Since I am the World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist®, everyone always assumes I’m a techy. There is almost nothing further from the truth.  I have always loved math, duplicate bridge, and analysis (mostly of people), but my use of technology (and robots) to date is strictly as a user, not as an innovator or a hardware/software expert.  I revere the engineers I work with, all of whom are either creating new technology, or are at least early adopters looking to modify existing technology.  I, on the other hand, see the message on my iPhone “Download the iOS7” and quickly close the message, unwilling to spend the time to learn something new even if it may have benefits such as faster speed.

I listen to my iPhone peers complain as they experience the sometimes excruciating learning curve. “I can’t believe I just downloaded this!” they exclaim.  “It’s so different!  Where did everything go?” I know that in a few weeks or months’ time, they will have adapted to the new look as well as its functions, and see the benefits of the upgrade.  Luckily, as a late adopter, I wait and watch the others figure things out, and then I get the scoop and the time saving tips.

My 91 year-old mother, on the other hand, considers me the Bill Gates of the family; and yes, that’s because she doesn’t have a computer.  She does have a WebTV, which makes my iPhone look like something out of Star Trek. The WebTV takes care of her basic needs, mostly email, but because it’s so slow, she leaves all other surfing up to me.

It is I, she says, “who puts in all this time to take care of her other needs” – needs being any e-commerce or research. She has no idea that requests take seconds, occasionally minutes, to fulfill.  “Thank you so much for all your hard work in ordering my Benecol Chew Tabs”, she says, or “Thank you so much for all the info on the AARP Safety Course.”  Like copying and pasting from a print view had me up all night.  I may soon lose my ‘golden daughter’ title if she upgrades to an Apple device upon my next visit.