Back in the day things were simple. Push a button, turn a dial, flip a switch. Today, though, it's complicated.

In addition to turning the device on, some degree of how to maximize the capabilities of the device/program/app is required, which calls for reading tutorials, watching videos, or (gasp!) reading technical manuals. I have no problem doing these sorts of time consuming things with some things but do I have to do them with everything? I mean, how much learning is called for?

A lot. More than I can imagine for long after I have gleaned the basics of the operating system I can see in the toolbar above that there are many, many things I still don't understand and since a lot of the functions are interrelated, I can easily get lost, mess up the data I've entered, or derail the process I've instigated which calls for undoing a step or two or maybe even starting over.

Problem is, I don't work enough with this stuff to have it down. I use it only a little and that is not enough for the knowledge of how to do it to seat itself in my brain. Throw in an upgrade and I'm even worse off!

But, the rewards for sticking it out are there. You can, if you want, do sooooo much more with your phone than simply making calls, listening to music on bluetooth, and occasionally surfing the web. You can record videos, edit, and upload them. Make conference calls. Game. Watch movies. Video chat. Record meetings.

Yeah, I know some of those are easy, I just threw them in there to bolster the list. But my I Pad's capabilities are even badder than those of my phone. There are some art programs on there, for example, that just blow me away. The capability is clearly in the tool- but can any human maximize it? Only the most dedicated can, the types of people that go on to become rapid draw 3D street artists or concert pianists. They're amazing to watch in action and the cause of envy, you bet. They can do 'it' but you know they had to learn and practice really, really hard while you were doing something as wasteful as watching reruns of Hogan's Heroes on MeTV.

I imagine that the software to teach you how to do many really complicated tasks abounds, if you cared to look for it, but who's got the time? For me, the cure to insommnia is opening one of these programs and trying to learn it. Not long in my eyes are glazing over and the interest level is fading for when will I ever apply what I’ve learned?

Perhaps it's Attention Span Syndrome. We're less likely than ever to focus on minutiae because of the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). We have to atomize our attention spans to try and capture everything that is going on but then why do I resort to the same old web pages over and over?

Could it be familiarity? Knowing how to get around, how to navigate within those pages? How to, from this web page and that one, be able to glean enough of the day's events to feel that I have captured the main items of interest, thus enabling me to disregard the rest as unimportant? Personally, this is something I know I must do. An avalanche of new stuff awaits me (and everybody else) and I'm just trying to stay ahead of the data stream.

Could it be that the amount of learning we're being asked to continuously perform could prove to be so daunting that we might, at some point, not be able to run some of our programs? I think that is what is happening already and has been happening for years. We learn just enough, most of us, and roll with that (until the next upgrade). But we must continue to keep current because there’s so much to learn.

Literally, with the capabilities of the internet as a learning tool, my next door neighbors are likely hard at work following their interests and becoming subject matter experts on the most arcane subjects imaginable, perhaps plunging into the depths of dog breeding while I, equally driven, focus my energy on how to correctly draw the iris of a human eye. Joe across the street is learning how to operate an extremely complicated sound recording program while Jane down the block is studying forgotten languages. It's no wonder we're awkward when we meet each other because we have nothing in common, other than living in the same neighborhood.

Too much data to process, too little time in the day, and no end in sight. Perhaps what I previously wrote about (brain implants) might help?

Fortunately, that's not happening yet. For now, keeping up with these increasingly complex programs is more a requirement than a choice and many are hanging in there and actually exercising what they’ve learned, to varying degrees, which says something about the resolve of humans to tough it out. My personal choice with internet navigation, whether it be learning how to run a program or in doing research, is that unless a subject is utterly fascinating I'm going to try and stay near the surface, learn just enough about it, and stay away from full immersion.

But maybe you've got time to dive in. And maybe I’m 'wasting my time' by occasionally watching Colonel Klink interact with Colonel Hogan, but I'll be the judge of that. A short time away from the internet and learning about this and that might be just what I need. Things need time to settle in, don’tcha know? Maybe me watching MeTV gives my synapses time to establish new connections. Or perhaps that happens when I sleep.

Bottom line is from the looks of things the learning curve isn’t going to get any less steep. We might as well give ourselves a break every now and then!