longer handles payment for many of the services it once did, 

- if paying in person, some cashiers frown at the sight of a cheque book,  

- instructions for new appliances are on the 'net to be downloaded,

- some products can only be purchased on-line.

So if you have a dear old granny, or Mum, make sure they are coping - it might be nice to offer help in this area. Life in the techno age could be a little hard to follow if you were born before 1930.