Manor Ink July 2020

22 | JULY 2020 | MANOR INK FEATURES
Get a licking from the LMFL
Livingston Manor, NY – July is National Ice Cream
Month, and children who read five books from the Livingston
Manor Free Library during the summer will get
a free small ice cream from Madison’s Ice Cream Stand
on Main Street. Forms are available on the back of the
Summer Reading Calendar, as well as at the library. All
forms must be returned before Monday, Aug. 31. For
more information, visit livingstonmanorlibrary.org.
When the electronic world gives you paws
I didn’t get my first computer till I was 70. It was a birthday
gift from my eldest son and daughter-in-law. Like
many in my generation who grew up with only a radio
and a dial telephone, I found computers intimidating. I left
it in the box for a year! So at the age of 71, I
launched myself into the digital era.
Fast forward 15 years. I now constantly
use my laptop, an iPad and an iPhone. I put
things up on the cloud. I talk and email and
text all the time. I add emojis to my texts
Marge
Feuerstein
and send my sons and grandkids bitmojis
with an avatar of myself. I can take and
send photos on my phone. It is so handy to
just snap a picture of the thing you want your son to look
for at his Home Depot instead of having to describe it!
Recently, I was asked to make and send someone a short
video. I had never done that before, but cell phone in hand,
AGING
OUT LOUD
I made one and sent it off from my phone.
Done!
The ability to access all this technology
is truly remarkable. We can reach around
the world with little or no effort, time or cost. Thomas
Friedman said in a book not long ago the “World is Flat.”
Information of every kind is right at our fingertips and,
with some devices, will even respond to our voice.
The world of technology is indeed wonderful – except!
Except when it doesn’t work, or breaks down, or you need
to understand how to undo something that is beyond you.
Then it is daunting. That is when you feel like you are
teetering on the edge!
We elders weren’t given a toy iPhone or computer at
the age of four, or real ones in elementary school. How
many times have I had to reach out to younger friends or
grandchildren for an explanation of how to undo some
Marge Feuerstein photo
havoc wrought by my cat. He loves nothing more than to
jump up on my open laptop and turn everything sideways,
upside down or completely crazy.
Yes electronic devices are wonderful, and I have become
woefully dependent on them. But there are times – many
times – that I think of what I said to a computer-savvy
friend many, many years ago. Just leave me alone with my
ink pot and my plume!