http://66.225.205.104/CM20120330.mp3
There are lots of things that come with age. The ability to adapt to change can be one hurdle. For commentator, Mary Struble Deery, that's especially true when it comes to technology. I was surprised when my son, usually-Mr.-Tech-Support, declined to help me navigate a new website, which included a mess of brand-new-to-me features. "Mom, you can figure it out. They designed that site for the lowest common denominator." So that's what I've sunk to. I guess I've known this awhile, but hearing him say it illuminated my ignorance. Who, over 40, hasn't heard, "You'll get it. It's intuitive"? Intuitive to who-itive? Not to us ancients who were the first to hear at the junior high sock hop that the Beatles wanted to hold our hands. We dashed out to Discount Records so fast to scoop up their songs it would make your head spin. I'm still the proud owner of a forty-five with She Loves You on one side andI-forget-what on the other. Ok, it may be tougher for us ancients to learn the current technology dance, but when younger, our lives were way less complicated and our pleasures simpler. We talked to each other face-to-face, not on Facebook. The only music we heard on the fly was the A.M. in our cars. Mostly we listened to our favorite albums, static and all, in our bedrooms. And our noses were in books, not Kindles. Hearing Mom's "it's for you," after the phone rang was a joyful noise. The idea of talking on a phone or texting while driving wasn't even on the horizon. But, like 20-somethings today, we got exasperated with low-tech parents. We figured out the VCR lickety split and chuckled when our folks had trouble with the remote control. They would never have been able to master downloading an MP3 or figure out how to stream Netflix. What did they know anyway? Fast forward to 2012. I'm not sure how my parents felt, but for me this new world is so fast-moving and overflowing with technological advancements , I sometimes just feel like crawling in a cave with my transistor radio, library book, land line, postage stampsand my animal skins and wooden club. The good news is I just may make it with a little help from my friends. My daughter saves me from serious social networking faux pas, and my tech-support son helps me keep up with the ever-changing world of computers, my GPS, and the Internet. He tells me the next worry facing us will be viruses on smart phones. But I've outfoxed them. I have a dumb phone - what the Japanese actually call Easy Phones. Didn't I just get it two years ago? Or was it four, or maybe five? This is a plea to young adults out there - you know who you are: adopt an Ancient. When I'm Sixty-four - or before, or after - I'd love to feel like I'm not a Fool on the Hill or on a Magical Mystery Tour. Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. Won't you please, please help me? Commentator Mary Struble Deery of Charlotte is a retired advertising executive.