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The older I get the more difficult it is to track things. I had a rough patch in 2009 and my memory got a shock. Lost the ability to do math and I was a math wiz my whole life. I couldn't add two two digit numbers in my head.
A smartphone became my brain. I still work on my memory and have regained most of my math abilities, but there's a lot I can't do as well as I used to.
Thank heaven for smartphones.
I feel the same way about my laptop, and since I seldom go off property, it serves the purpose.
I got a startling view of what some people encounter while trying to navigate in today's world.
I was asked to help a friend apply for a job. She is a year younger than me. The job was online application only. She didn't even want to touch the keyboard, so I input all the info.
They didn't require an email account but it would have really helped if she had one. She has a smart phone but just makes calls and texts.
The older I get the more difficult it is to track things. I had a rough patch in 2009 and my memory got a shock. Lost the ability to do math and I was a math wiz my whole life. I couldn't add two two digit numbers in my head.
A smartphone became my brain. I still work on my memory and have regained most of my math abilities, but there's a lot I can't do as well as I used to.
Thank heaven for smartphones.
I am sorry for your difficulty but really happy you have something to help you to overcome it. What you are saying is exactly what I have been trying to bring out. In all seriousness, we live in a time that when something unfortunate like what happened to you occurs, you don't have do lose the ability to you once had. There is another way.
Before this technology, there wasn't another way. People just had to live with the loss. But now a really good and useful tool has been given to us to be used in the best way possible. If some choose to use it frivolously, well that's okay too. Goes with the territory. But to reject it totally out of hand is to be very short sighted judgmental and close minded.
Used wisely, technology can be a pretty amazing thing.
I am sorry for your difficulty but really happy you have something to help you to overcome it. What you are saying is exactly what I have been trying to bring out. In all seriousness, we live in a time that when something unfortunate like what happened to you occurs, you don't have do lose the ability to you once had. There is another way.
Before this technology, there wasn't another way. People just had to live with the loss. But now a really good and useful tool has been given to us to be used in the best way possible. If some choose to use it frivolously, well that's okay too. Goes with the territory. But to reject it totally out of hand is to be very short sighted judgmental and close minded.
Used wisely, technology can be a pretty amazing thing.
Of course I can't rep you again. Minervah, but well said!
'Plastic, plastic, take the modern way.
Simulation, for my instant day.
Why should I care, if you say that it's no good.
It's for me, can't you see?
Convenience, everything is clean and easy.
'I can't read, but then I watch T.V.
Stimulation, they can do it for me.
How can you say, what is right and what is wrong.
It's for you, for me, too.
Convenience, everything is clean and easy.
'Just believe me, it runs like a big machine
It's just for me, can't you see?
Convenience, everything is clean and easy.'
====================================
BTW - I am in the biz. We embed AI in the apps ... then it all goes into your profile in Big Data ... the better to know you, track you and mold you with. It's not a conspiracy theory. This sh__ is real!
And cursive is no longer taught in schools. It's too hard. Gimme a break.
I think I have to say that I feel pretty strongly about this subject because of the advances in technology that have literally allowed me to continue to do one of my favorite things, read. Due to an eyesight problem, there are many forms of printed material that elude me.
Enter E-readers, just at the right time at the right place in my life. How lucky am I? I can read anything and everything. I've been an avid reader ever since I can remember. My dad taught me to read from the age of three. Some people disparage E-readers. They don't feel like real books, they are taking the place of bookstores, they are not the same, etc. etc. They can say whatever they want, I'll keep my nose in my Kindle while they rant.
It's so easy to denigrate something without trying to look at all sides.
Not only are the manuals online, but you can google any question and get answers. For example, ''How do I set my home location on my Garmin xxx?''
I feel alienated more due to the changing culture and value system around me than the tech stuff.
BTW, I have and use Google Maps on my smart phone. Easy and does it all for me. I will not tolerate a robo anything talking to me in the car or at home. It's a free download app.
I don't consider GoogleMaps "free" - they are forcing ads on it now, plus they broke it by having it change the screen to a jpg of businesses in the area when you have "arrived at your location" - except more often than not I have NOT yet actually arrived at my location, and the building I am going to is still out of sight. And no map I can look at to home in on it.
Nothing should change the display on your GPS mapping program until you tell it that is ok.
Plus over a year ago Google's GPS app started routing me through business districts, sometimes not even particularly close to my actual destination.
Thanks. I'll stick with Garmin. And the one time I want a robovoice talking to me is - my GPS. Though I would greatly prefer to get that via an earbud. For some stupid reason the Bluetooth on the Garmin will only talk to your phone and allow you to make phone calls while you're driving - which I can ALREADY do with my cell phone (if I wanted to be a selfish life-endangering lawbreaker) without any help from my GPS whatsoever.
That is such a useless feature. I want to be able to drive with an earbud or bluetooth so I can better hear the directions over traffic, the radio, and other people in the car - but Garmin removed the headphone jack and won't connect to a bluetooth headset at all. I'm going to have to send it off to have a headphone jack retrofitted into it.
Nevertheless - Garmin still beats Google's GPS app. Because no ads, no tracking, and no attempts to route you places you aren't interested in and aren't even remotely on your way to wherever you are actually going. And it doesn't cover up the map until you are done with it and turn it off yourself.
Minervah[/b];48907053]I think I have to say that I feel pretty strongly about this subject because of the advances in technology that have literally allowed me to continue to do one of my favorite things, read. Due to an eyesight problem, there are many forms of printed material that elude me.
Enter E-readers, just at the right time at the right place in my life. How lucky am I? I can read anything and everything. I've been an avid reader ever since I can remember. My dad taught me to read from the age of three. Some people disparage E-readers. They don't feel like real books, they are taking the place of bookstores, they are not the same, etc. etc. They can say whatever they want, I'll keep my nose in my Kindle while they rant.
It's so easy to denigrate something without trying to look at all sides.
I have the Nook from Barnes & Noble, same idea as the Kindle from Amazon. I have to admit, I was one of those people who "liked holding a book" and resisted the idea of the tablet (e-reader).
I, too, have an eye problem and found reading a paperback and some hard cover books very difficult. The size of the print plus lack of good light cut back on the amount of reading I could do. I do use a magnifying glass when all else fails and recently found one that had a light built right into it.
I also have a problem knowing what is in some pictures I've looked at. What should be easy isn't for me.
With my Nook I can make the print bigger and there is a light that makes reading so much easier.
And when you think of the technical advances that have been made in surgical procedures, I can no longer deny their importance.
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Gimme a break. 
