I love those scenes in science fiction where the character sits down to a strange 
computer—often alien with alien symbols, and with a few educated guesses hacks the computer system and saves the world. My experience with technology is… well, not so great.
In the past week alone I have hit enough problems to make me consider moving back to the not-so-good old days of black and white television (can’t go as far as no television—no thank you) and manual typewriters. OK, well, maybe not that far. I typed college term papers on a manual. What a pain. It took twice as long to type the thing as it did to research and write it, and I was a fairly decent typist.
Here is my weekly list of issues:
My “smart” phone has forgotten how to send photos to my computer. Mind you, I’ve been doing this for years, so it’s not like I don’t know how to do it.
My Kindle decided it didn’t want to open my latest purchase, so it stuck it in a never-ending cue. I’ve tried everything, including a nonsensical series of instructions from Google that included menu choices that don’t even exist. Amazon won’t let me repurchase the item, politely reminding me I’ve already purchased it. The local librarian finally reminded me I could probably download it to my computer. That worked, but is far less comfortable than sitting in my favorite recliner with the Kindle. Oh well, at least I get to read it.
Facebook decided I wasn’t allowed to post anything on my own author page. I got so frustrated with that one I haven’t tried again in a week.
I wanted to submit a story to a flash fiction contest in a Facebook group I belong to. Couldn’t PM the administrator because supposedly we aren’t “friends.” His profile didn’t have an “add friend” button, so he had to PM me before I could PM him back. Excuse me? I am a member of his group!
Technology is wonderful when it works. If you tried to pry my phone or my laptop away from me, you’d have a real battle on your hands. On the other hand, it’s no wonder our stress levels are ten times higher than in the not-so-good old days.
