Adopting new technology in 2015

As we enjoyed the 2014 holiday season with family and friends, there was yet another end-of-year media frenzy when a major Hollywood movie studio’s operations were brought to its knees due to a security breach; updates to our popular topic of staying safer in the digital world will be forthcoming in the future!

This time of the year is also when traditional media (in the real world) and, increasingly, social media (in the digital world) are ablaze with New Year’s resolution do's and don’ts. I, too, picked up motivational tips from experts on fitness, weight loss and nutrition to maximize the success in converting my New Year’s resolution into a sustainable lifestyle to control my diabetes.

As the digital world continues to affect the ways we do things in the real world, this confluence of technology-based tools and services with everyday life is reflected in different areas of our cultural fabric. Lets take gift-giving for instance. Were you a recipient of a new computer, tablet, smartphone or some other “gadget” on top of the traditional sweaters and chocolates this past year?

For the past several years I’ve been hearing this story repeated often: “A well-meaning [emphasis on well-meaning] family member gave me a brand new computer but I’m afraid I will break it because I don’t know the first thing about technology. It is too complicated!” One person, after having a staring match with the gift until the snow thawed in spring, finally did something – the person sold it without even opening the box!

This anxiety about technology, or the intimidation factor, that some of us feel may partly be due to misguided perception. This is understandable because even as recent as a decade ago technology was not as consumer friendly – neither in intuitiveness nor affordability. For many of us, including yours truly, we “learned” technology as it became available. Today it is more accessible, affordable and an intrinsic part of the generation born after the turn of the new millennium.

For the uninitiated, the current and near-future outlook of the benefits of using technology cannot be ignored. Computers may do “everything but the kitchen sink” but there is no rule stating that you need to use all their features. In fact many people may be happy to use only the browser to do email, online banking, and online shopping from an internet-connected computer.

And it gets more intuitive and user-friendly if you received a tablet or smartphone this past holiday season. You can benefit from what I call the “Power of One” where you use only a finger to tap the touchscreen to make it do things for which traditional computers require a keyboard and a mouse (computers with touchscreens are becoming affordable too).

Adopting technology in 2015? That is a great New Year’s resolution and something that you should be able to reap benefits from as the digital world and the real world continue to collide! Happy New Year!

Have a question for Tak about computers, software or other technology? Send it to editor@wbvobserver.com.