Technologically challenged?

At the age of 52,I am relatively new to using the internet. I only started 2 years ago when bought myself an iPod after I had come into a little bit of money from my DM's will. I learnt the basics on that,then exactly a year ago I bought myself a hudl tablet (couldn't afford an Apple iPad). I expected to encounter problems as a hudl runs on the android system,different to Apple iPad. But,to my surprise,I got the hang of it pretty quickly. The same with my phone. My cheap,basic Nokia gave up the ghost in August last year when I dropped it down the toilet. My daughter gave me her old Samsung Galaxy smartphone when she upgraded to a new one,and I now wonder how I managed with my out-of-the -ark old one. However,I DO struggle with TV's. Can just about manage my own one,but DD's is a mystery to me. As for the Skybox..... forget it.

Well can do most thing but do I need them no so am getting a new phone that wel just do what I need ha ha

I'm just in awe of all of you! I have an ordinary phone, which just makes calls and texts, plus a laptop for other things. The thought of iPads, tablets etc.... frightens me witless.

Take heart, it's not just us - I had trouble with my smartphone last year and took it into the shop, where a 30(ish) assistant wanted to remove the back to look at the battery - he couldn't work out how to do this, so asked the teenager with him, who sighed, rolled his eyes and removed it in one quick move... The 30+ man looked at me (I'm 67), and I said, 'Now you know how I feel..!' At which point we both burst into laughter - while the teenage lad wandered off...

I've been trying to fill in a form which came as an email attachment for most of this morning. It kept telling me to open it in Microsoft Word. I've no idea how to do that so in the end I printed the form, filled it in by hand, scanned it (I did manage to change the size of the scan!) and sent it back as an attachment.

Silly thing is, I'm going past the offices from where it emanated on my way to Derby this pm.

Thanks Outofstep.. will look at Which.

I have no probs with new technology, and can use everything and do everything that my gadgets are capable of........
So why, yesterday when I was shopping and was told that if I downloaded the shop's app to my phone there and then, I'd get a 15% discount did I have to get a 17 year old assistant to do it for me?
I felt such a fool, I knew exactly what to do, but my mind went completely blank!

I find the language they use on "how to" and on apps very hard to follow. If you don't know what a certain widgit is you can't do what they are telling you to do with it. If someone would write an easy to follow instruction book in plain English, a lot of us would breathe a sigh of relief.

I am not technically minded though I use my desk top all the time and my smart phone but only for doing the things I need to run my life. I shop and bank online and text, email and read the papers and news all on-line. All straightforward stuff. I find it hard to remember how to do things like downloading and storing photos which I seldom do. DH is much better than me but as a former systems analyst he too talks in computerese and confuses me!

I've decided that my brain just isn't wired the same as the computer fraternity so make do with what I can do and leave the fancy stuff to those who understand it!

Thanks for the tips. I've been waiting ages for my OH to print a couple of pics for me. Going to try to do them myself now.

I think that we lack the confidence experiment with our technology, as we are scared of buggering it up permanently. The kids don't have this fear & dive in. Most of the time, you can't actually do much harm by experimenting, just sit down for an hour and play with it, or Google "how to" there is plenty of useful advice out there.Mulu - look on the Which website for reasonably priced tablets. I speak from experience of one who panics every time my laptop, tablet, phone does something unexpected!

What annoys me is that when you buy a product there are hardly any instructions and, it seems that you are just meant "to know" how to use these gadgets.

The thing is, using technology is like driving a car - you don't need to know how the mechanical stuff works in order to get from A to B. Sure, you can improve your knowledge, to get better fuel consumption, or give your passengers a smoother ride, or even to avoid knackering your gear box, but these are all optional extras, and needn't stop you driving and enjoying it and all the benefits it brings.

I'm like the OP, I use all that kit, and all those sites, but have little idea of how it works, but at least once a month I learn something new about how to use it all, or some new app. It's always a joy to find out some new thing, but it doesn't make me worry that I don't know enough - life is too short!

Reading the title struck a chord with me too. But also I need the help and advice of you lovely lot. I have an iPad which I quite like. Now want to advise my Mum which tablet would be best for her so that she can Skype with her granddaughter and soon to be here great grand daughter. As long as mum can search, email and Skype there won't be many more apps she would need. All thoughts on reasonably priced tablets gratefully received

I think learning how to use technology is rather like doing crosswords, it exercises the brain. So keep it up everyone.

I think you learn by using these things. I wouldn't worry to much when you need to find out how to do something there are lots of on line tutorials. I liken it to driving a car for me- I have driven for years but haven't a clue how a car works!!

Never expect to be on top of technology, you will always lose the battle. I spent most of my working life in IT, I am still bewildered by new things. The like cameras, phones, PC's have so many bells and whistles that you will never need (someone does, but not you) that you can't expect to master everything.

The technology thing is a real pain, I am like you Marmight go into complete panic mode when there is a problem.. My husband is better at understanding how things work and I am better at actually using the equipment so between us we struggle along.
Music is a complete mystery with ipods and play lists Still stick to CDS in the main. My stepson is coming over for a few days soon and he is an IT consultant so will sort out a few things for us. Grandchildren roll their eyes and say ' oh Nanny'
in tones of despair when I ask something.

I find it all such a chore. I can put photos from my camera onto my laptop, edit them and print them out. I have Adobe Photoshop and used to like doing interesting stuff with that but I don't use it much now. My android phone is a complete mystery to me and DS tells me it is "not fulfilling its potential" and I could be doing all sorts of things with it. I don't want to do all sorts of things with it - I just want to make calls and send texts! To be fair, I do now log into GN when we are out sometimes, so I suppose that is progress of a sort! I did, with S-i-L's help, download some music onto it, but I've never played it. The biggest challenge came when we bought our new car and found that, contrary to what we were told, it didn't have a CD slot! Woe, woe and a thousand times woe! We had to get used to the audio system, learn how to get music onto a flash stick so that we could play it in the car and it took weeks of anguish before we got used to it, and we still come unstuck now. When either of us is in the car on our own, we can't be bothered with it and just put the radio on. My GS was showing me something on their computer he'd done for a homework project. He put it up and then strolled off, and left me yelling over my shoulder "what do I do now?" "How do I get it to move?" "Why has the screen gone blank?" (That got him back in a hurry!?).

I think, truth be told, most of us of a certain age have a love/hate relationship with technology GA!
I am fine so long as everything runs smoothly, but as soon as there is a problem I go into panic mode and, briefly, the world as I know it ends...... For the past few days my printer has not printed and I have been faced with all kinds of instructions on the laptop/iPad none of which I could understand. In desperation I phoned my computer man who, very patiently, told me to turn off the router and then switch it on again as it was probably not 'talking'. Eureka - in business again - if only everything were so simple

Your abilities match mine exactly GA. I can do all I want to until something goes wrong, like the GCs using my camera or tablet and changing everything!
I can print photos by slotting the memory card into my cheap all-in-one printer or alternatively slot into my laptop and import them onto a file from which I can print.

At my advanced age I am technologically challenged in that I don't even have a smart phone because I don't think I need one. I do use a laptop, I-Pad, kindle , kindle fire that slips in my handbag, but my use of them all is limited.
Yesterday we had smart meters fitted and I thought I wouldn't understand the gizmo which comes with them which tells you all sorts of information about usage, historical use, even budgeting but found it easy. The ( very) young engineer said his mum couldn't even use a computer. I rather cheekily asked her age and he said she is 50!!
I was really shocked and said he had better get her started. When 6/7 year olds can tell us what to do it is up to us to keep up.
However I agree with kitty about not knowing what I can't do because I don't know what these things can do.

Just don't be scared to try out buttons and delve deeper into menus. You're not going to break anything.

The main problem is often the vocabulary. These things are designed by Japanese, Koreans, or Germans who don't get the translations right and make things confusing. I don't count the Finns, as Scandinavians generally speak better English than we do, but I digress....

Just keep pressing buttons!

I was saying exactly the same thing to dh yesterday and he asked what I wanted to know. The thing is, I don't know what I don't know and what I could do if I only knew! I do know someone who is very tech savvy and I might ask her to come for a day and sort me out.

To get photos you copy the ones you want onto a memory stick. Go to one of the machines in a store and put in the memory stick and follow the instructions on screen. I found it best for the first time to go to a local office/stationary shop where the assistant guided me. It was pretty straightforward but nice to be shown the first time. 35p per print.

One thing I have mastered is my smart phone