The Ad Council came up with the slogan, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste” back in 1972. Although the Ad was for the United Negro College Fund, the sentiments ring true today, particularly with our aging population.
Retirement brings a wonderful gift of leisure. One must watch that this gift doesn’t become the driving force by which we embrace retirement. As the body will atrophy without exercise and watching how we nourish it, so will the mind. As we challenge the body to keep it strong, we must do the same with our brain. Without a healthy active brain, our mind slips away from us. Yes, Brain Matters.
There are many ways to exercise our brain and keep it healthy. One of the more critical activities would be to reduce stress. We often put a lot of pressure upon ourselves that is unnecessary. We get a lot of enjoyment from our volunteer activities, but we need to know when to say that we have reached our limit, or at least need a change. To keep stress to a tolerable level, one might want to keep a good perspective on life, as Irwin the troll of Broom Hilda fame did each day. In a comic strip, Irwin was watching the rising sun in the east. He proclaimed, “I don’t have a clue, I never did, and I never will”. In the next frame, Irwin states emphatically, “I like to start each day with the ground rules firmly established”.
Many people get a lot of pleasure from doing the daily Suduko, crossword puzzles and others in the daily paper. Some folks like to follow the bridge columns. Of course, there are many web sites where you can play free games, or enter into friendly multi person games. Let’s look at some other activities that will challenge our thinking skills.
For the analytical thinker, there are online debates. www.onlinedebate.net is a good place to start. After registering, you can check out debates on topics such as philosophy, politics, religion, technology and social issues. At this site: www.controversialforums.com/ one will find forums and discussions on ethics, morals, addiction, science, etc.
Maybe you have always wanted to put your family history to paper. If you check out Cyndi’s List, www.cyndislist.com/writing - General Resources, you will find many links to help you begin your project, keep it moving, how to improve your style and finally how to publish the final product. While you are at it, also check out the following link, www.genealogy.com/74_sharon.html for advice on the way to write a compelling family history.
For a slightly different approach, check out this site: http://zenhabits.net/11-ways-to-expand-your-mind-and-recover-from-brain-rot/. Some of this site’s suggestions are: doing puzzles, reading, math problems, meditation and learning a new language. Maybe Bobby McFarrin had a good handle on calming the troubled mind with his song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. In case you haven’t heard it in a while, check out this YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU For those of you who want to learn meditation or to at least become more acquainted with some of the benefits of this practice, go to this site: http://www.onlinemeditation.org/. There are countless studies that point to the positive mental and physical benefits associated with the daily practice of meditation. Give it a try.
There is no want for online games to increase brain power. www.expandyourmind.com/home/ is a site devoted to brain stimulation. Logic problems, science facts, philosophy, myths demystified, are but a few examples of their offerings. The activities work and are fun to do.
The Human Brain site which is found at www.fi.edu/leanr/brain/exercise.html offers their approach to mental stimulation with brain training games of memory, attention, focusing, computational speed, etc. Some of these exercises are similar to the popular Nintendo DS game “Brain Age”.
Another activity said to stimulate mental processes on many levels is the learning of a new language. http://www.word2word.com/course.html is a site where there are links to over 100 different language courses offered online. Some are conversational in nature, some more in depth. You will find that there are quite a few free courses. A computer microphone will be required to participate. They tend to be quite inexpensive.
On a side note, all this talk about brain training causes my mind to think about nourishing my computer’s brain by getting rid of useless files and scanning for malware and other infections. Spybot Search & Destroy is a good tool for this. (http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Technology Overload
Does this sound at all familiar? I wake up in the morning, check the time on my clock radio and mentally begin the process of thinking about my schedule and the things that need to be done today. Grab a cup of coffee, already brewed and waiting. The TV is first to be switched on then the computer. Read any emails arriving over night and diminish Outlook to the system tray. Sit in front of my TV and watch a news program, while opening the morning paper, all the while listening for the tell-tale sounds of an incoming email. I’ve only been awake for less than half an hour and already I are triple tasking. Am I the only one in this situation?
It seems that no matter what we do, we are being bombarded with stimuli from multiple sources. Is this creating that feeling of nirvana that the purveyors of ‘gadgets’ claim will result from using their gizmos?
While waiting in the doctor’s office we answer a few emails and grab a minute to look up symp-toms from a medical website. While having a conversation with a friend over coffee we allow our cell phone to interrupt a couple of times. And I thought that technology was going to simplify life.
With all of this information bombarding us one would think that we are learning all the time. Researchers at the University of California found that rats that were given a novel situation to master and immediately given new tasks, did not remember the new experiences as well as those that were not given new tasks to learn. Does this equate to humans also? The researchers thought so.
In another study, researchers at the University of Michigan found that people learned significantly better after a walk in nature preserve than after a walk in a busy urban environment. This suggests that being bombarded with a lot of sti-muli leaves people fatigued.
On the first day of school one year I started off giving the students in grade 5 a simple timed ad-dition quiz, with quiet surroundings. Later in the morning, I gave them a parallel quiz with age appropriate music playing. As suspected, stu-dents did significantly better with quiet surround-ings. Can humans work as efficiently with dis-tractions?
No matter how we look at it, we need to fill every idle moment with entertainment. It is as though we have an itch that needs to be scratched. Technology allows us to scratch our itch.
Another interesting observation comes to light. There was a time when we would put an L.P. on the record player and really listen to it. In this day and age, statistics show that our attention span is much shorter. Even game makers have realized this. Many of the new games which are played on the Ipod or IPhone only take a couple of minutes to play. Many people become too ‘bored’ if they have to spend more time on a game. Maybe this is why most songs are between 2 and 3 minutes long.
I am not suggesting that we all become neo luddites and shun all technology. When one con-siders the advances in medical technology and treatment, how can we but endorse and encour-age continued advances. Maybe we need to con-sider how all forms of technology affect us and what pitfalls we should be looking for.
Why not try this. When you decide it is time for exercise, instead of jumping on the treadmill, turning the TV on and the volume up so it can be easily heard over the treadmill, try something different. Go to a local nature trail for a walk. Most communities have at least one. You can walk as fast as you think best. Work up a sweat. Lastly, relax your mind. It is far better for your well being to go home physically tired than to be physically tired and mentally fatigued.
Many people report a feeling of utter fatigue at the end of a day particularly if there has been a lot of electronic input. We are not giving the brain a chance to calm down and relax after processing all of the stimuli that is thrown at it. If you really think about this, the really important stuff that the brain should be processing out of your day, is probably less than half of what it is forced to process. Technology is good, but it can really over power our senses and our brains.
One way to get a proper handle on technology is to use one techno item at a time. When com-puting, don’t listen to music, avoid using the tel-ephone – you do know that most phones have voice mail, don’t you?
Social networking can be a marvelous thing, if it is augmented with reaching out and really touching someone. Make time to talk to people. Get out and join clubs, play bridge, etc. and leave your iPod and cell phone home.
My last word of advice would be to play Simon and Garfunkel’s 59th Street Bridge Song, (Feeling Groovy), really listening to it. Maybe we will give our brains a chance to ‘chill out’ as they say in the new vernacular. “Slow down – you move to fast – you got to make the morning last …..”
It seems that no matter what we do, we are being bombarded with stimuli from multiple sources. Is this creating that feeling of nirvana that the purveyors of ‘gadgets’ claim will result from using their gizmos?
While waiting in the doctor’s office we answer a few emails and grab a minute to look up symp-toms from a medical website. While having a conversation with a friend over coffee we allow our cell phone to interrupt a couple of times. And I thought that technology was going to simplify life.
With all of this information bombarding us one would think that we are learning all the time. Researchers at the University of California found that rats that were given a novel situation to master and immediately given new tasks, did not remember the new experiences as well as those that were not given new tasks to learn. Does this equate to humans also? The researchers thought so.
In another study, researchers at the University of Michigan found that people learned significantly better after a walk in nature preserve than after a walk in a busy urban environment. This suggests that being bombarded with a lot of sti-muli leaves people fatigued.
On the first day of school one year I started off giving the students in grade 5 a simple timed ad-dition quiz, with quiet surroundings. Later in the morning, I gave them a parallel quiz with age appropriate music playing. As suspected, stu-dents did significantly better with quiet surround-ings. Can humans work as efficiently with dis-tractions?
No matter how we look at it, we need to fill every idle moment with entertainment. It is as though we have an itch that needs to be scratched. Technology allows us to scratch our itch.
Another interesting observation comes to light. There was a time when we would put an L.P. on the record player and really listen to it. In this day and age, statistics show that our attention span is much shorter. Even game makers have realized this. Many of the new games which are played on the Ipod or IPhone only take a couple of minutes to play. Many people become too ‘bored’ if they have to spend more time on a game. Maybe this is why most songs are between 2 and 3 minutes long.
I am not suggesting that we all become neo luddites and shun all technology. When one con-siders the advances in medical technology and treatment, how can we but endorse and encour-age continued advances. Maybe we need to con-sider how all forms of technology affect us and what pitfalls we should be looking for.
Why not try this. When you decide it is time for exercise, instead of jumping on the treadmill, turning the TV on and the volume up so it can be easily heard over the treadmill, try something different. Go to a local nature trail for a walk. Most communities have at least one. You can walk as fast as you think best. Work up a sweat. Lastly, relax your mind. It is far better for your well being to go home physically tired than to be physically tired and mentally fatigued.
Many people report a feeling of utter fatigue at the end of a day particularly if there has been a lot of electronic input. We are not giving the brain a chance to calm down and relax after processing all of the stimuli that is thrown at it. If you really think about this, the really important stuff that the brain should be processing out of your day, is probably less than half of what it is forced to process. Technology is good, but it can really over power our senses and our brains.
One way to get a proper handle on technology is to use one techno item at a time. When com-puting, don’t listen to music, avoid using the tel-ephone – you do know that most phones have voice mail, don’t you?
Social networking can be a marvelous thing, if it is augmented with reaching out and really touching someone. Make time to talk to people. Get out and join clubs, play bridge, etc. and leave your iPod and cell phone home.
My last word of advice would be to play Simon and Garfunkel’s 59th Street Bridge Song, (Feeling Groovy), really listening to it. Maybe we will give our brains a chance to ‘chill out’ as they say in the new vernacular. “Slow down – you move to fast – you got to make the morning last …..”
Past Present and Future Technology
When I look back on the past 10 years I am amazed at the amount of change that technology has embraced. We all knew the effects of con-stant change in education. When we retired, we thought that we would be sheltered from constant change, lol!
“lol” is the text message form of “laughing out loud”. This gives us a good starting point for look-ing at the development of technology. Although text messaging had been around for over 10 years, it really began to spread in the year 2000. Nowadays, it is estimated that there are over a billion text messages sent every day, and the number of new subscribers added to the networks numbers in the tens of thousands a month.
One of the most visible and discussed technolo-gical changes is the past decade is that of social networking. There were many experiments with bringing people together. Dating services and alumni groups, were working hard to build up data bases. It wasn’t until 2003 when My Space was introduced that social networking began in earnest. It wasn’t long before many groups emerged, FaceBook among them. It is estimated that there are over 16 million Canadian FaceBook users, and the list continues to grow.
It isn’t a perfect world. With the growth of email, social networking and instant messaging, there isn’t much time left to actually spend time with another individual who isn’t texting, tweeting or emailing.
The advances in entertainment in the past 10 years have also been phenomenal. Computer gaming with online play have really become a standard fun activity for many youngsters and young adults. Microsoft introduced the X-Box in 2002 and the game “Halo” became the highest grossing game sale ever. Play Station 2, and the newest Nintendo iteration started making their mark on the gaming industry. Not only do children or young adults participate, now seniors are getting into the act. Do you use a Wii on a regular basis? It can be a lot of fun.
Along with gaming, there have been many ad-vances in music and video. In the past ten years, the iPod was developed, along with iTunes. No-wadays, almost any song ever performed is avail-able for download, at a cost. We also can’t forget the E-Readers such as iPad, Kindle, etc. There are hundreds of thousands of books that can be down-loaded and kept on your electronic reading device.
We can’t forget video advances. Gone are the bulky VHS tapes. These were replaced by the DVD in about 2003. Mini versions of them were used in movie cameras. With mass production, prices dropped and quality increased. Nowadays, the cameras are sometimes less than half the size and hold many hours of video thanks to the advent of flash memory. Of course, almost everyone has a camera with them most of the time, because they carry a cell phone. It is now hard to imagine that there is any noteworthy incident that hasn’t been filmed or photographed from a number of angles, and almost instantly made available on sites such as YouTube.
During the past decade there have been greater demands for increased technology in medicine. C-T scans and ultrasound scans have increased in availability and frequency. Microsurgery, where small incisions are made and a doctor manipulates a remote controlled instrument inserted into the treatment area, are more common place. Laser eye treatment has become a standard option to wearing glasses. Noise cancelling earphones are available for helping prevent hearing loss in high noise environments. The field of prosthetics has improved tremendously from advances in technol-ogy.
What does the advancement in technology tell us about the future? Here are a few changes I expect we’ll be seeing.
As the past decade of business indicates, there will be more purchasing done on the internet than in brick and mortar stores. We will be shopping globally and seeing the UPS driver often enough to know his name.
Information will be instantly available. When travelling, if illness occurs, all of your health records will be available to a medical practitioner, likely translated automatically to the local language. Visual linkage to your family physician or specialist will be available to foreign medical facilities for collaboration. There will be a much greater reliance on a ‘team’ approach to your health.
Greater advances will take place in protecting your privacy and your personal information. Teams of technology experts constantly work on upgrades to privacy protocols and procedures. Virus attacks will become more common between people than between computers.
Because of technology advances, there will be greater safety on the roads and in the air. And of course, we will be offered new ways to entertain us while travelling.
No one can predict the future with a high degree of accuracy. The best thing to do is stay on top of change and become an activist for responsible change and personal safety. If we don’t control change, it will control us.
“lol” is the text message form of “laughing out loud”. This gives us a good starting point for look-ing at the development of technology. Although text messaging had been around for over 10 years, it really began to spread in the year 2000. Nowadays, it is estimated that there are over a billion text messages sent every day, and the number of new subscribers added to the networks numbers in the tens of thousands a month.
One of the most visible and discussed technolo-gical changes is the past decade is that of social networking. There were many experiments with bringing people together. Dating services and alumni groups, were working hard to build up data bases. It wasn’t until 2003 when My Space was introduced that social networking began in earnest. It wasn’t long before many groups emerged, FaceBook among them. It is estimated that there are over 16 million Canadian FaceBook users, and the list continues to grow.
It isn’t a perfect world. With the growth of email, social networking and instant messaging, there isn’t much time left to actually spend time with another individual who isn’t texting, tweeting or emailing.
The advances in entertainment in the past 10 years have also been phenomenal. Computer gaming with online play have really become a standard fun activity for many youngsters and young adults. Microsoft introduced the X-Box in 2002 and the game “Halo” became the highest grossing game sale ever. Play Station 2, and the newest Nintendo iteration started making their mark on the gaming industry. Not only do children or young adults participate, now seniors are getting into the act. Do you use a Wii on a regular basis? It can be a lot of fun.
Along with gaming, there have been many ad-vances in music and video. In the past ten years, the iPod was developed, along with iTunes. No-wadays, almost any song ever performed is avail-able for download, at a cost. We also can’t forget the E-Readers such as iPad, Kindle, etc. There are hundreds of thousands of books that can be down-loaded and kept on your electronic reading device.
We can’t forget video advances. Gone are the bulky VHS tapes. These were replaced by the DVD in about 2003. Mini versions of them were used in movie cameras. With mass production, prices dropped and quality increased. Nowadays, the cameras are sometimes less than half the size and hold many hours of video thanks to the advent of flash memory. Of course, almost everyone has a camera with them most of the time, because they carry a cell phone. It is now hard to imagine that there is any noteworthy incident that hasn’t been filmed or photographed from a number of angles, and almost instantly made available on sites such as YouTube.
During the past decade there have been greater demands for increased technology in medicine. C-T scans and ultrasound scans have increased in availability and frequency. Microsurgery, where small incisions are made and a doctor manipulates a remote controlled instrument inserted into the treatment area, are more common place. Laser eye treatment has become a standard option to wearing glasses. Noise cancelling earphones are available for helping prevent hearing loss in high noise environments. The field of prosthetics has improved tremendously from advances in technol-ogy.
What does the advancement in technology tell us about the future? Here are a few changes I expect we’ll be seeing.
As the past decade of business indicates, there will be more purchasing done on the internet than in brick and mortar stores. We will be shopping globally and seeing the UPS driver often enough to know his name.
Information will be instantly available. When travelling, if illness occurs, all of your health records will be available to a medical practitioner, likely translated automatically to the local language. Visual linkage to your family physician or specialist will be available to foreign medical facilities for collaboration. There will be a much greater reliance on a ‘team’ approach to your health.
Greater advances will take place in protecting your privacy and your personal information. Teams of technology experts constantly work on upgrades to privacy protocols and procedures. Virus attacks will become more common between people than between computers.
Because of technology advances, there will be greater safety on the roads and in the air. And of course, we will be offered new ways to entertain us while travelling.
No one can predict the future with a high degree of accuracy. The best thing to do is stay on top of change and become an activist for responsible change and personal safety. If we don’t control change, it will control us.
Taking A Different Path
Life as we have known it changes with retirement. No longer is there a requirement to jump out of bed by 7:00am to greet the same old routines of a work-a-day world. We can take the time to stop and smell the roses, or if you don’t have any, plant some. Don’t know how? Let your ‘Google’ do the walking. http://mygardenguide.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=869&Itemid=77.
Life becomes full of possibilities. Any of your ideas can be thoroughly researched. Between your local library and your computer, there isn’t anything that you can’t find out about.
Many people in retirement like to travel. Now you have the opportunity to travel in groups, and often save money by doing so. You may travel with old friends, previous colleagues or friends you haven’t met yet. Begin your search for possible destinations at Merit Travel, http://www.rtotravel.ca/. Don’t forget to also check out these other sites: http://www.travelocity.ca/ca, or http://www.expedia.ca.
Maybe there is a desire to travel to some out of the way places and you want to get information and find out what other travelers have thought about these locals. A multi search engine, Joongel, might be of help. http://www.joongel.com/. Through the various categories you can narrow your search to specific items such as average temperature in March. In Joongel, type a destination + “forums”, and you will get a listing of available discussions, advice and information about your possible destination.
Another fascinating way to see the world is to volunteer somewhere there is a need. There are a number of sites where you can get a lot of information: http://www.volunteertravel.com and http://www.volunteerworkabroad.net are but two of dozens of websites that cater to people who want to travel and volunteer. Be sure to check out any forums that previous adventurers posted. Just go to Google, type in the name of the agency followed by forums. If any are available, they will be listed.
Volunteering doesn’t have to be in foreign lands. There are many local and federal government websites that will help you find a volunteer assignment that suits your liking.
With all this talk about travel, it would be advisable to think about safety during your trip. First of all, check out the Canadian Government travel advisory website, http://www.voyage.gc.ca to find out if there are any advisories in places you want to go.
It is also advisable to carry some information regarding any medical conditions and drugs or remedies you are taking. You will need a comprehensive list of doctors (including phone numbers) and specialists you are seeing. Items such as prescriptions for drugs, eyeglasses and hearing aids are a must. If possible, you should have a version of your medical information translated into the language of your destination.
If you are taking a laptop or net book, you will want a U3 enabled flash drive with logins for websites, email, etc. in an encrypted portion of your drive. This flash drive will allow you to use an Internet café or hotel computer without leaving any information behind when your computer session is finished.
You can keep in touch with friends and family by using Skype. International calls are inexpensive. Using Skype does require a working Internet connection.
Thievery is quite common in some foreign countries. I found information about a travel backpack that has a lot of safety features built in such as wire mesh sewn into the handle and bag to prevent the ‘slash and grab’ type of theft. There are also security features that prevent pickpockets from grabbing your valuables, including passports. Check out www.travelonbags.com for more details. These bags are not all that expensive.
Getting involved begins right around you. Your district may have need of your services. Local libraries or seniors’ centres, Boys and Girls clubs, or youth sports leagues, all need assistance.
Smell the roses, plant some roses, or teach others how to do it. It all depends on your view of the world and how you want to enjoy your lifestyle change.
Life becomes full of possibilities. Any of your ideas can be thoroughly researched. Between your local library and your computer, there isn’t anything that you can’t find out about.
Many people in retirement like to travel. Now you have the opportunity to travel in groups, and often save money by doing so. You may travel with old friends, previous colleagues or friends you haven’t met yet. Begin your search for possible destinations at Merit Travel, http://www.rtotravel.ca/. Don’t forget to also check out these other sites: http://www.travelocity.ca/ca, or http://www.expedia.ca.
Maybe there is a desire to travel to some out of the way places and you want to get information and find out what other travelers have thought about these locals. A multi search engine, Joongel, might be of help. http://www.joongel.com/. Through the various categories you can narrow your search to specific items such as average temperature in March. In Joongel, type a destination + “forums”, and you will get a listing of available discussions, advice and information about your possible destination.
Another fascinating way to see the world is to volunteer somewhere there is a need. There are a number of sites where you can get a lot of information: http://www.volunteertravel.com and http://www.volunteerworkabroad.net are but two of dozens of websites that cater to people who want to travel and volunteer. Be sure to check out any forums that previous adventurers posted. Just go to Google, type in the name of the agency followed by forums. If any are available, they will be listed.
Volunteering doesn’t have to be in foreign lands. There are many local and federal government websites that will help you find a volunteer assignment that suits your liking.
With all this talk about travel, it would be advisable to think about safety during your trip. First of all, check out the Canadian Government travel advisory website, http://www.voyage.gc.ca to find out if there are any advisories in places you want to go.
It is also advisable to carry some information regarding any medical conditions and drugs or remedies you are taking. You will need a comprehensive list of doctors (including phone numbers) and specialists you are seeing. Items such as prescriptions for drugs, eyeglasses and hearing aids are a must. If possible, you should have a version of your medical information translated into the language of your destination.
If you are taking a laptop or net book, you will want a U3 enabled flash drive with logins for websites, email, etc. in an encrypted portion of your drive. This flash drive will allow you to use an Internet café or hotel computer without leaving any information behind when your computer session is finished.
You can keep in touch with friends and family by using Skype. International calls are inexpensive. Using Skype does require a working Internet connection.
Thievery is quite common in some foreign countries. I found information about a travel backpack that has a lot of safety features built in such as wire mesh sewn into the handle and bag to prevent the ‘slash and grab’ type of theft. There are also security features that prevent pickpockets from grabbing your valuables, including passports. Check out www.travelonbags.com for more details. These bags are not all that expensive.
Getting involved begins right around you. Your district may have need of your services. Local libraries or seniors’ centres, Boys and Girls clubs, or youth sports leagues, all need assistance.
Smell the roses, plant some roses, or teach others how to do it. It all depends on your view of the world and how you want to enjoy your lifestyle change.
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