Hey. Old guys.
J, to K and Zed
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I’m feeling old. Whenever I try something new that is digital/technological, I tense up.
This week, I have committed to learn how to use Trello. It is incredibly easy. Really. But when I open it up, and start to work, I feel uneasiness all the way through my body. I tense up. Trello is a new language… even though it is clearly designed, and designed to be easy to use, even for old guys like me.
My brother, who is more than a decade younger than I am, put me on to Trello. It was immediately second nature to him. He assumed it would be to me also. Younger brothers always underestimate the stupidity of their older brothers. I do some collaborating work with a graphics designer. She’s about ten years old. (Yes, I am exaggerating!). She picked it up in about…oh, I don’t know, about 1/10th of a second. She set us up on a Trello board. Hear that? She immediately adopted the Trello vocabulary. Just like that! Invited me to join. I did. But now what?
Consider this a parable. Old guys (like me) do not speak digital/tech/nerd as our native language. You young folks out there grew up bilingual; some form of English (although your grammar is definitely suffering from too much texting), and techie. You open to a new software, a new on-line tool, and just jump right in. You start using it like an experienced pro in about 3 seconds. I open a new on-line tool, and feel something akin to panic…
(In a moment of weakness, ask me and I will tell you about one of my fellow old guys who, after “cropping” images for a very, very long time, just discovered the Google Images page. No, it wasn’t me. I have my own embarrassing failures to keep hidden).
So – laugh at us old guys. But please be patient with us. We’ve got a lot to overcome. And a whole lot of catching up to do.
And, yes, you can yell out “Hey, old guys” occasionally. But, please, only when the planet is about to be destroyed. Which, yes, happens every week.
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