The universe is a mysterious place. A place where advancement is the law of nature and whatever is not growing seems to be dying, where innovation is fueled by years of research, and where we mimic nature to better the lives of of our human civilizations. One of the major advancements in our planet has been that of technology and subsequent advancements within this major category seem to happen almost on a daily basis. Though the majority of people keep up with technological advancements, either for their own pleasure or because they like to stay on top of trends, some lag behind not knowing about or how to use what some people would call “essential technologies”. For that reason in this article we will be discussing a few of the essential technologies available for the “not-so-tech-savvy” people.
Essential Tech For The Not So Tech Savvy
As mentioned in the introduction, the following information on this article WILL NOT be about the latest technological advancements of humanity, but rather a list of what some people would call “essential technologies” that are fairly easy to use, but may be difficult for some people. This article is written for those who consider themselves to be non-tech-savvy and are looking to get ahead and understand technology. By definition, technology is the use or application of certain knowledge of science for any specific purpose. This means that technology is not necessarily a piece of equipment, but rather knowledge and systems to achieve a goal, purpose, or task. This leads us to the first essential technology for the not so tech savvy.
- Smartphone: The smartphone is a piece of technology that around 77% of Americans have with them at all times. 95% of the U.S. population owns and carries some type of cell-phone, but only seventy seven percent seem to understand how to use smartphones. The other 18% may either be people who can’t afford a smart phone or are scared to use one because they consider themselves “non-tech-savvy.” We’re here to tell you that a smartphone is not only very easy to use, it replaces almost every other tool you can think of. You’re able to:
- Speak to whomever you like
- Use the flashlight feature
- Use the calculator feature
- Use the measuring feature
- Take photos and video
- Learn anything you want
- Carry digital books
- And much much more
- Tablet: The second essential piece of technology people need to understand how to use is the tablet. The tablet is sort of like a mix between the smartphone and a laptop computer. It’s larger than a smartphone, but smaller than a laptop and can do just about the same as the smartphone. You can even call people through WiFi. Tablets are great if you have trouble seeing small print on a smartphone or feel like the buttons are too small. With a tablet you can also paint and draw, use it as a small television screen, and more. It is easily portable and with a hard case and screen protector you can pretty much carry it anywhere. The great thing about today’s technology is that most of it is touchscreen which makes it very easy to use, even for children.
- Smartwatch: If you consider yourself a non-tech-savvy person, this will make your life so much easier and will be as if you jumped three or four levels in the understanding of technology. A smartwatch usually connects to your phone and allows you to have some of the same features such as being able to answer text messages, browse map directions, schedule meetings, answer phone calls, listen to music through bluetooth headphones, track your steps, and even play games when you’re bored. The screen on a smartwatch is big enough that you can read and still use the touchscreen features, but small enough that it looks like a regular watch.
- Laptop: If you don’t have or don’t know how to use a laptop, we are sorry that it has taken this long. Most people understand the basic features of a laptop, but they have become so commonplace and essential for the workplace and almost everything else that they are given to elementary students at a very young age. Since the industrial and technological revolution, the typewriter was the most famous way to type, but now the laptop can do much more than just type. You can draw and “paint” directly onto the screen. You can detach the screen so that it becomes a tablet (mentioned in item #2). You can stream music, watch movies, video chat with your friends and relatives, design automobiles, create websites, and so much more that it would blow your mind if we listed each thing. For now all you will need to understand if you consider yourself “non-tech-savvy” is how to turn it on and off, how to sign in, and how to use the internet by launching either internet explorer, mozilla firefox, or google chrome. These are all internet browsers which basically means you can use any of the three to search things online.
- Google Drive: Once you understand or if you already understand how to use the laptop, get on the internet and start browsing, you will need to have some sort of cloud service. The cloud is basically an imaginary place where you can store information. This information can be anything from documents, passwords, photos, videos, and whatever else can be stored online. One of the best cloud services (which is also free) is Google Drive. Within google drive you’re able to create, share, and collaborate on spreadsheets, documents, presentations, drawings, websites, and whole folders. This has been a great technological advancement since business owners and managers don’t have to rely on the documents back at the office or in their suitcases because they can simply put everything on the cloud and collaborate or share it at the same time. However, in order to use Google Drive or any of the other cloud services you will have to create an account using your email which takes us to the next essential piece of technology for the non-tech savvy.
- Email Account: The email account allows you to pretty much do anything on any website. By anything we mean that you can create an account wherever it is needed so that you can access more of a company’s services and products or to become a member. There are many email providers out there and it will be a choice of which you think or have heard to be the best. They all do the same thing, but if you were to ask us for our preferred provider we would say to go with Gmail. Gmail is the email service provided by google and dominates the market because it is simply the best. With an email you’ll be able to connect with your friends, relatives, or business colleagues and when you make a gmail account you will have instant access to Google Drive. With this free access you can create and store any amount of documents up to twenty five gigabytes, which is A LOT of memory. We don’t have the time or space to get into gigabytes and storage but just know that a gigabyte can hold a few hour long videos and a few hundred documents (depending on their size).
- Social Media: Finally, the last of the essential technologies to get familiar with is social media. For the past five to ten years social media has connected billions of people around the world to just a handful of networks. Three of the biggest being Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These social media platforms allow you to make new friends, post photos of your life and what you do, follow interesting and/or famous people, purchase cool products, and much more. Their user interfaces are very simple and easy to learn.
In conclusion, in this article we discussed seven of what we determined to be essential technologies for people who claim to be non-tech savvy. It’s easy to believe that everyone in the world understands the internet and technology, but that is not the truth. There are millions of people oblivious to the fact that one can take a picture, post it online, and have it be seen by thousands and sometimes millions of people. We spoke about the features of these technologies and how easy they really are to use. The most amazing feature of the smartwatch, smartphones, and almost all the new technologies available is that you don’t even have to physically interact with the devices for them to do what you want. You can simply speak into them and watch your requests become reality. Technology would seem like magic to our ancestors.
Author Bio
Adrian Rubin is a twenty eight year old creator with different talents. He is a single male millennial who grew up playing video games and became interested in technology and the internet of things. Adrian enjoys traveling and is a humanitarian. He also studied at the University of Arts in Philadelphia where he currently resides.
