Adaptability

The older we get, the more resistant we become to change, and the more fragile we feel our connection is to the world at large. Thankfully, humans are very adaptable. We have, as a species, adapted to every environment on the planet. Sure, some folks move, some winter in Florida and adapt to a new habitat.

Adapting to one’s physical environment is easy. Anyone can buy a coat, or air conditioner. But the real world, that world at large, is changing in so many ways. Technologically, how do we adapt to that?

The best answer is financially. I am writing this on my Macbook Pro. Sprawled out across the table are my iPhone, iPad, iPod, and remote that connects to my Apple TV. I sense you rolling your eyes at this, thinking, “Oh she’s one of those people.”

Yes, yes I am, and you should be too. Because adapting to this new technology has made life more efficient, less expensive. I don’t want to learn all that new-fangled technology. It once took me two weeks to figure out why the cable box stopped working; I had inadvertently changed the channel on the television. My kids thought me foolish.

Sure, Mac products are more expensive up-front, it’s an investment. My computer acts as the central hub to which everything else connects. It can perform all of the actions the other devices do, except telephone (and it probably can do that too, I just haven’t’ figured out how yet).

I awaken to my iPhone alarm, so I don’t own an alarm clock (starting at about $8.00). Text, and voicemail go to one place, so there is no reason to have a house phone, a savings of $840 annually. All of my apple products are able to use an application called FaceTime; it works like Skype, except I am not dependent upon my computer to make it work. I can be out and about and it will ring to all of my devices. In addition to this, my cell phone replaces a calculator ($10-150), day planner ($6-200), watch ($10 and up), stopwatch, camera ($50 and up), not to mention notebooks (ToDo list), dictionary, flashlight, GPS, music player, I don’t even carry photos of my kids or grand kids anymore, my phone has a photo album. And it all fits in the palm of my hand. It can also double as a Kindle reader and an Internet device checking email and going on Facebook (but the print is really, really small). I have very little need to purchase batteries or paper anymore, saving me untold money, time, and aggravation (because flashlight batteries are always dead when the power goes out). It is not only cost efficient, but environmentally friendly. An iPad also does all of the above, without the worry of tiny print. In fact, I do the majority of my reading on my iPad, because I can adjust the size of the print as my eyes get tired. Instead of a purse full of paper, books, and gadgets, I have my wallet, iPhone, and iPad. It’s lighter, easier on my back.

The Apple TV replaces the need for cable or satellite, or even a DVD player (upgrading to the next generation machine, a Blu-Ray, will cost about $100). The Apple TV remote has three buttons. Three. Through this device, Netflix, You Tube, iTunes, and a host of other video services can be streamed, including most major league sports (for an additional subscription fee). My satellite bill was $150 a month, without movie channels like HBO or Showtime. With the Apple TV, I pay $7.99 for Nexflix, Hulu Plus offers current programming for an additional $7.99 per month, the MLB, NBA, and NHL can be added for about $20.00 per month (during the season). The average Internet bill is about $45.00 monthly. This one little gadget, with its handy 3-button remote, reduces my entertainment costs by $70.00 monthly, that’s $828 annually.

Between these two or three devices, after an initial investment, you can save $1668 annually, and that more than pays for them!

How will you learn to use this new-fangled technology you ask? Well, the local Apple store will teach you, that’s how. Apple offers one on one sessions and group workshops to customers.

There are other choices for all of the above technology: Android and Windows phones and tablets. A Roku is a device similar to the Apple TV. I chose all apple products for simplicity sake, I don’t want to learn an Android phone, a Windows PC, and a Roko TV; with my Apple products, the operating system is the same across devices. All apple devices will also connect to Windows machines with iTunes installed.

So make that move, adapt.

Mel Jones teaches and writes in Richmond Virginia. Mel’s publications include, a book of poetry, Between the Lines (2005), and essays in The William & Mary Gallery, Sherwood Forest, and online at Little Seal, r.k.vr.y., and Spaces. She maintains a sometimes snarky blog, Mel’s Madness, which is more Bombeck than Shakespeare. She has MAs in Rhetoric, and Literature from VCU, and an MFA from Antioch University, Los Angeles.