Okay, I admit it....I am quite illiterate when it comes to computers. It took me until only four years ago to accept email as a part of my life, and only then because I was being left out of workplace communications from my orchestra.
I have tried running a website for my jewelry business which was a bust (I don't get how to direct traffic to a website without spending alot of money on listings).
I am now blogging (instead of jogging, which would be better for my health) to see where this goes, only I have all kinds of problems figuring out how to work all of the bells and whistles on the dashboard. For starters, half the time I can't even get a cursor to show up in the text box when I want to start a new post. Apparently you have to do things in a very specific order, but instructions on how to proceed aren't anywhere handy. Isn't there some kind of tutorial on how to operate this setup? I certainly can't find it.
My better half is just as in-the-dark as I am, if not more. When he tries to do something online I inevitably am called into the computer room with a "what did I do?" kind of question. Sometimes I can help, other times my reply just annoys him. He's the kind of person who will hit an elevator button repeatedly until the car shows up, as if that helps. On a computer, the system remembers every push of the button, and quickly gets stuck in a virtual traffic jam when you behave so impatiently.
Both of us used to be tops at figuring out the latest technological wonders, from VCR's to garage door openers (what....you don't know what a VCR is???........ 8-track?). He actually was a computer whiz, back when computers had black-and-white screens. These days the sheer speed with which stuff becomes obsolete rivals the depreciation of your new car's value as you drive it off the sales lot. Including the technology inside the car itself.
The word "devices" is getting on my nerves, and makes me long for the days when every other t.v. commercial was a salvo in the cola wars rather than something techno. We just can't keep up. We don't WANT to keep up. Both of us have experienced the black hole that is web surfing. The time warp which steals hours of your day sitting in front of that glowing box, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling..........
The only reason either of us goes near the computer is because everyone else is umbilically tied to it. We can't do business without it. Yep, that's right...It's YOUR fault! If you and the rest of the world weren't so gadget-happy, we could have gone on our paper-trail way, doing things the way we are comfortable doing them. SLOWLY!
Okay, sorry for that little bout of displaced agression.......It isn't really your fault. It is...... my favorite word....... entropy at work. Technology is advancing faster than we can adapt to it's potential, and eventually the order that defined the beginning of the computer age will deteriorate into utter chaos and implode. 3-D printers will be the downfall of commerce as we know it. When anyone can print anything they want, the whole of manufacturing will come to a screeching halt. Everything except the companies that manufacture 3-D printers. Hundreds of thousands of people could lose their jobs, intensifying the rift between the haves and have-nots into something very scary. Revolution, anyone? Hoooo, after reading what I just typed I think I need some sleep......
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