I Spent 30 Years Keeping Up With Technology—Then AI Changed How I Learn

Thirty years ago, when I first entered university, writing a report meant putting pen to paper.

By my second year, professors began asking us to type assignments on a word processor. A few years later, another change arrived:

“Submit your report by email.”

I still remember creating my first email address.

Each new technology meant learning something unfamiliar all over again.

And now, more than 30 years later, I'm a college student again—this time in my 50s, studying AI.

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1. 📟 I Grew Up Alongside Technology

My generation didn't grow up with smartphones. We learned new technology as it appeared.

I still remember carrying a pager. When it beeped, I had to find a public phone to call back.

Then came mobile phones.

Then smartphones.

And now, AI.

📟 Pager → 📱 Mobile Phone → 🌐 Smartphone → 🤖 AI

Technology kept changing, and I kept learning.

Sometimes, though, I wondered:

“How many more new things do I have to learn?”

Then I returned to university in my 50s.

This time, I had chosen to study one of the biggest technological changes yet: artificial intelligence.

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2. 🤖 Then AI Did Something Different

At first, I thought AI would simply be another technology I needed to learn.

Instead, something unexpected happened.

AI started helping me learn technology.

When I don't understand a setting, I can ask for a simpler explanation.

When I see an unfamiliar screen, I can ask what to do next.

And when I want to learn a new tool, I can ask AI to guide me through it step by step.

Recently, I even did something that would have sounded strange to me not long ago:

I asked ChatGPT to teach me how to use ChatGPT.

 I started with ChatGPT's settings and then built a learning plan to explore its features one by one.

That's when I realized what felt so different about AI.

For the first time, a new technology isn't only something I'm trying to catch up with. It's also helping me catch up.

For me, this may also be one way AI can help narrow part of the digital divide—not by removing the need to learn, but by making it easier to begin.

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🌱 What I Learned

Thirty years ago, I was a university student writing reports by hand.

Today, I'm a junior collegey student again—this time learning AI.

Technology hasn't stopped changing, and I haven't stopped learning.

The difference is that now, some of the technology I'm learning can help teach me, too. 🌱

And I've discovered another unexpected teacher along the way: my own blog.

Every time I try to explain what I've learned about AI, I notice what I don't fully understand—and end up studying it again.

In my next post, I'll share why writing about AI made me realize I was actually studying it twice. ✍️🤖