With the ever-changing technology of our day, it's become almost a necessity for those of us middle-aged and above to keep up. Why? If we don't, it seems we get left behind and miss out on much of what is going on around us in the world and even in our own families.

Catching on to some forms of technology wasn't too difficult for me because the basics from older technologies remained the same. Though new digital cameras have many settings and features never included on film cameras, the basic settings were carried over from the old to the new so that guys and girls who knew the basics could carry on in the new digital media even if they never had so many adjustments and settings at their fingertips before.

Using computers to write and edit documents makes life so much easier than the days when mistakes meant tearing a sheet of paper out of the typewriter, crumpling it up and shooting it at the wastebasket across the room in hopes of making two points out of a failed attempt on the keys. I will admit, though, that making a basket after numerous crumpled sheets already lay upon the floor was a good stress reliever.

E-mail has its advantages in that it is so fast in comparison with the actual delivery of a letter, though letters were nice and could be tucked away and rediscovered later. But now that I'm communicating by e-mail, it's getting to be a bit dated too. And, if we thought junk mail in our post office box was bad, just look at the spam folder on your e-mail client.

To be even faster than email, and to eliminate most of the spam, it seems that much of the younger generation is shifting its method of communication to texting, chatand other forms of instant messaging over cell phones and social media networks.

It was hard enough for me to get used to the idea of not using a landline for voice communications but now that I've gotten used to the cellular world, I've found that a lot of folks just don't answer their cell phones anymore - so different from the days of landlines when people dropped everything to answer the phone. Now, you call and leave a message, and then they call back at an inopportune time and leave a message in return.

Texting has the advantage of being almost instantaneous if the message recipient is available to respond but also the option of a later reply. The most difficult part of it all for me is getting my fingers and thumbs to hit the right key and not three or four at the same time. I resisted the change and clung to my basic cell phone for a long, long time, but the necessity of answering text messages without it taking me 15 minutes to type one or two abbreviated sentences forced me to move up to a phone with a full keyboard and more.

To keep up with our kids, using Facebook became a necessity too. It seems my kids don't answer their phones and don't have the time for hand-written letters, e-mail, or even in-depth texting. The best way to know what's going on in their lives is to read their posts on Facebook. But getting the knack of Facebook was another challenge for me. I asked a daughter, well-experienced in the art, for some technical assistance, telling her I could hack her profile but didn't know how to use Facebook’s everyday features. I didn't want her to think she could hide anything from me on Facebook or not be cautious about what she posted. Anyway, with a little guidancefrom her, I've been catching on and have been finding out things about the rest of my children, and sometimes grandchildren, that I really didn't want to know.

Another thing I've discovered is that kids don't always respond when suddenly their dad sends them a chat message. I don't know if the little green dot which tells me they are online and available to converse by chat is a lie, or if they suddenly go off-line when their dad's message pops up on their screen. Perhaps they don't want their old man to see all their private conversations they've posted for their friends and all the world to see.

It seems my generation is always a step or two behind. About the time Mrs. Griz and I started getting the hang of using Facebook, some of our kids suggested we needed to use Skype to really stay in tune. I have it on this computer I built over the weekend, but learning to use it may take me another year or two. I'll take the time to learn it if need be but it may otherwise just pass me by as did using a TV remote or setting up VHS and DVD players.

I've about become convinced that it is actually old fogies like me who are driving the younger generations to develop all the new technology. It's not that the old technology was bad; it's that we older folks knew how to use it and the younger generation couldn't hide anything from us.

So as to leave no paper trail, the younger generation switched to electronic media. But as the older generation began to catch on to one media after another, something new had to be developed to stay a step or two ahead and keep us moms and dads and grandparents a bit in the dark. I guess we'll just have to work hard at keeping up - at least if we want technology to keep advancing for our children.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by e-mail at rmoll@ nwaonline.com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 09/21/2011