Thinking outside the box

By Dan Barber

During the last 20 years of my working life the term “thinking outside the box” was a favorite phrase used by many managers to encourage people to come up with new ideas.

Now that I’m retired I need to get my head out of the box… or at least the flat screen TV because the old box had to be retired when it could no longer be repaired. I now pay a cable provider an ever increasing subscription for TV, Internet, and phone service. Because of all those services I get deluged with advertisements advising me that I am probably paying too much for those services… they are right! I also get fliers in the mail from my own cable provider offering a great deal if I “come back!”

I also read tech tips from online news services that with new technology I can get all of those services much cheaper than I’m currently paying. However, I find it difficult to understand the phrases or terms used to describe that new technology. The English language is hard enough for people to learn if it isn’t their first language. Now techies are adding to that difficulty by adding new meanings to old words… backup, server, crash, bits, etc… get my drift?

As an old “Boomer” aka “Baby Boomer” who has recently retired, all of this technology really makes me paranoid. I worry about paying too much money for something that a cable sales person sold me. I worry that the young man at the big box store who sold me a “smart” TV provided me with an appliance in my home that is much too complicated for me to understand how to use properly… I worry about people being able to watch me watch TV, so I no longer sit around on the couch in my underwear watching TV… I worry about the people who are supposed to be protecting my privacy (the government) is actually partnering with Internet/phone/cable providers to eavesdrop on my life… I worry that government agents will come knocking on my door when I gripe about the moron politicians who are pretending to “work for us” in our state or federal capitol. I do like GPS and the lady robot who gives me directions, without an attitude, when I’m lost in the desert… and because I am not a criminal I don’t worry about the satellites being able to track my current location on the planet at any given time.

While I’m still lucid enough to think outside the box I would like to offer up an idea for a smart young person who needs to move out of Mom and Dad’s house. Why don’t you start a business providing an in-home technology evaluation geared for old people? Or local Senior Service Center’s can hire someone’s grand kid to teach a class on technology. But please be gentle and honest.

Whenever I need help with my technology I just ask one of my grandchildren but sometimes I have to remind them that Santa can see them sighing and rolling their eyes when Grandpa is asking for their help.