In this episode we have a discussion about the tech we use and how it helps us in our daily life and also how being tech-savvy could make you more productive.

The

topic for this week’s episode of the Self-taught Novice Podcast is ‘Being Tech

Savvy’. Being tech savvy basically means having a well-rounded idea on how you

can exploit technology to enhance your daily living. The mere fact that we are

living in the digital age does not imply that all persons are tech savvy. There

are still quite a number of people who find it difficult making use of

seemingly simple devices like the mobile phone.

Our

educational system is mostly certificate-driven. Most students are not aware of

and do not consider the possibilities of taking online courses as options in

their education. But there are more learning opportunities available online. We

cannot learn it all though, but then we need to have a fair idea of what goes

on around us in the tech space.

The

internet is a place of learning. There are those who have managed to navigate

the internet and identify with the tech environment so much that they are able

to exist in the tech space in a social way. For most people, the internet is

just a social tool for communication. They are unable to fully navigate and

exploit the available resources to a meaningful end because they are not tech

savvy enough. They do not realize the many opportunities and are not able to

make good use of them. This takes us back to S02E04 of the Self-taught Novice

Podcast which focussed on using algorithms to our advantage – we need to

understand the ecosystems in which we word so as to be effective. Do have a

listen to that episode in case you missed it.

The

internet is not just all tech stuff; it is a community. We cannot isolate tech

and humanity, the two now go hand-in-hand. WhatsApp, for example, is a tech

tool, but it integrates society’s quest for easy communication.

Tech

can be incorporated in our day-to-day activities. The Google Search Engine may

be used for mundane activities like looking up songs and their lyrics, actors

and their family lives and so on. Here are some tricks to help you maximize the

use of the Google Search Engine. If you want to find a cluster of keywords

together, for example, ‘pinkball photoshop’, enter ‘pinkball+photoshop’

instead. The latter gives a more tailored search result than the former. When

searching for PDF files, JPEG, or PNG files, simply attach .pdf, .jpeg or .png respectively

to the name of the file.

Some

people are of the view that search engine optimization is ruining many

businesses. Most people hardly go beyond the second page of the search results;

all the content beyond the second page then form some ‘dead zone’ – The first

page is not the best bet for finding the right information, you need to comb

through all the pages.

In

addition to making use of e-learning opportunities and search engines, we need

to know how to responsibly use tech for entertainment. Responsibility is

relative and differs from person to person. However, besides that, you must

budget your internet time wisely. Working for long hours without leisure would

surely cause you to burn out; how we spend our leisure time would affect our

productivity during our working hours. 

Vimeo, Facebook Watch, Instagram, YouTube, amongst others are all

available; you decide how best you define your entertainment.

There

are a lot of people who underuse their smartphones and other tech gadgets