I'm a 76-year-old baby boomer who has kept up with technology. It's helped me grow in my career and stay relevant.

Aug 02, 2026 06:07 PM - 1 month ago 544

Beth Sobiloff taking a selfie successful beforehand of a machine surface that has a video editing package open

When I took a typing people astatine 14, small did I cognize I was building a instauration that would thief maine support up pinch technological changes complete the adjacent respective decades.

After college, I spent years moving arsenic a secretary, agency manager, and eventually, executive assistant. My typing skills helped, but I was besides forced to turn on pinch exertion — from manual typewriters to electrical typewriters to computers.

The various jobs that I held were ne'er very fulfilling aliases challenging, but being a single mother pinch 3 children near maine small clip to make a profession move. That changed erstwhile my youngest became a teenager.

The World Wide Web was born

In 2000, the net was growing, and companies were starting to person their ain websites to marketplace their businesses. I took a webmaster people because it seemed for illustration designing websites was thing I would like, and that changed everything.

I did good successful the class, chiefly because I was acquainted pinch machine programs and really to activity pinch them. Web improvement languages were not excessively difficult, but they pushed my method skills to the adjacent level. My keyboarding skills were a plus.

After the class, I learned astir business networking and started a freelance web design business.

Tech started to alteration rapidly

The exertion down building a website has changed drastically complete the past 2 decades. Had I not continued to study astir and clasp caller technology, I would not person been capable to proceed my business.

These advances affected not only really a website was constructed, but besides really a small-business owner marketed his/her business. Ads successful the yellowish pages became societal media posts. It was my occupation to guideline my clients done each of these changes truthful that their businesses would survive. Therefore, I was forced to study and usage them myself.

Still, astatine times, I fought change. As cellphone exertion advanced, I was wished not to commencement texting until I realized that my children ne'er responded to my telephone calls, only matter messages. Then clients began communicating via matter message, and I really had to judge that texting was present to stay.

My exertion skills translated from computers to cameras

In 2014, erstwhile I decided to create a organization tv show called "Two Grannies connected the Road" arsenic a broadside project, caller exertion was erstwhile again forced upon me.

I had to study to run new, much analyzable video instrumentality and edit the videos we created. This was a overmuch easier process because of my web creation experience.

Over the past twelve years of creating videos, this exertion has changed tremendously arsenic well.

Change is inevitable

The instruction for maine is that things are ever changing, and if you're not growing, you're shrinking. I'm ever advocating that baby boomers are not irrelevant. But we whitethorn look that measurement to the remainder of the world if we are fighting difficult to support things the aforesaid arsenic they've ever been, particularly erstwhile it comes to technology.

Admittedly, it gets harder to study caller things arsenic we get older. However, that learning has been shown to thief support our minds sharp.

I'm now 76, walking astir my state, and posting astir my travel connected societal media. I wouldn't beryllium capable to do each of this if I hadn't kept up pinch tech.

Looking backmost complete the years, I'm very gladsome I chose to clasp changes successful technology.

Beth Sobiloff is simply a grandmother, web designer, knitter, and laminitis of the "Two Grannies connected the Road."