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Read Talking Digital by talkingDigital in the Beacon Senior News

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About two years ago, I was asked to write a monthly tech column for BEACON Senior News, a monthly newspaper that features content targeted at the 50+ market. Being asked to write a column for the BEACON is an honor because I was the assistant editor of the paper for two years, shortly after I graduated from Colorado Mesa University.

Seniors are my favorite market segment when it comes to technology education. I like to say that we are all digital pioneers, but some of us were born along the trail.

Technology can be frustrating for those who still remember the wonders of their family’s first television set. While the current generation graduating from college can barely remember the dial-up tones of connecting to 28.8 AOL. I try to take advantage of any opportunity I can that allows me to help explain smartphones, internet concepts, personal computers, or the latest gadget using terminology and analogies that the less tech-savvy can easily understand.

Over the next few days and weeks, I will be updating talkingDigital with columns that I have written for the BEACON over the past two years. As I post, I will be sure to update the columns so that they are relevant to the day I post them here on the blog.

13

02 2018


by Adam Cochran
posted in BEACON, digital lifestyle
No Comments

Crisis communication: Using Facebook to keep family and friends close – BEACON – Oct 2017

In 2010, my daughter began having mysterious health problems. We spent a lot of time traveling to Children’s Hospital in Denver while doctors tried to pinpoint a diagnosis and treatment.

My family is active in the community, and my wife and I each have a lot of family members. My daughter had her own group of friends, too. All of these worried people wanted regular updates about our medical situation.

We felt loved, but it was extremely difficult keeping up with all the phone calls and emails. Communicating with everyone became almost as much of a burden as the health problems.

Finding a better way

I used to help snowbirds create free blogs so they wouldn’t have to spend time writing letters and emails to friends and family back home. I would teach people how to post pictures and updates, and answer common questions about their day-to-day adventures. That’s one way to keep a group of people updated.

When my daughter got sick, I realized there was another way: Facebook is a built-in crisis management tool.

What Facebook can do

In addition to allowing individuals to create accounts for online personal interaction, the platform also provides the ability to set up groups and pages.

A group allows people to join and communicate with each other, even if they aren’t friends on Facebook. For example, if you’re a member of a club, you may find a group useful for communicating outside of regular meetings.

A page allows people to like a certain topic and then receive updates from the page’s creator.

In our case, we decided to create a “Get Well” page for our daughter, where we posted messages, videos, pictures and other updates about her progress. Anyone who liked the page could comment on it.

Almost instantly, our communication dilemma went away. We felt like we were being cared for, our friends felt like they knew what was going on, and we could read comments and respond at our convenience.

Don’t miss out

If you have family on Facebook but you aren’t there, you’re missing out on continuous updates, photos and even reports of the mundane that will make your network seem closer.

This is not an attempt to persuade you to begin posting selfies or playing games on Facebook. But just as television has a lot of garbage with worthwhile programs mixed in, Facebook has entire channels featuring messages and updates from the people you love most.

01

10 2017


by Adam Cochran
posted in BEACON, digital lifestyle
No Comments

Know thy enemy – a glossary of online bad guys – BEACON – Feb 2017

In third grade, my friends and I found a dartboard by the shallow irrigation ditch where we spent all summer keeping cool.

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After we grew tired of throwing the darts into the dartboard, the grass, the walls, etc., we realized that if you throw a dart high into the air, it makes a spark when it hits the pavement. This provided hours of fun—until a dart came back down and stuck neatly into my friend’s little brother’s head, that is. He lived, and we learned a lesson about having siblings nearby when we did stuff like that.

Tools, toys and technology all have something in common: They can all be dangerous if misused. Education can prevent you from becoming a victim of the misuse of technology.

One of the biggest problems to overcome is that negative tech terms are often incorrectly used interchangeably. Here, we’ll define some common terms that are important to know.

Clickbait

Friends on Facebook love sharing articles with headlines like, “15 reasons why you shouldn’t drink water. I did No. 5 this morning!” These stories are written to get you to click on them, because when you do, the site where the story is posted makes money from its advertisers. Clicking on these won’t hurt your computer—it’s just sensationalism for profit.

Hacker

This is a person or group of people who gain remote access to a computer system. It may be done to control the system or to access information stored on the computer.

Hoax

A hoax doesn’t hurt your computer at all, it’s just a lie perpetuated by internet users. It can be dangerous to fall for a hoax, but it’s usually just a waste of time and better to ignore. Nobody’s giving away 15 RVs on Facebook and the government isn’t going to tax email.

Malware

Any type of bad software falls under the malware category. Viruses, ransomware, extortionware, adware and bloatware are all varieties of malware.

Ransomware

This type of malware scrambles all the document and image files on your computer, making it inaccessible until you pay the criminals who created the program whatever money they demand. Hospitals and schools are the most common targets of ransomware.

Scam

A scam is a method used by bad guys to get you to send them money. Scams can be very simple hoaxes that con people out of their money, or complex tricks that fool you into thinking you’re giving money to a good cause.

Virus

There are very few virus-like programs that can take over your computer without your permission and spread to others. Most malware today tricks you into installing it yourself. Before you install an update or agree to download a program, examine it closely. It might be a new type of virus that antivirus programs.

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01

07 2017


by Adam Cochran
posted in BEACON, digital lifestyle
No Comments

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