By Don McNay
CNHI News Service

I believe in God, country and rock and roll, but the concept that gives me hope for the future is technology.

I’ve always been an "early adapter." I had a personal computer long before any of my friends did. Same with the cell phone, fax, e-mail, web and PDA. I got an iPad on the first day it hit the market, just like I did with the iPhone.

Spending money on technology has often been one of my better moves. Sometimes I am too far ahead of the curve - I had video conferencing 15 years ago but no one to conference with - but generally it pays off.

When used well, technology makes us more productive.

It can also be a distraction, stressful or a time waster.

Also, the caveat I use is that I want to be the first in my age group to use the newest gadget.

One of my grad school classmates was a computer pioneer and had an interesting insight. He said the best computer minds will always be high school and college students; they have the time and energy to learn new skills. More importantly, they don’t have to “unlearn” anything.

One of the things that keeps me from learning a new technology is that I am tied to concepts that are outdated.

I still have a land-line phone. I can’t rationally explain why, but I feel like the land line is more dependable. I rarely use my cell phone. I don’t like to text and resist it fiercely. I want people to e-mail, call or send a Facebook message.

If I were coming out of high school, I would probably be a texting fiend, but my tendency to be verbose is more suited to phone or email.

You can also see why my friends try to push me to send text messages. Not everyone is up for my hour-long calls or 1,000 word emails.

The key to embracing technology is figuring out how it can improve your situation.

Which brings me to the Google cars.

The New York Times had a fascinating article about a car Google is developing that can drive itself. I want one.

The article notes it will be a few years before robot-driven cars are commonplace. If it all plays out correctly, that will be about the time when driving becomes more difficult for me.

The article says the impact of automated cars on society could be as big as the Internet's. We won’t care about drunk drivers or people driving while they text. More than 37,000 people a year die in accidents, and that number would be dramatically reduced.

Although it will be a hip and new technology, the group it will immediately affect is senior citizens. Not being able to drive can force them to move from long established homes and feel dependent on people to drive them around. That all changes with the Google car.

I can see some resistance to turning your driving over to a computer. That is why I urge people to be early adapters in the own demographic.

You don’t need to know how to program an automated car. You just need to know how to turn it on.

It’s been a rough time for the American economy, and I don’t see it getting better soon. We have too many years of bad decisions and bad leadership to wring out of the system.

Technology gives me hope. I’ve been a fan of things like universal broadband, as it can allow people to live in small towns but do big business.

Technology tends to crunch bureaucracies and eliminate jobs, but it offers a creative person a chance to get ahead further and faster on their own. It makes us less dependent on big government and big businesses.

You don’t have to keep up with the nerds at the college computer lab, you just need to stay ahead of your peers. Those who do will be happier and more productive in the long run.

Don McNay is a financial consultant, chairman of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Ky., and a columnist for the Richmond Register. CNHI News Service distributes his column.