Season 1: Question 4 - How are you using technology differently as you get older?

How are you using technology differently as you get older?

Transcript

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welcome to 10 women bringing together 10 women with 10 thought-provoking questions based on one theme during this episode of 10 women we will hear 10 different answers to this question how are you using technology differently as you get older as we get old our relationship with technology can change how is it changing what things are you doing differently that like with your computer at home your car um that you have not experienced before I use technology a lot um with my job in my personal life and I feel very comfortable with most devices and platforms but I think I utilize assist of tools a little bit differently um so I use subtitles on everything I watch whether it's streaming a movie whether it's a YouTube video I've got the subtitles on or I can't hear them um also I use Siri a lot to set alarms and reminders and where's the weather and all that kind of stuff on on my phone which has been great and I also had to make the text larger on my very large iPhone yeah me too uh uh I'm I'm also a big user of Technology it's part of my work but my my my my son got my phone the other day and he opened up Mom why do you have 200 tabs open at the same time I'm like think about closing tabs I know that I'm using it very differently than his generation but I just don't think about it but I like to make it bigger and yeah but you know the assist of Technology audiobooks I mean I'm I'm doing it I love Audi books before we hear the 10 answers remember to take a moment to think about your own answer to this question how are you using technology differently as you get older and don't forget that we want to hear your answers too follow follow our 10 women series on Instagram to share your thoughts and to read the responses of others in our community visit our website to find other ways to connect I am Leanna Martin and I am an aunt a daughter and a friend I have captions that I watch all the time now it's like this whole Trend where you see people and they're like if they look away from the TV it just sounds like gibberish and if they but yeah that's me so it's like I can't watch anything without captions it's really bad um what else do I use with technology I don't know if I call it technology but those little Grabbers that help you reach things on the top shelf love those found one at the Dollar Tree it's the best thing I've ever bought for a dollar um let's see what else do I use technology for um have way more security than I used to like we have security cameras now the doorbell camera all that stuff didn't used to have all of that so that's new I mean I've always used my phone for everything so I still use my phone for everything there's an app for everything so that hasn't really changed that much um using the Roku remote on your phone that's awesome you don't have to keep up with the remote ever so those things my name is Terry Wiggins and I am a woman I am a mother and I am a daughter I am a person who has not really put a lot of energy into learning a lot about technology throughout my whole life I do the things that a lot of people do I use the computer for emails and for doing research maybe writing up a presentation I do do zoom on it uh I use my cell phone only for texting of course calls and photographs that's about it I don't use a lot of apps and I do pay two bills online now that's a big one for me I use the US Post Office still so it's been an interesting um engagement with technology and I think I was just reread the book 1984 by George Orwell and he actually wrote that book in 1949 I don't know if you have read that or not he talks about technology as being um everywhere and the idea is that there is a big brother out there viewing every single thing we do through technology so we're being watched all the time and so that really influenced me many many years ago when I read it and then I reread it and it's like I'm I'm just kind of being okay with not being totally involved with it um the other thing I've thought about recently with technology is is that you know the hurricanes in Western North Carolina power went out for almost everybody and you know when something like that happens where do we go with technology so it's just a these are questions that have come up for me and it's um so I ask a lot of questions to a lot of people about how to do something to help me out with technology my name is Judy Fowler I am an educator a mom and a team player this one's a tough one because of my job I use technology a lot you know and I to kind of um if I were to disassociate my job in general with the technology just the every day I think just because of the evolution of technology and what younger children have to do with it that that's the new lens on technology I'm definitely one of the videos I love showing to my students is the AARP video about what do Millennials think of older people I don't know if you've ever seen it but it's fantastic and it they are asking Millennials U how does a person an older person use a cell phone so they have this someone's imagin like you know this flip phone and they're taking their glasses and you know they're poking at it with one finger you know I'm definitely not that version of it at all but I do think I have to help my son fact check a lot more with it I think that's probably one of the the newer uses is to how do you translate because my almost 10-year-old is very techsavvy he wants to be he's always wanted to be an influencer like you know who says that when you're in first grade I want to be a YouTube influencer this whole new world that we're having to encounter as parents I think what's interesting though it's okay let's bring it back a little bit and let's get to the the truth of the information so I feel like that's probably the newest use of it um doing things for my youngest who is now in kindergarten and trying to find educational uh apps and and things like that like we love play they play all the time but there's sometimes that you want to reel them in a little bit to help them so I I never imagine that's what I would have been doing at this stage of my life but in a way I think because of my me being an educator I was hoping like in in probably some selfish way that all that was going to be taken care of at school too and I could just have the chance just to be in play but it just it's so connected and interlaced in so many complicated ways that it's almost like you have to be able to use it at a drop of the dime so I think part of this how am I using it differently is I have to have this Rolodex of educational or things that are appropriate for elementary age children in my back pocket for that moment that Springs up on us the teachable moment I guess I'm always grasping for that teachable moment in some ways jokingly would be Instagram for recipes cuz I have to cook that would be the one thing but honestly there's really not I I think that in some ways I try to forget that I have a phone because I want to slow down a little bit um but I really don't I I you know using social media to stay connected with dear friends from way back in junior high that we're still really good friends with um but honestly I think that it's one of those things honest I try to slide it across the table I want to be the one that's like no we're not going to have this at meals even came back from a conference I some ways I just wanted to to lose it because people I'm tired of looking at people tops of people's heads I want to be able to see their faces so sometimes I wish I could disconnect even further my name is Susan sasman and I am an extrovert a creative Visionary and a nurturing kind of gal I'm using it less and I'm delegating more I'm giving those tasks to people that like to do it and know how to do it because technology to me is outpacing my ability to keep up with it there's way too many ways to communicate now and that is causing communication problems if I'm Facebooking you and you're leaving me a message on my voicemail and I'm texting you back and then you're tick tocking me we're not really getting together on anything so my favorite way is face to face conversation or phone conversation and I know the basics of how to open an email and attach a picture and things like that but when it comes to more technical things I rely on my husband who's a techie my son who's a techie and pretty much any young person walking around the street if I need to download an app and I'm having problems with it um and I've learned to laugh about it I used to cry when I couldn't figure it out it was too hard and I just would berate myself that I've got to get this I got to get this but I don't really have to get it I really don't I think I've got just enough under my belt that I can squeak by and if I keep my sense of humor and surround myself with techies I think I'm good my name is an Sparks hyphen bomb Garder and I am a caregiver um I'm a member of a women's organization that I'm very passionate about I'm I am a cyclist um I'm a road road cyclist and um I love being outdoors well I have embraced uh the cell phone and I have a smartphone and I text and I email but I uh do not do Facebook I don't I don't do Instagram I don't text uh twit I guess Twitter uh I my husband and I didn't like it and we just agreed not to do it and so I know that I am missing out on a part of life because I'm willing to go on Facebook but um it's a choice and I just feel like you know that I don't I don't need it I know I could keep up I have step Grand children and I could probably keep up with them that way but I I choose not to so um but the other day I I went to a concert at the Tanger for uh uh the it was a benefit for the North Carolina and you had to do this whole thing online you had to show your tickets with a little barcode and you know I did it I was really like wow you did it and I Bank online you know and I travel a lot so I you know all my banking's online so I mean I I have embraced but I I have been scammed and uh I know what that feels like and lost money and so um I I really try to limit what I do uh and I know I'm going to fall back uh at some point so uh I just stay enough to to keep up uh my name is Abigail dun Moses and I am an educator of adults who heals the Brokenhearted I'm using it as much as I possibly can and uh when the genz refuse to teach me because I'm too slow I pay somebody to teach me and there's a lot of people who I know who are at my age that don't know how to use don't know how to text with their phone or don't know how to use Google or don't know how to use I mean don't even bring AI into it right uh I I don't I don't do that if I don't know how to do it and I can't find somebody to teach me how to do it then I'll pay somebody to teach me so that I will know how to do it because they're tools that I need in order to be able to function at the highest level I'm a very creative person and I need tools uh and Technology to be able to create the things that I I see in my mind oh using AI unquestionably it allows me to produce at the speed of my brain um hi my name is Michelle I am a gynecologist bicyclist and and someone who loves life well in the office everything changed over the last 10 years or so from everything on paper to everything on computer and honestly that was fantastic uh I had a joke with one of my partners that once we got onto electronic medical records that I could actually read what he was writing now and I was like man your notes are actually really pretty good they they actually say something worthwhile um so in some ways the technology as far as uh the ability to have electronic M mountain bike so I can keep up with my younger uh friend and having everything uh tell me whether the tires are low and the the the the batteries are off or whatever that I've enjoyed a lot a lot of the social media I have stayed away from I I subscribed to Facebook and I don't get on very often um I'm not a big fan of the echo Chambers I'm not a big fan of the um the yelling back and forth that happens a lot um so I think I've adapted well to the technology that's come um another thing that we think about sometimes too is my parents don't even they don't have a computer they don't do email they don't do anything anymore they just can't and so the interesting thing to think of for me is what is going to be that piece of technology that I go I can't do that I'm not doing that and you know something's going to come up and and and I'm not I'm not imaginative enough yet to to kind of figure out what that piece of technology will be but I know there will be something and hopefully when we get there we'll just have a good laugh about it my name is Abigail Seymour and I am an entrepreneur a lawyer and an enog 7 I've always been a very techy person and I would like to remain that um I I try to I been keep up sounds silly but um I I don't know that I use it any differently I just have not decided to say you know I'm just not going to use it I'm not techy or I do have friends and women of my age who are like well I just won't I just don't want to learn anything new I think to me it's it's no different from learning a new language you just sort of decide if you're a learner you're going to keep up with things and continue to learn things um I mean I don't know that I need to do WhatsApp and things that my daughter's into she she gets very annoyed with me when I am on my phone because she says I already use it too slowly like she's just like I can't stand to watch you on your phone mom because you just you tap it too slowly so I think I'm fairly techy but I think to somebody who's 17 years old maybe not so much my name is Kimberly Burke and I'm a human a teacher and a lover I don't use a ton of Technology um I did recently start using chat GPT to do some of the mainan things that I don't like to do like uh calculate macros or hey make me a meal plan for a week and then generate a shopping list and U so I find that really helpful because it gives me back some time um I like it for planning kinds of things for you know suggestions of how to structure things um and I said a lot of reminders because I can't remember anything so I do love that it'll send me a text and say hey remember you have a doctor's appointment in an hour or whatever but I really you know I haven't bought totally into technology my name is Marie Leonard and I am a mom a daughter and an energetic lover of life I well so I I feel like there are some inputs I'm like I just don't need as much of that so like the news for example like I don't need so much so like trying to to regulate the inputs of my of the technology that's in the world of like you know the the things I consume in terms of the movies and things like I don't need to despair dystopian I you know whether that's news or or entertainment um like I just don't have space for that and it doesn't serve me well so so I feel like I'm seeking out things that bring me joy or are interesting you know so I I find I listen to a lot of books um because I love to hear stories um and and it's just it also I don't know fills in space when when um I spend time alone which I like to spend time alone but also I like you know hearing stories um so that's why I feel like as I've got grown older audiobooks have become more um of a thing whereas before I was like eyeball books only um but now I'm like audio um and then I like the using social media and things like that but also knowing that it's a double-edged store sword so having like awareness of like how much of that do I need to consume and like sometimes having like a thoughtful unfollow or a thoughtful snooze because you know maybe I I just don't need that for right now um so maybe curating a little bit but also realizing like I can't I don't want to be in an echo chamber either so like that doesn't serve me so just trying to be mindful but there are definitely some voices that I'm just like you know what I just need to have you on mute for a little while um or even just like whole strands I'm like you know what I can't think about that anymore um and so even though I might still support that person or that cause I just need to take a break um so I feel like there's a EB and flow of of what I follow and what I get interested in and then what gives me energy you know I find like let me follow more of the you know creators and things that I enjoy um and then like around my house like I I like just started using Siri so like late like literally just recently and it's kind of nice sometimes um I'm sure she hears me already talking about her over there in my purse but um so so not being as like okay that's an easy thing that can help me um instead of being like you know they're listening well they're listening no matter what so might as well use the tool let's bring us back to the question how are you using technology differently as you get older and how difficult was that question for you to answer and be honest after you answer this question for yourself think about reaching out to other women in your life for their answers remember to share your answers with us in our 10 women series on Instagram we can't wait to read your answers and speaking of answers we've actually got some different answers on our Instagram page that's because we asked all the women surprise questions to learn more about them join us on Instagram at 10w women series to hear their answers we hope you will join us every Tuesday for a new episode wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts this series is distributed both as an audio only and a YouTube video format to allow you to enjoy each episode your preferred way be sure to visit our website at www sassy.com to learn more about this series and all the places you can find us 10 women is a production of sasam media Amy Brown and Sarah Howard producers feel free to send us an email at sasam media gmail.com special thanks to the women of season 1 Kimberly Burke Judy Fowler Michelle Horvath Marie Leonard lyanna Martin Abigail dun MOS Susan sasman Abigail Seymour Anne Sparks bum gner and Terry Wiggins