By Paul Pannone

An ongoing investigation into the changes of how business is rapidly changing unravels how most Americans are falling behind technology. eWedNewz discovers how many business owners do not understanding how to leverage technology to help them keep pace in today’s business world. As the American population ages and matures most business owners that are at the end of their career are not interested in updating their business; much less wanting to understand the latest gizmos that are coming to market.

For some the mastery of email and basic use of the Internet was a major accomplishment. But to understand any further or worse to tell them Social Networking is replacing email and static websites is like speaking to them in a foreign language.

An eWedNewz poll says the mastery of anything begins with listening, followed by the willingness to learn.

 

But is technology moving too fast for its own good?

A book called When Gadgets Betray Us raises questions if this is true.

Technology is evolving faster than we are. As our mobile phones, mp3 players, cars, and digital cameras become more and more complex, we understand less and less about how they actually work and what personal details these gadgets might reveal about us.

The explosion of technology centered around computers and the Internet reached a fever pace by 2000. Mandated upgrades for the Y2K fix  and the scare it caused to many business owners resonates to this day. Many became skeptical after spending (and over-spending) company resources to make certain they were protected from –who knows what– and in most cases something that never happened. Within a relatively short period after the Y2K scare, world changed forever, leaving many to struggle with the aftereffects; some are still struggling.

An article by a staff writer at Forbes gave an account of how he feels business changed after 9/11. The 16 reasons mentioned in the article covers every probable scenario business owners faced after 9/11 and the changes that followed. Countless discussions post-911 say the gradual changes that always existed became exacerbated at such as speed it set the American population back an entire generation.

Experienced people who lived through changes, forced to adapt, now look back and have their opinions about change.

“We’ve long-established the world has changed. Whether it’s changed for the better or worse, that remains to be seen. But I do recall learning how to type on a manual typewriter; I could type 110 words per minute with no mistakes. By the 1960′s and the widespread use of electric typewriters, I had to retrain myself.  At the beginning I could only type 50 words per minute and that came with some mistakes. Over time I surpassed my 110 words per minute with total accuracy. My point is we learn to do things in a certain way and then it changes. The difficulties increase for those that keep doing things the way they always have and are slow to change. But for those that won’t even listen– there is no hope at all,” according to Jim Duhe.

Duhe and other progressive thinkers of the Wedding Water Cooler say listening is the most important part of success. Respondents of an ongoing eWedNewz Poll supports the idea; 68% of respondents so far say old dogs can learn new tricks, if they listen. 19% said old dogs cannot be taught new tricks.

What do you say?

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