Technology and I don't always get along. I remember being about 24 or so and listening to my son's grandmother on his dad's side, say that she was just old enough not to have to put up with all the next tech coming out. She wasn't going to go out of her way to learn how to use a computer when the typewriter in her office worked just fine. She didn't want to have to be trained for a job she may only have for one or two more years before she retired. Over the next few years I watched her suffer and even be terminated by one employer for refusing to be trained to use their computer system. Her main complaint about it was that it was going to "take over the world" and I thought then she really sounded both old and pathetic. I was right, but now I'm that old and pathetic person.
I grew up with amazing high-end tech on one hand, because my dad worked for Western Union, and they were partnered with AT&T and Bell Telephone, Southwestern Bell to be specific. He was privileged to learn things that were literally decades ahead of their time; people would never have been ready to accept what all he had his hands on in 1967! I remember sitting at a desk in his office and watching a "monitor" that looked like a stylized television set. He turned it on from another place in the office. His face appeared right in front of me. It wasn't television; it was intranet. It was being used by the military and some government offices. It was a big big secret. We could talk through a microphone to each other. That was so cool
He could also turn off the electricity in our house from the office. He could put in codes and numbers and do the same with anyone's house if he wanted to, but he told me that would be invading their privacy. It was, however, a trick the government or police could use in cases of emergency, such as when someone was robbing a bank and the vault had an electric latch! Can you imagine? Again, that was 1967. I was 5-6 years old and really learning stuff. I wish I had stuck with it. I grew up and started forgetting stuff.
Now, sometimes, not all the time, Tech and I have arguments. Usually, Tech wins and I have to use other Tech to find out what my problem is; sometimes I learn, and other times I cuss my head off, turn blue, spit, and scream until someone else comes to save my ass. It's just the way it is, and no, I won't apologize for it. I'm trying to do a better job with it. Let me give you an example or two.
About four years ago now, I bought an Mp3 download of an LP from a guy in Scotland. I didn't know what I was doing, it wasn't opening. I wrote to him, and he tried to explain it, but whatever he was telling me to do, my computer just flat didn't have the same words, tabs, labels, whatever. Turns out I was using a newer version, and they didn't always have the same labels or locations for the means in which to find the data. He didn't know how to help; I didn't know how to just say OK, never mind. It took a few times before either of us realized the issue; and yeah, I felt really stupid. Then, because of the places I went to go find what I needed, I accidentally invited a hacker into the mix, and within minutes of me downloading the Mp3, $99 had been taken out of my PayPal account.
The next day my bank called me to see if I had made a purchase of $99.00 from a person in the UK; I had not. I told them it was about $15.00, and they said that there were two transactions. I KNEW the man hadn't taken my money. I just knew he had not done that, so I wrote to him, letting him know what happened, and I showed him all the correspondence from my bank. He was of course upset about it, thinking I was blaming him, but I wasn't. I swear, I was not. I just wanted to let him know if it was happening to me, it may be happening to others.
Well, he couldn't replicate it, and guess who was blamed....me. Turns out the bank investigated it and found that his site did have a problem in that it was attached to a crawler or something, and it came from his personal website. I sent the information to him again, he closed down the site, and he thanked me, but still, there was that underlining issue of him thinking I was blaming him when really, I was not. TECH bites.
Then today, I was using my Word program to start a new book and on its own for NO REASON decided to not do page breaks. I could use the Show/Hide feature and see it, but it wasn't actually breaking like I like to see, which is literal space between pages! WHY? There was NO REASON for it. I had not gone into the program to change my preferences, but when I used Google to find answers it told me to go into my preferences. OK, where do I find those? I had to Google that too, and you guessed it, Windows 11 is different than other versions, so I'm over here cussing and swearing (screaming) that the directions online suck! They lie! They're full of shit! I was not nice.
I decided to be logical. I accepted the fact that Windows is a good program, but that the newer version had made changes I really can't understand or like. I thought about how I would VIEW the page, and it hit me; instead of going to the Layout page as was directed, I went to the View page and moved the cursor over the icon of the single page rather than where it had somehow been placed. I now have my page breaks the way I like them, but the fact remains that the Google instructions for Windows 11 were not correct. This happens to me all the time. Someone on a video will assume I know where to go, they'll start their instruction and I'll be like "NO, I don't know where to find that page!! WAIT". It's so dumb. So often, and so me.
I try to breathe and think when Tech and I have these disagreements. I know Tech will win every last time, so I need to keep up with it. I realize that by not keeping up with it I will only suffer and cause others to suffer as well; that doesn't stop me from wanting someone much younger than I am to come along and help me. I gave birth for this VERY REASON!! At least I know I have some help with Google if I can't find a kid willing to help me. Now that my grand are 10 and 12 years old I have an entire new generation of geeks to lean on, and that makes me really happy.
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