Is The Era That Ushered In The Data Age Turning out to be Baffled By It?

Ok, this concern is for the Infant Boomers out there – and be honest !

Who understands extra about personal computer hardware, software package, gaming, running a blog, chat rooms, ‘My Space’, ‘Your Space’, ‘Our Space’, ‘Their Space’, – ‘Your Dog’s Space’, Your cats, hamsters and gold fishes house… Aruggggh !!
Nicely you get the drift.
But honestly – is it you or your youngsters?

Never imagine so? Very well let me see a show of hands. Can you download these ‘golden oldies’ rock’ and disco tunes from your computer to your IPod or do you have to get just one of your children to assistance you?
I do!
Yeah, and unless you signed up for the ‘Future Computer system Geeks and Star Trek Aficionados of America’, 30 or forty yrs ago it can be no contest is it?

For occasion, when you get the new mobile telephone with about a zillion options that you never ever understood existed enable on your own even suspected you essential, are you decreased to whining for support to one particular of your scornful little ones who glimpse at you like you happen to be the drooling, village idiot of cyberspace. And then as even though to affirm your lowly standing as a Luddite of the facts age, they nonchalantly scroll as a result of and method all of the capabilities that you know you can expect to under no circumstances bear in mind how to use enable alone at any time be ready to access all over again.

But wait around – wait were not we the era who gave the entire world the initially ‘home’ computer, the Apple, the Mac, the Computer ????!

Why we ‘Boomers’ virtually invented the freaking web, thank you pretty significantly !
And whilst I am going to acknowledge that we could have had some help from those massive mainframe pcs that the army has obtained stashed under each and every hollow mountain in the Rockies, it was the Boomer technology that came up with all of the components like printers and modems and disk drives/storage devices and the software program to make them all do the job. Yeah Boomers, when it came to technologies we rocked!
Failed to we? Used to rock? I mean – ah, previous tense. Yeah… Hummm.

So what took place? Precisely when did we turn out to be the ‘Grandpa Fudd’ and ‘Grandma Moses’ of on-line cyber existence?

“We are not!” I hear someone screaming. “Why I use the pc to shell out all my expenditures and even do that on-line travel factor!” (even if it is with about as a lot finesse as the ‘roaming gnome’).

Okay… but how many ‘chat rooms’ do you belong to? How numerous ‘buddy’ groups are you a element of? How lots of blogs do you do a 7 days… a working day … an hour ?!

Ah-ha, I considered so.

You see while we Boomers ended up experimenting with getting a lot more of people great minor binary 1’s and zero’s on to lesser and more compact chips of silicone and transforming vacant plenty outdoors of San Jose into the multi-billion greenback semiconductor market of Silicon Valley, we never ever seriously gave all that a lot believed as to what persons have been essentially going to do with the tiny gizmo’s.

I recall attending a electronics trade display back in the early 80’s where by I observed a nifty minimal keyboard that was currently being touted as a computer system gadget that was basically aimed at the… gasp – customer. The techie demonstrating it said they were being heading to call it a “Property Laptop”. He confirmed me that by punching a very long string of keys, you could really make the traces on the monitor transform diverse hues! Why how interesting is that? I went right out and acquired one.
“It can be for the children honey,” I informed my spouse when she questioned in bewilderment, what the heck had been we heading to do with a … keyboard in our residence?
“Why you just hook it up to the Tv in the kitchen and sometime, you can expect to be capable to store all of your recipes sweetheart.”
“Yeah, when pigs fly,” I heard her mutter as she walked away. “But I really acquired it for the young children,” I yelled after her.

I then used the next a few weekends trying to educate a 4 and a six- 12 months-outdated how to enter prolonged streams of code into the critical board so that the display would transform coloration. It was not a satisfied encounter. The only factor that retained me from carrying the formal loved ones dunce cap of ‘classic bone head blunders’, was the arrival of Pong. Certainly! I was saved.
Now the young children could shell out mindless hours in front of the Television set, electronically swatting a cyber ball back and forth.
“It will help establish their pc capabilities,” a single of my engineer mates loftily explained to me. (I think I answered again some thing involved with pigs traveling.)

But you know what? He was proper. Not only did the ensuing generations of video clip game titles, net chat rooms and ‘Their space’ flip the lovely small ‘rug rats’ into laptop specialists and programming genius’s, but it transform the entire world in which we live, function and play unalterably and without end.

So the bottom line is, really don’t experience also undesirable the upcoming time that you have to hold your previous gray head and beg a single of your young ones or some younger pc guru to assist you change off that blasted ring tone on your cell telephone that performs ‘Old MacDonald Experienced a Farm” just about every time the darned matter rings. Immediately after all, we were the kinds that started the information and facts age stumbling toward the future.
And who is familiar with, maybe someday with a great deal of support and a minimal luck, we could even be in a position to use all the stuff we invented.

As my wife says… “When pigs fly.”