Fuddy-duddies are staging technology revolution

     By now, the quizzical looks don’t faze me.  When I suggest today’s kids are overexposed to technology, I get you-must-have-just-stepped-off-a-UFO stares.  Maybe I am a fuddy-duddy from the fifties, but I just read two articles that prove I’m not alone.

     As geniuses come and go, few were more brilliant than Apple’s Steve Jobs.  The late co-founder may have gone through some weird phases, such as when his body odor gagged coworkers.  He even washed his nasty feet in his employer’s toilets.  But underneath his dirty mop of hippy hair were a brain and an imagination the size of Silicon Valley.   

     Steve Jobs knew no limits to technological possibilities, but he was smart enough to know when to limit technologies.  A recent New York Times column highlighted how the computer guru didn’t let high-tech overpower his home.  In 2010, when journalist Nick Bolton asked Jobs how his kids liked the introductory iPad, here’s what the inventor said: “They haven’t used it.  We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”  

      The NYT piece pointed out that Jobs wasn’t the only “kooky” one. Read what else Bolton discovered in the Gee-Whiz industry:

     Evan Williams, a founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium, explained that “in lieu of iPads, their young boys have hundreds of books that they can pick up and read anytime.”

     Lesley Gold, founder of the SutherlandGold Group: “We have a strict no-screen-time-during-the-week rule for our kids.  But you have to make allowances as they get older and need a computer for school.”

     Chris Anderson, former editor of Wired magazine and now CEO of 3D Robotics: “My kids accuse me and my wife of being fascists and over- concerned about tech, and they say none of their friends have the same rules.“  He went on to explain, “That’s because we’ve seen the dangers of technology firsthand.  I don’t want that to happen to my kids.”

Uh-oh, what’s going on here?

     

     This won’t be news to some of you.  Last week, I thought I was losing it.  Worse than that, I feared—momentarily—that I was having a stroke.  Strange things were happening, while I was typing on my computer.

     In the 10th grade, our typing teacher, Mrs. Peachy Aspinwall, predicted that I’d have fast fingers on the keyboard.  She gave some hopes of accuracy, too.  Since those days, I relate the clicking of the keys to the clicking of her stilettoes on the tile floors, as she marched up and down the aisles of our class.

     And like Peachy’s high heels, I had my computer’s keys click, click, clicking.  Words were tumbling out of my head, and I was racing to get them typed.  But when I glanced at my screen, I didn’t recognize the text.  Word after word was misspelled.  

     Hmmm, I wondered. 

     And that reminded me of the late Charles Strickland, the postmaster, who was nicknamed Mr. Zip.  “I hired a new guy to put up mail in the boxes,” Mr. Zip said. “He was phenomenal. The fellow’s hands were a blur, so I bragged on him.”  

     “Yes sir, Mr. Zip,” he said.  “And when I learn to read, I’ll go even faster.”

     Maybe that’s what my problem was.  I was typing too fast.  I know that I can get in a hurry too often.  Generally, I have two speeds: wide open and off.  So I tried something different.  I typed at a slow-motion crawl.  I’d write a sentence and glance up.  

     Huh?

     Half the characters were wrong.  So I retyped the sentence.  What?  Where did that come from?  For a third time, I pecked out my thoughts.  And for a third time, I wondered what was going on.  Then I imagined I might be having a stroke.  My brain and fingers had lost connection.

Click your way through Georgia’s natural resources adventures

Since the Russians shot their Sputnik into space, my generation has watched the mad dash to see who can introduce the next gee-whiz gadget.  Some of us grew up thinking high-tech was a pop-up toaster or a TV remote control.  That’s why we are easily dazzled by what galloping technology has produced, but we are rarely surprised.   

Thanks to a DNR-Google venture, Georgians and 

visitors can click www.georgiaoutdoormap.com on 

their web browser and navigate through the 

state’s adventure possibilities.

    It’s important for Baby Boomers to make sure there are plenty of seats at the thinking-about-the-future table reserved for those who have yet to discover their first gray hair.  I don’t always embrace the newfangled ideas—Twitter, Facebook et al—but I’ve found there’s value in listening, because I’m apt to learn something.

     And that’s why I was glad to get a call from the 30-something chairman of the board of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  Gainesville’s Philip A. Wilheit Jr. (Phip) and I go back almost 30 years.  During the 1990s, his photo was stuck to our refrigerator.  Phip was guarding third base as our youngest, Eric, was hoping to steal home during their high school baseball game.  

     Phip is a gadget guy.  Walk into his office, and you’ll see all of 2014’s cool tools.  But he’s no geek. With his chiseled physique, he’s ready to scale a rock wall. And you’ll have a hard time finding a more ardent outdoorsman or savvier businessman. So when Google contacted DNR about wanting its geospatial data, a light bulb came on. Phip says negotiations started for a public-private venture that would produce a win-win for Google Earth and Georgians. The chairman praised DNR’s John Martin and his highly-talented technology team who led the discussions.  Commissioner Mark Williams is excited to have his department’s already-stretched funds leveraged, too.

     The price tag of an all-decked-out-with-bells-and-whistles website could have cost $250,000.  For a fraction of that, DNR has rolled out an Internet mobile application that lets you plan hiking, camping, fishing, golfing, visiting historical sites, bird-watching or whatever before you ever get off the couch.  Simply click on www.georgiaoutdoormap.com.  You’ll find directions, information on handicap accessibility, telephone numbers and links for additional details.  A “near-me” feature allows you to identify recreational opportunities nearby.

Technology has us racing into the future, but heading where?

(Curmudgeon: n. a surly, ill-mannered, bad-tempered person; cantankerous fellow.)

     Really, I don’t get up in the mornings determined to be a curmudgeon.  If I’m ever surly, ill-mannered or bad-tempered, relax.  I’ll apologize—let’s hope sooner rather than later—and I’ll adjust my attitude.  But humanly ways will interfere.  Maybe that’s why I’m a tad cantankerous about where technology and gadgets are guiding us.

     Take Facebook, for example.  If it were a narcotic, hundreds of millions would need rehab.  For too

many users, it’s an obsession.  With crack-like addiction, they’re posting and peeking to see what their “friends” are doing.  “But it’s a great way for us to keep up with each other,” my young friends argue.      OK, but do you really need to know that much?

     Facebook is also a magnificent way, just like Twitter, to announce, through the social network, some dumb, dumb things. How many times have you seen people, including celebrities and professional athletes, post or tweet messages they regret?  

     Technology makes it easy for us to communicate, whether we are thinking or not thinking.  The old adage, “Don’t put your mouth in motion before you put your mind in gear,” remains solid advice.

     Today, you’d include fingers or thumbs in motion, too.

     Belly-crawling in Ft. Campbell snow, I heard Army drill sergeant Raymond Wells bark—time and time again—“Men, the worst thing you can ever do is defecate and step back in it.”  That’s the sanitized version. It’s crude, but true.  Lives and careers have been tarnished by reckless use of unforgiving, high-speed technology.  With ever-emerging gadgets, we are racing into the future.  But does anyone know or care where we are headed?