“So, when did you stop adapting to new technology?”

“Well, I never actually started,” she said with a laugh.

On Wednesday night, I was sitting in my bed, eating popcorn with the TV on mute (please don’t ask me why I didn't just turn it off), listening to my granny. In all honesty, this is something that happens on a weekly basis, but this time our conversation involved some thought. Instead of our normal chatter about what I've been doing and how one of her multiple doctor’s visits went, we talked about technology.

Looking at the technology in her house, what you would see is a computer in the den that she had never once tried to use, four land line phones scattered strategically around the house, and a cell phone tucked away in her purse halfway across the house…turned off.  Had it not been for my late grandfather, I’m sure she would never have even bothered buying one.

I know that a lot of people have grandparents who are super technologically savvy and have iPads and text, but that’s definitely not mine. My granny, a 64-year old woman with gorgeous gray hair and cheekbones as high as the ceiling is not afraid to tell it like it is…which is exactly what she did that night. I could tell from her hesitant “okay?” when I told her what exactly my assignment was about that she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Looking back, she remembers sitting around the dinner table watching the news, not the isolated way we obtain news now. “We didn’t get the newspaper, so we had television and radio. Word of mouth too, like ‘oh did you hear about this?’ and things like that.”  I was really surprised when she told me that she didn’t get the newspaper. I was under the impression that that’s how she got all of her news. When we started talking about big news stories that she remembered, everything came from local TV.

“The biggest news story, I would say, would be the assassination of JFK. And then Martin Luther King. Both of those were on the TV news,” she said with a slight twinge of sadness. All that emotion however, went away when talk of the quality of news came up.

“Oh, it’s worse now.” From the tone of her voice, I could tell she was scrunching her nose up like she smelled something foul. “…The first fifteen minutes are about whose killing who!” I broke into a fit of giggles that lasted about five minutes. Her girlish laugh accompanied mine and we both just sat there amused at each other for a moment.

Once we were able to get ahold of ourselves, she said “we had constructive news and they got to the point. There’s no news. That’s why a lot of people really don’t like to bother with the news because there’s no news anymore.” She goes on for a few more minutes about how news is going downhill and, basically, how it’s all technology’s fault. So, when I asked her if she felt like she was missing out on using technology, you can guess her response -

“NOT AT ALL.” I’m pretty sure she spoke in all capital letters. “Because, with the new technology, like the computer,” she explains wholeheartedly, “it’s good, but it can be so bad. What I don’t like about it is it takes the human out of things and that’s not cool to me. I like things hands on. I’m a people person, I like people.”

As my granny went on about greeting Mary the teller at the bank and mentioning how, although she liked people, the ATM has been quite convenient, I wondered, not only about how we got on the topic of banking, but about her previous statements – “it takes the human out of things.” With such an emphasis on “there’s an app for that!” and “free Wi-Fi available here!” the thought of technology taking over doesn’t seem so far off. This iRobot-esque scene hits a lot closer to home then we may realize at the moment. With all of this new technology, what society is really missing, and really needs, is a culture shock - a Back to the Future double feature, maybe.

According to my granny, “it’s the easy way out. It’s fast. Sometimes it can be a little too fast.” Then, as if giving me instructions, she carefully spelled out her morning routine. “I get my hot tea, my newspaper, and I look at it from beginning to end. I highlight each article, I don’t read every article but I highlight each of them.” I’m pretty sure that just about every woman in her 60’s has this same routine and I think I know why: it’s one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever heard. Between RSS feeds and Twitter updates and USA Today notifications every 7 hours, it makes it hard to believe that there is any way to be disconnected from society.

Now, my grandma is not naïve. She knows that things are changing and that, at some point, today's digital media will be the new standard of traditional. “I think [the media] probably will change drastically because that’s all they focus on now. They’re all trying to outdo each other so it will change drastically yes because that’s what they’re aiming for” However, what she made clear was that there was no room for any more technology in her house.

Looking at the differences between generations before us and today, it’s very easy to see that technology has come a long way. To us, it may be better but to others it has taken a turn for the worse. This is where we come into play – taking traditional values and applying them to our digital world. Maybe this way, we’ll be able to bridge the gap or whatever you call it...I'll just google it.