The reasons why Baby Boomers despise technology so much is simple: we weren’t brought up with it. We enjoyed a fruitful existence where technology was limited to a telephone, the kind that was stuck to the wall and came with an extra long cord so we could still kind of walk around the house. Oh, and then there was the fax and the microwave, both of which we still confuse us no end. Nowadays, though, everything runs on tech and it is quite something to get our heads around.

Laptops, smartphones, tablets, online banking, shopping, researching, booking holidays and staying in touch with long-lost friends through the medium of social media. It is all new to us. We’re not saying it isn’t amazing, we’re just saying it can take some getting used to, and by the time we have got used to something, we’re three generations behind the latest releases. There are all these new devices, and iOS systems, and apps, all of which makes us a feel a little bit dizzy.

With that said, it is so important that those in The Baby Boomer generation don’t give up or get left behind because technology is designed to make everyday life that much simpler and that much easier. It is meant to make us more efficient at dealing with life. So, to help you reap the benefits of technology, we have come up with a list of five bits of tech that you should get your hands on a get to grips with. Why? Because they are the kind of things that could be classed as essential for the likes of us.

Get Yourself A Fitness Tracker

The basic definition we can give you is this: a fitness tracker is an electronic bracelet you wear around your wrist that records your physical activity (or lack of) and then relays this back to you. Now that may sound utterly ridiculous to you, and perhaps even a tad convoluted, but it works. Yes, it may take a week or so to get used to wearing this thing, but once you do, wow, you can track just about everything you want. The number of steps you’ve taken that day, how much deep sleep you got, your average heart rate and just about every kind of health related data that could kick start you into caring more about your health which, let’s be honest, is kind of important at our age. Not only is it important, it gets progressively harder. But knowing what we have achieved and what we have left to do is a great way of staying fit. Of course, you should look at the website http://www.techradar.com/ to make sure you get one to suit your needs. Anyway, the best bit about all of this, though, is the fact the fitness tracker does pretty much all of the work for you. Seriously, it is really simple to use, which should be music to your ears.

The iPad Is The King Of All Tablets

That may not be a unanimous statement that sits well with the tech community as a whole, but in terms of easy-to-navigate tablets that will benefit the Baby Boomer generation, yeah, it’s the best. Not only is it easy to use, it is also fun to use too. As USNews described it, “The Apple iPad is this generations must-have digital coffee book.” The touchscreen makes it easy to use and the way it all links up makes it fantastic for communicating and sharing. Yes, you will have to get used to constantly being asked to log in to your iCloud account, which is incredibly annoying even for the most tech-savvy Millennial, but as http://www.icloudlogin.com/ explains, it isn’t actually as impossible as it seems. You can FaceTime with your grandkids, keep up to date with images of your favorite people and get all the apps you could possibly want to make your life that much more awesome, one of which we are about to delve into now.

The News Accumulating App

To suggest Baby Boomers haven’t got the slightest clue about how the internet works or how to navigate it would be about as truthful as one of Donald Trump’s tweets. We are perfectly comfortable with using it. In fact, we are quite proficient on this front. However, we do still tend to read newspapers and watch the six o’clock news for the simple fact we haven’t quite gotten used to the new ways of consuming news, which is pretty overwhelming. If you’re nodding your head furiously at that statement, then getting a news accumulator app is going to change your existence (a little bit). The best one is the Apple News app (which comes with the latest iOS software update). Ust set your preferences and watch the magic happen, by which we mean watch as the app pulls in news articles from across the world, making this whole news-navigating thing a million times easier. Yes, a million times.

Please Get The Amazon Echo

You’ve probably come across Siri; the voice of your phone that is pretty much nothing more than a gimmick to make you smile, like when you say to Siri, “I see a little silhouetto of a man”. Well, the Echo is a lot like that, in the sense that it is straight out of a sci-fi movie, with the only difference being it is for your home. Of course, the smarter you make your home, the more amazing it becomes. But to get you starters, you can ask things like the weather forecast, what the traffic is like on your route to work, to play your favorite playlist,  and just about anything else you fancy. Okay, so this probably does sound like a gimmick too, but it is definitely the way the future is going. Besides, it can make navigating the internet in search of relevant information a lot easier, which has to be a good thing.

Basically, what we are trying to explain is, the right gadgets, bits of tech and know-how can actually improve your day to day life and free you from the quotidian chores that you can remember being so hellish in the pre-technological age. Yeah, they basically allow you to have more to enjoy life, while also giving you the added benefit of what they are meant for; whether it be staying fit or sharing photos on iCloud. In short, these bits of useful tech are there to be enjoyed.