Today I came to the crippling realization that my third-grade niece knows more about technology than I do.  Of course, I can’t feel too bad.  When I was her age, if I wanted to know in what year electricity was discovered, I walked to the library, looked through the card catalog, and found the concurrent Encyclopedia Britannica; she simply asks Siri.

Needless to say, after being schooled by an eight-year-old technophile, I decided never to be caught off-guard again.  But, learning technology can be daunting when we are consistently told we need a ‘genius’ or ‘geek’ to fix all of our technological issues.  Today, a trip to Best Buy or the Apple Store can easily cost upwards of $100 for what can sometimes be a very basic problem. But have faith ladies, claiming your technological freedom is just a point and click away. 

7.22 TW

Here are a few basic tips to get you started:

1)  Commit yourself

Not to a psych ward, though some of your friends may insist you’re crazy.  Simply decide that you are going to spend the time and energy learning to be technologically savvy.  It may take some effort, but the payoff is worth it.

2)  Ask a question; find the answer

I find that most of my questions come to mind as I stumble upon a problem, but you can also keep a log when something piques your interest, and then research it later.  There are a lot of resources out there when you’re ready to research.  A few that I’ve come to trust are:

WIRED How-To Wiki

Lifehacker 

wikiHow

PC World How-To 

ShowMeDo 

Depending on what you’re looking for and how you like to learn (tutorials, videos, step-by-step instructions, etc.), one site may be better suited for you than another.  Approach it as you would a search for a great pair of jeans: choose a few to try on and look for the best fit for you.  You are unique, and will learn differently than anyone else.

3)  Search for answers you don’t even know you need

My favorite methods of approaching this are: talking to friends about what they’re learning, reading tech blogs (there is some great stuff in the bSMART archive), and watching or reading transcripts of TED Talks.

David Pogue has a great TED Talk called: '10 Top Time-Saving Tech Tips.' (Say that ten times fast... no, really, my niece and I had fun trying.)  In it, David presents a few super basic ideas to build your technological confidence and help you ask the right questions to get you started learning technology! 

4)  Beware the rabbit hole

I am the queen of distraction, especially when it comes to learning about something, like technology, that doesn’t come to me naturally.  For me, one simple Google search for 'cloud storage' can lead to hours spent on Crate and Barrel and The Container Store looking for blue and white closet storage systems.  Instead, choose to focus on the task ahead and find the information you need.  Trust me, you’ll feel great when you’ve accomplished what you’ve set out to do.

5) Share your success!

Don’t be shy; share your knowledge with others and keep the trend going!  The best motivator is success.  Once you begin to see how easy learning technology can be, it’ll only encourage you and those around you to do more.

So, don’t freak out the next time you see the rainbow wheel of death or an endlessly spinning hourglass on your desktop monitor.  Simply follow the steps above and spend that $100 on yourself.  Now that is genius!

 

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