Granny D is not old fashioned.  She embraces the new technology and all the changes it brings with an open mind.  But suddenly it is about more than learning how to program the VCR.  There are IMs and Blogs replacing electronic bulletin boards and discussion groups.  Each new technology requires a new language of sorts and a rapidly changing array of terms and jargen to go with it all.  Granny is frankly overwhelmed with the changes.

She bought a MP3 player six months ago and has yet to get it out of the box.  Not because she doesn’t have an interest in using it, but because the instruction sheet is written in such a way that is prohibitive for the older eye.  Granny D is still hopeful that she will someday be able to find someone who knows how to make the thing work so she can get her favorite music in her ears when she works out at the YMCA. 

The real problem facing older adults in this country is that the technology is really rapidly changing and the old equiptment is no longer available on the market.  If you switched from records to 8 track to cassets and then to CDs you can make that transition easily since they are all about putting something containing a recordiing into a small hand held machine and then pushing “play”.   Now it is about having a device so small you can’t make out the wrtiting on the buttons and they don’t have a slot for putting anything in.  How does the music get into that little device. The directions are written in several different languages and so tiny that even with the most powerful reading glasses a person can’t read them.