It’s nearly 2020, and these days the progress in technology seems to be a speeding snowball, demanding we constantly keep up or get left behind. Yet, regardless of the pressure that advancement seems to have, many are resisting it’s demand, in favor of holding on to the old ways. Planning is no different than playing with a piece of hardware, our needs have their own level of needs, and sometimes those needs just want to keep things simple. How many of us have that one grandparent or older co-worker who talks about holding on to something because it is “dependable?” Even though there are new and far more precise and better time saving alternatives. They may be correct, just because something is kept past its time does not negate its reliability. So, here are a few tips for those of you who prefer to dial it back and slow that pressure to modernize:
- Find the middle ground
While it’s true that you don’t always have to bend to the pressure of keeping up with the times in all aspects, you should find ways to pepper in a certain level of technological use. For example, instead of trying to spread a little bit of love everywhere, limit your uses to those things that are relevant to your lifestyle only. We don’t all need to be on the same page, and have the same new phones, the same piece of equipment, or the same apps. A person can literally customize usage to their lifestyle. No matter how laid back it is, there are options.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
2. Balance usage
Perhaps the reason that you feel you need to stick to the old ways is because you are delving too fast into the new ones. Moderation is the key to many things in life, and if you get to a point where you feel overwhelmed by the pace of techno gadgets and applications, take a step back and move back into your comfort zone again. There are no rules in how fast and how aggressive you should be applying yourself here.
3. Step into the blind
Many times when a person resists change, it is because its either presented to them incorrectly, or because they fail to understand what it truly represents. Technology can be intimidating, especially to someone who thinks of themselves as being incapable of getting a handle on it. Yet as we often see, people well into their 70’s and 80’s are walking around with smart phones and navigating complex sites and apps. It really doesn’t take a genius; just a small initiative to learn something completely unfamiliar. Often when we think we are looking at a mountain, it turns out to be nothing of the sort when up close.
4. Understand that things are getting easier, not more difficult
The further one gets away from advancements, a certain level of confusion begins to cloud what things accurately represent. The goal of much of the technology world these days is to make things simpler, not the other way around. Without even trying something, a lot of times people will get a sense of it being far beyond their level of aptitude and comprehension. It happens to us all in one way or another, but its best to try to understand why we resist something and what that means to each of us individually. Chances are, like everything, the more you will come to find out about something, the smaller and more manageable it becomes.
5. Comes to terms
Technology is the way of the future, and denying its ubiquity is self-detrimental…to some extent. Rather than fighting the reality of the times, learn to embrace its ability to make life easier when and where it can. Nothing will make a person feel more left behind than being the only one in their circle not informed or taking place in something, when everyone they know is and does. And sometimes nothing will make us feel more silly than coming to the realization that we could have had it much easier long before this point.
Older equipment and methods seem more reliable to many, but its not often because those things are actually more reliable. When we trust the steam gauges (meaning dated ways and equipment) more than we do technology available to us, it can often boil down to a lack of understanding that alternative. Don’t get me wrong, even I prefer to use an older piece of equipment for some things, just because it is simple and reliable. However, in doing so I am resisting forward movement. Because the truth is, a person can depend on those simple things for some time, but eventually those same THINGS are going to get further and further away from their successors, and eventually become obsolete, and maybe even unavailable to replace.
Featured image by Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash
