<p>H and I started with personal computers waaaay back when we bought one of the very first TRS 80s . My cell phone (an iPhone) has WAAAAAY more memory and computing power than that did but, hey, there’s one just like it in the Smithsonian!</p>
<p>I love my gadgets. Use my iPad to run the A/v during church services; do most service planning online (with my co-workers) and I would be lost without my sync’d calendars…</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>EXACTLY!!!</p>
<p>I love online bill pay but still insist on receiving paper bills in snail mail.
I have tried to share our household bills with DH just so they would get paid if I am out of commission or left the planet.</p>
<p>He is just not interested. Can’t blame him really, I’m not really interested either but someone has to do them and he cooks waaaaay better than I do.</p>
<p>So the bills come in the mail, I recycle all but the ‘pay this amount’ stub thingy that goes into a cubby in my desk. Pay online about once a week, takes about 10 minutes tops.</p>
<p>We’re intermediate on technology in our house. Still have landline (why??), cell phones, netflix, DVR (my fav), wireless, Kindle, 48 inch LCD TV.</p>
<p>Don’t text, don’t facebook and can’t see doing either anytime soon.</p>
<p>I’ll give you guys one convincing reason to pay your bills over the internet, here goes: You get a printable(!) confirmation page saying they’ve received your payment. How many times have you sent a check in the mail and been nailed by a late charge when you were pretty sure they received it on time? I find mortgage and credit card companies are the most dishonest about this. >> </p>
<p>That, and it’s foolish to not use online banking to keep a close eye on your bank account. What if fraudulent charges are placed to your account? Some banks only give you a very short amount of time to report them. </p>
<p>Paper checks are really unsafe though, all it takes is the check to fall into the wrong hands and a thief has your account number. Then you either change your account (which if it’s an old account, will probably mean losing benefits), or they have a free ability to draw money at any time they wish. </p>
<p>Smartphones are a little more of a toy, I’ll agree, but they are a nice timesaver in the sense that if you’re shopping for an item you can find the cheapest retailer or even use that as bait for the store to price match the item while you’re out. My mom likes how fast I can refill her prescriptions by just scanning the barcode on her medicine… hrm actually she learned that one XD </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be rejecting this stuff if I were you ;)</p>
<p>The bills come in the mail…they get paid online.</p>
<p>Our first “cell phone” was back in the day when they called the “car phones”. </p>
<p>We had a TRS 80 PC in 1984, I believe. </p>
<p>I hate my bottom of the line cell phone…everyone ELSE in my family has a decent cell phone but me.</p>
<p>I just got an IPad this spring and I love love love it.</p>
<p>When I travel, I use my GPS.</p>
<p>Well. It won’t keep us young but it is still worthwhile.</p>
<p>Weird, when you think about it that computers in the home have only been commonplace for about ten to twelve years. I mean, kids now don’t remember a time when they were not a fixture.</p>
<p>I did get a computer in 1987, when S1 was three. We had to use floppy disks whenever we wanted to play one of his games.</p>
<p>I actually shop from my iPhone. 
If I’m surfing while sitting on the bus and come across something that I love on sale at Neiman or Nordy’s, there is no guarantees that the item would be still available when I arrive at my destination.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Put a bow on your old cellphone by buying a signature ringtone. I bought Peter and the Wolf, which for some reason cracks everyone up.</p></li>
<li><p>Involve the younger generation. I posted a request on my S’s facebook wall that he fly home 3,000 miles to help me upload my updated profile picture.</p></li>
<li><p>If unsure how to accomplish #1 above, employ the strategy of #2 above.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I find that most people, especially teens and twenties, have no patience for teaching the…ahem…more mature generation. I teach myself. I am a mac person and I find macs to be very intuitive. I have learned the most by simply fooling around with the different programs.</p>
<p>We find that 24 yr old son isn’t much interested in teaching us how to/fix stuff but will gladly do it for us.</p>
<p>I don’t mind. He seems happy to be able to show his competence and contribute to the household. He’s just graduated and is seriously job shopping while living here at home rent free. He’ll be gone soon ( we all hope) and I will miss him and his services!</p>
<p>
musicmom, today DH happened to mention to D that we were going to watch a video tonight. Before she left for the evening, she wrote out instructions for playing a DVD – including (because it’s always a problem for us) how to get back to TV mode afterward.</p>
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<p>Be careful, though; not all merchants accept EFT payments. In those cases, the bank will happily debit your account on the requested date, cut a paper check, and sometimes wait until they have a big enough batch of checks to make it worth their while to mail to the merchant. We get alot of upset calls from our customers who set their online billpay for the due date and then are shocked that we charged them a late fee. We receive online billpay checks from customers anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks after the customer’s bank account is debited. The banks apparently don’t really advertise this to their customers.</p>
<p>I am still not comfortable with online billpay, because I am not 100% certain that my computer is Fort Knox. I trust the bank to be secure, and the internet, but that connection between the internet and my own computer – I just don’t know if it’s airtight or not. When I need to do sensitive things on a computer, I do them at work where we have a fulltime staff dedicated to keeping things secure.</p>
<p>Still have my flip-phone; it’s almost 5 years old. :eek: It still works for voice and text, and that’s really all I need a phone to do. I don’t understand the desire to be connected to the whole world 24/7.</p>
<p>We pay be phone using automated systems. Have never had a problem setting the date near the due date, especially when it’s for a large amount. With interest rates so low, not sure why I bother, since we usually have enough to cover in the checking account anyway.</p>
<p>Hubby & I don’t really trust on-line financials all that much either–too many high profile hackings. I know computers make things easier–for us AND crooks!</p>
<p>Since S2 got his smart phone, he doesn’t need me as much anymore. He used to call me to check his e-mail when he didn’t want to return to the dorm to check it (now uses phone). He used to call me from the road somewhere, and ask “Where am I?” I’d wait until he told me a street sign, and then use MapQuest to give him directions. Now he has GPS on his phone. Used to call me to load money on his ID card at school. Now he can do it himself. I’ve become obsolete, except when his computer crashes.</p>
<p>Technology can replace parents? Who knew.</p>
<p>It really is good for young people to figure out things for themselves, whether using a smart phone or other tools rather than having a leash & calling us. My S eschews smartphones but does appreciate his GPS. D has very little sense of direction but is OK with her bike so far. D is trying to figure out how to manage her money & transfer from savings to checking but finds it challenging. She’ll get it one day. She did call yesterday for help with it, which was a pleasant surprise. S has rarely called about those issues. Heck he rarely calls about much of anything!</p>
<p>This thread has goaded me into working a bit more on facebook, which I have neglected most of the time. It is amazing how many people are on it that you CAN try to reach if the interest is mutual.</p>
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<p>That’s exactly why I pay all my bills online. There’s a record of my requested payment date and if the payment is late, the bank will pay all the late payments and correct any errors.</p>
<p>I do everything online. I even bought a high speed scanner to scan all paper bills, statements, receipts so we won’t have need of any paper records and get rid of the file cabinets at home.</p>
<p>I just did some research and found an old roommate from college on Facebook. Sent her a friend request. I’m not a complete idiot with technology.</p>
<p>You GO, Veryhappy!!!</p>
<p>I’m on Twitter, @AmidPrivilege. I blog, I have a Tumblr, I have a Flickr account, I have a Facebook page albeit rudimentary I have an iPhone. I’m blaming all those years in the software industry. That said, if you say hello on Twitter I will say hello back:).</p>