Recs and ReadsBy Anne McKay GarrisGiven the fact that young people have habitually been oblivious to the older people in their life, except when they were plying them with homemade cookies, or loaning them money, I do not find it surprising that dealing with life is becoming increasingly difficult unless you can do it by computer. Today's businesses, run by young people, often expect that everyone is capable of using a computer. At least one airline I have encountered charges exorbitant fees to do business by phone, preferring you use the computer. Yet, there are those who simply do not use a computer, most of us older people who have enough other challenges in our life, thank you. So, we can either grump and growl and wait until a younger person shows up to do it for us, or we can bite the bullet and learn computer. After being dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age by my son, I discovered that anyone who can cook can operate a computer. "You don't have to know why or how it does something, Mother," he said. "You only have to know which button to punch to make it happen." Happily, a new program at our Beach Library is making learning on the computer much easier, and at no charge. From 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Monday afternoons, a nice young man is waiting at the library to help you with any questions you have about a computer, and he has a computer for you to use. You don't even have to buy one! Just walk in and tell him, "Please get me started on operating a computer. I don't know a thing about it." Learn how fast you can be e-mailing your grandchildren or receiving pictures, researching recipes on the internet or writing letters to your best friends. With this excellent program, and computers in the library that you can practice on almost any afternoon from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., you could be roaming the Internet in no time. I know one doctor who prescribes a computer for everyone of his patients when they retire. If that seems like too much trouble, just know you can always wander among the stacks and find one or two books to take home with you for a good evening's read or a video to enjoy. Actually, I have an easier time operating my computer than I do persuading my TV to show a movie. As long as young people rule the world, and they always have, us old folks have to scramble to keep up.
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