Category: Boomer Learning

I am so fortunate that I was chosen to take a free Digital Storytelling Workshop Series with Dr. Stacey Patton. She is also a Generosity Bawse and I am so appreciative of the help she is offering.

My blog site is already set up but I barely know how to use it, so I am looking forward to what I can learn. This is a super fun workshop and Stacey has shown 208 people how to set up a free site on WordPress and had us all write a first post including a fancy, dancy hyperlink.

I love the beginner friendly tone of instruction. We were on a Zoom call and could see each other as we worked through the steps. Stacey was very patient and took the time to stop and answer questions as well as share her screens to help work through troubles. She encouraged other participants to help each other and every question was answered with a sincere desire for success.

My daughter is visiting today and was sitting quietly while I took the workshop. She is a first grade teacher who has just gone through distance learning with 25 littles. As folks chimed in with questions, she chuckled periodically and said, “She has more patience than I do”. That’s a lot of patience, Stacey! You are truly a Bawse of many trades.

We learned how to embed a video and a gif.

Spent a bit of time tonight trying to figure out what I had done to this website that was making it inaccessible. Who knows? Actually, who even cares? Just make it work, right? Turns out they have Support to help me with that. In just a few short minutes, the website was fixed and all is well.

So this is the world we live in. We often know what we want to do, but have no idea how to do it. If you want to know the secrets, you have to learn and study and practice your craft. Such is the world of technology.

I think it is confusing to an old beginner like me because I don’t want to start at the beginning. I want to start my blogging journey at the end, with the professional bloggers. I want to produce the finished product without taking the time to know the ingredients. Adult learners do not have the patience of young learners. Millennial techies played with computers, internet, smart phones and such the way Boomers played cards, board games, and neighborhood outdoor games. Young people know technology and old people know people.

Many young people seem to have anxiety and discomfort in social situations and being with people. I think it’s because they are trying to start at the end, where everything is figured out and it all works the way they imagine it should be. But relationships take time, practice, error and diligence. You have to spend time being with people and weaving your way through failure and success. What you end up learning is that the best relationships are never perfect. There is no need for perfection; just a desire for meaningful human interaction.

I am going to stop trying to approach technology at the end. I am going to embrace the unknown and learn the ingredients of a successful blog without agonizing over the mistakes along the way. But I really don’t have time to start at the beginning. This world is moving too fast for that. I am going to try beginning in the middle and asking my Millennial friends for help when I get stuck. We all need to call Support sometimes.