As a fellow baby boomer, Richard McCarthy’s column about technology stuck very close to recent conversations I have recently had with friends [“Handling our devices,” Gazette, July 5].

I applaud Mr. McCarthy’s statement that technology does “not change the heart and soul of things for the better.” Growing up as a baby boomer, life as a child was very different than life as a child today in very many ways. The one basic attribute that most of our parents sought to teach us was to develop the skill of critical thinking in our everyday lives. This because critical thinking drives innovation and progress.

Much of today’s youth lacks the ability to critically think of a solution when faced with problems and or conflicts. The skill to stop, think, and develop a plan of attack to seek a solution is not put in play without running to Google or Siri. So as an “old, often disregarded baby boomer,” I am very grateful I grew up in our time of innovations that made our generation the people we became.

Laura Bogdanowicz

East Longmeadow