Family tech: Life requires tech knowledge

Too many of the things we need to know about life are not on the SOL's. We need to know how to change a tire, why an oil change is important, how to balance a checkbook, how to choose a health plan, why washing colors and whites together is a bad idea and much more.

Now technology adds new tasks we have to make sure we know. Since use of a computer and finding information on the net is now critical to almost any job. While Virginia schools teach a lot about using technology, it is up to parents to make sure kids have the skills they need; indeed to make sure we ourselves have the skills technology use demands.

What can be more important to using a computer than typing? I always hated handwriting growing up. I can tolerate it for taking notes, or filling out a form, but for writing papers I hated writing it out by hand. As soon as I could, ninth grade I think it was, I took a typing course. I still count it as the most useful single course I've ever taken.

According to the PWCS High School Course Catalog, typing, now called keyboarding, is taught as part of the Office Specialist courses. If there is not room in your students schedule for those classes, or if someone outside of high school needs to learn to type, I strongly suggest "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing". Since 1987 this software has now taught a generation to type by using a variety of instruction, drills and games. I've seen it work.

Basic computer skills, and operating basic software like word processing and spreadsheets is also critical. Many job applications ask if you have proficiency with Microsoft Office. The schools teach classes for these. For those of us not in school, Potomac Library (and maybe others) have classes in computers, word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software, using the Microsoft's Office applications.

The PWC Senior Center in Woodbridge offers courses for seniors. Many continuing care facilities offer courses for their residents. And of course, NOVA has classes as well.

A computer user at home or work, needs to know more than how to use a computer and major applications, and be able to type effectively. They need to know about viruses and how to protect their computers. They need to know about backing up their computer, and how to restore files.

We need to know how to recognize an online scam and phishing site which are designed to look like a bank's website to trick us into providing our user names and passwords.

Social websites now force us to all understand the impact of sharing information freely; and about privacy. We need to understand the impact of sharing too much information online. How anonymous are anonymous postings? What impact can sharing information now have on future employment, even future relationships? People are now Googling potential dates. An imprudent posting at 17, could prevent someone from going on a date at 27.

Facebook last week announced location sharing. We can share with our friends where we are. What impact does this new technology have on our privacy and safety?

What information is stored on our phones? What exposure do we have if we lose a phone and someone finds it?

It is not a simple world anymore; it never will be again. Educating ourselves and thinking long and hard about these risks is our best defense.

Be sure to check out the link page at http://bit.ly/FamilyTech. Visit Mark's blog at http://markstout.blogspot.com His email address is markstout@gmail.com.