Our current generation is so much more advanced that I could ever imagine. Everything is digital, electronic, and basically…instantaneous. There are cell phones that are actually mini computers. And who needs a physical office when you can do just about everything on the portable IPAD that has (almost) replaced the laptop?

The things that are available today just boggle my mind. And with the touch of a couple of buttons, you can download just about every application under the sun. Just yesterday, I heard of a new app called Google Goggles. Have you heard of this? In my mind, I envisioned little mini binocular-like goggles that attaches to your phone. I wasn’t too far off. You see, with Google Goggles, you can use pictures to prompt a search vs. text or vocal input. When you take a photo using Goggles, the app scans the image, matches your picture against some sort of database and returns the results.

Let’s say you’re in Paris and come across the Eiffel Tower. You wonder to yourself “What is THAT?” (as if that would really happen because who wouldn’t recognize the Eiffel Tower, but for the sake of this conversation, let’s say it happens). You can take a picture of the Tower and Goggles will come back, telling you just about everything you want to know about this famous landmark. What about restaurants? Can’t read Italian? No worries. Take a photo of the Italian menu and let Goggles translate it for you.

I can see my kids getting wrapped up with all this technology stuff. It’s already started. My kids (especially my 6 year-old son) are very proficient when it comes to anything electronic or computerized. We have to constantly keep our computer locked because if we don’t, we’ll find all sorts of things downloaded. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I sometimes have a hard time keeping up and have to ask my son how he did this or that.

Take video games, for example. My son knows that if he wants to play Xbox, he needs to wait until dad gets home because mom doesn’t always know how to set up the system (or maybe it’s intentional so he won’t play so much video games…). I’m always trying to get my son to entertain himself with something that’s not always computerized. I bought classic board games like Connect Four and Trouble to take my kids back to a time when computers were non-existent. Unfortunately, Connect Four isn’t as exciting as Halo and you can’t shoot anyone playing Trouble.

I guess I can’t blame my kids for playing video games. There was a time when I was the Queen of Video Games and having the high score was nothing new. When I was pregnant with my son, Tom would come home from work and catch me having played Xbox’s Pac Man World for hours. I would play for so long that my eyes were dry and my thumbs had calluses. And Tom and I would argue over who got which controller because one would always stick.

Oh well. I guess if I want to keep up with the times and be relevant in today’s society, I better play the game, so to speak. In fact, I’m already secretly eyeing the Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged game. Like they say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. This time, however, I plan on having eye drops sitting next to me and will do thumb exercises to strengthen my fingers…