Too much technology for my aging brain

It's happening and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

Time is leaving me in the dust.

Well, more accurately modern technology is leaving me in the dust and I find myself turning into one of those “grumpy old people” who complain about modern times and start many a sentence with, “When I was younger...” or something similar.

There are just simply too many computers and gadgets out there for me to keep up with.

While I am hardly a computer genius, I can use the infernal contraptions with some level of proficiency.

Hey, a low level is still a level.

I have a Smart phone, Facebook account, Twitter account and a blog, but my techo-prowess pales in comparison to anything my kids are doing.

They will talk about some techno trend like it is old news and I have not even heard about it yet.

There are all sorts of new gizmos and devices coming out faster than I can possibly keep track of.

Watches with more computer power than the original moon landing craft are commonplace and I can only imagine what the electro-techno world will birth over the coming years.

The leaps and bounds in technology and how it is benefitting (and hurting) mankind have been nothing short of astounding.

When I was a youngster (see, there it is) there was no such thing as the Internet, but my kids have never known life without it.

They never had to skim through an encyclopedia to get the information they were looking for. Instead they searched for it online.

Just type in a phrase or word and what you are looking for magically appears on your screen.

Sometimes the search turns up millions of options – which is kind of like saying we found what you are looking for, it's on planet Earth – but you can refine your search and narrow it down to find the information you are looking for.

I must admit, the whole online thing is way faster and provides a lot more information than those funny-smelling books that weighed seven pounds each and were out of date months after they arrived at the school library.

When I graduated school in the early '80s, computers were a thing of science fiction, or at best a novelty item you read about in a magazine.

Now, the stupid things are everywhere and you don't even need a computer to search for something on the World Wide Web. You can do it from your phone, your iPad, and all sorts of devices.

I may not be at the top of the tech game, but I sure find all the different things you can do nowadays impressive.

When I was a kid (see, there I go again) I was amazed when I saw my first wireless remote for the TV.

What kind of sorcery is this?

You don't have to get up to change the channel? To increase the volume? Not even to turn the idiot box off?

Magical.

I am convinced those days marked the beginning of the Fat Ages, when having to get up and walk seven feet to your TV was too much effort.

You know you are getting old when a wireless TV remote was a major technological breakthrough of your youth.

However, I do try to keep up on the latest Interweb trends, but some of this stuff is beyond me.

And a lot of the stuff out there doesn't interest me.

But it is highly unlikely any of this technology is going away any time soon, so I do what little I can (and believe me, it is little) to try and stay abreast of the latest and greatest crazes and trends.

I try, but I know I do not succeed. Things are just changing too fast for an 'old geezer' like me to stay on top of.

But I will do my best to maintain some sort of techno-prowess, even if I don't know what the hell is going on half the time.

Copyright 2016, Darren Handschuh