Growing older with forever changing technology. (screaming, kissing, engage, generation)
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Ignore you employer's e-mails and off hrs phone calls and consider you opportunity for advancement nil.
Both our kids are into 24/7 employment and as much as I disagree with their choice of work schedules both are in upper management/high pay positions. Not the way I would choose but it's their life not mine.
So far it hasn't been a problem for my kids or their friends. It probably depends a lot on the nature of the employment, the employee's skills, and/or the employee's willingness to walk.
As someone who works in the technology industry. I don't think technology has moved very much the last few years. There's a lot of tinkering or streamlining of the process but nothing mind blowing new tech out.
Excluding biotechnology, of course.
iPads and smartphones aren't new, they been around since the 90s except they are made to thinner, faster, and easier to operate.
It is kind of funny that folks are referring to smartphones as if they were invented yesterday. But, time really flies when you get older.
What I like to see is the faster adoption of self-driving cars. People who are older won't trust computers driving a car but I believe the opposite. I trust a computer over humans, this is already proven in video games or simulations that computer driven cars do a better job than humans staying in lanes perfectly.
I'm still working on letting my adult children drive me around, so giving up total control to my vehicle might prove to be a little too much for me. But, I agree that a well engineered self-driving car can probably do a better job of staying in the lanes than I do.
My oldest son works in the staffing field in upper management. He has developed a niche/skill in the use of integrating technology to align recruitment/sales and customer service. He has been a member of related professional organizations dealing with social media in the business community and he is light years beyond what I can follow. He has and is doing real well and helping to grow business. I do know that the ability to communicate and the use of social media is changing how a lot of folks do business. Just how both of my sons and their wives are able to work at home and still be in full communication and do conferences etc amazes me in some ways. The oldest has shared with me that a lack of technology adaptation hampers many older job seekers. Even in how to look for a job.
Social media and newer internet tech are some of the newest ways to communicate but they been around for years and generations.
It used to be geeks alike would communicate on electronic bulletin boards or send IRC chats to get real-time info now it's proliferated and made easier to use. Which is why I don't understand the crazy valuation for stocks like Facebook. Their technology isn't new or miles ahead of the competition. About 15 years ago I use to have real-time video chats with colleagues and felt privileged now it's common.
Another example, I was on line at the Disney store buying a toy for my daughter when I saw all these people waiting to purchase the new Disney Frozen Bluray. My daughter said oh we already watched that many times already. A lot of people still rely on traditional physical mediums but in my house we already had the Frozen Bluray downloaded and watched it many times already.
Again not super high tech stuff just gotta know where to dig on line.
My 8 year old XP computer needs to be replaced thanks to planned obsolescence by Microsoft, not because it doesn't work any more. For the past month I've been stressing over whether to get Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 on the new one. I've been using computers since the days of the IBM 7094 and punch cards. Up till now, I would switch to a new operating system without too much thought. But now that I'm older, I find that it's harder to learn new operating systems, especially since they don't give you manuals any more, and also that my frustration tolerance has declined quite a bit.
I feel like 8.1 is the way of the future. If I don't get it now, the next time I want a new computer it will be even harder to adjust to whatever new idea they come up with, since I'll have missed a step, and I will be even older. Yet I'm tempted to get Windows 7 because it won't be so hard to learn now.
Has anyone else faced this issue and how did you resolve it?
I was in a big name big box store several years ago and there was a storm outside. It caused the lights to flicker for a few seconds and somehow caused the register in my lane to stop working. The item I wanted cost $4.00. I gave the cashier $10.00. She looked flustered for a few seconds, handed me the $10 AND the merchandise while saying "I don't know how to subtract." I tried to hand her the money and explained that she could also get the correct change by adding since she knows two of the numbers. She was totally lost. I left the merchandise there as I wasn't going to steal because the cashier couldn't count. It has boggled my mind all these years because I was REQUIRED to pass a written math test for my first cashiering position. How is it possible to even get a job involving money if one can't count?
I think it's great that technology has advanced to the point we can interact with people all over the world, but is it an advancement if our children are losing the ability (or never gaining it) to function when technology breaks down?
I doubt there's a negative correlation between technical aptitude and survival skills.
I love my smartphone and tablets. My survival skills are no worse than anyone else's. I spent most of my childhood summers with my grandparents who had no running water and just enough electricity to power a few lightbulbs and one radio. We ate fried squirrel chunks for breakfast. My honeymoon was a week-long tent camping trip.
That doesn't mean I'll be worth a dang in the apocalypse but I won't be any more helpless than my non-techie friends.
My 30-something sons and their friends are the same - they can build a campfire and clean a fish and hike miles in the Rockies as proficiently as they can instagram a pic of each other doing it.
The definition of technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
Social media and newer internet tech are some of the newest ways to communicate but they been around for years and generations.
It used to be geeks alike would communicate on electronic bulletin boards or send IRC chats to get real-time info now it's proliferated and made easier to use. Which is why I don't understand the crazy valuation for stocks like Facebook. Their technology isn't new or miles ahead of the competition. About 15 years ago I use to have real-time video chats with colleagues and felt privileged now it's common.
Another example, I was on line at the Disney store buying a toy for my daughter when I saw all these people waiting to purchase the new Disney Frozen Bluray. My daughter said oh we already watched that many times already. A lot of people still rely on traditional physical mediums but in my house we already had the Frozen Bluray downloaded and watched it many times already.
Again not super high tech stuff just gotta know where to dig on line.
Facebook has the world wide acceptance and the ability thus far to monetize their network of users. As long as that works. The question is how long will that last. LinkedIn and Twitter face the same challenge of being able to monetize their networking platform. Stock valuation is a bet by investors that they will be successful. Twitter however is being challenged by investors and their stock is suffering as a result. Some investors would speculate is starting to feel like 1999. These are momentum stocks and what is Alpha can lose MO big time.
Recently, Mark Zuckerberg put to rest some increasing shareholder worries around mobile monetization with new types of ads. Advertisement revenues indeed form the financial bedrock of Facebook. WhatsApp owners, on the other hand, have been vocal about being averse to advertisements on their messaging platform. They also seem to be antipathetic to most other existing ways of making money from consumer internet services. Jan Koum and Brian Acton have thus far followed the "No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!" rule to keep their messaging service free from advertisements and other complexities.
"Ads are not the right way to monetize messaging," Zuckerberg told analysts during a conference call about the WhatsApp acquisition. That is something that has the Wall Street worried with firms like Pivotal Research Group downgrading Facebook's shares soon after the deal was announced. Zuckerberg, believe analysts has spent $19 billion for an entity he cannot monetize using his established revenue models. The acquisition thus, though high on strategic value, is becoming difficult to justify in terms of metrics that Facebook is generally valued against
Facebook has the world wide acceptance and the ability thus far to monetize their network of users. As long as that works. The question is how long will that last. LinkedIn and Twitter face the same challenge of being able to monetize their networking platform. Stock valuation is a bet by investors that they will be successful. Twitter however is being challenged by investors and their stock is suffering as a result. Some investors would speculate is starting to feel like 1999. These are momentum stocks and what is Alpha can lose MO big time.
Marketing wise, it's FB for the win.
Utility-wise, Twitter is without peer. I can't imagine today's world without it. It's impossible, in the space of a CD post, to explain why to folks who haven't really been exposed to it. Suffice to say Twitter IS the democratization of news/event reporting. CNN, Fox, and all the network news channels are scared poopless of it, they frequently report news based entirely upon stories from Twitter posts. Anyone who doubts this should get on Twitter (you don't need an account) and follow it during the next major world political upheaval (Ukraine), news event (Malayasian airliner), or sports (March madness) or entertainment (Oscars) event, whatever catches their interest. Turn on any TV news channel while you're doing so. It'll be a major eye-opener. When TV news folks say "unnamed source", these days that means Twitter. Twitter IS the news medium of now and the future. Along with Instagram, it's ~boots on the ground~ reporting.
LinkedIn shouldn't be mentioned in the same category as Twitter and FB, it's the spammiest site ever and its days are numbered.
My 8 year old XP computer needs to be replaced thanks to planned obsolescence by Microsoft, not because it doesn't work any more. For the past month I've been stressing over whether to get Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 on the new one. I've been using computers since the days of the IBM 7094 and punch cards. Up till now, I would switch to a new operating system without too much thought. But now that I'm older, I find that it's harder to learn new operating systems, especially since they don't give you manuals any more, and also that my frustration tolerance has declined quite a bit.
I feel like 8.1 is the way of the future. If I don't get it now, the next time I want a new computer it will be even harder to adjust to whatever new idea they come up with, since I'll have missed a step, and I will be even older. Yet I'm tempted to get Windows 7 because it won't be so hard to learn now.
Has anyone else faced this issue and how did you resolve it?
You can get the Windows 8 machine and donwload a Windows 7 shell that makes 8 look and act like 7. Switching back and forth is quite easy, so you can use your new machine the way your familiar with, and practice with 8 whenever you like.
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