You know how these things change. I mean these computers and stuff. One day you are just figuring out Windows 7 and then it is gone and replaced with Windows 8. And you are lost. Again. (Repeat cycle)
And soon enough and sure enough you are fed up with all the changes and long for the good ol’ days when things worked like you understood them to work. And our hands shake with anxiety and frustration over the new features and new look of an old tool that essentially does the same thing but now looks completely different.
And it usually happens that the parts removed are some of the ones that you found the most valuable. You are left with an “upgrade” that you neither understand not does the very things you wanted it to do in the first place. (Repeat cycle)
And we curse at the inanimate machines and the “them” and “the “they” that are responsible for our endless nightmare of “updated”” “upgraded” and “improved” tools at our disposal to conquer the world around us.
It is at these times I am reminded of the “Going back to simpler times” and CK Lewis with his take on how everything is amazing and nobody is happy.
So I smile for a moment at the thought and go back to my white knuckled grip on my machine that is not doing exactly what I know it used to be able to do but now seems no longer capable of doing. And I curse them. Whoever the heck they are?
Most of the good things I have learned, like most people did not happen in a building and happened over an extended period of time. I think that may of my personal revelations happened standing alone on a trail in the Grand Canyon. On a hot trail. With no one around. And I stood there thinking “I’ll never get to the top.” Real and deep dismay. After doing that for some years every time I hiked in the Canyon I came to discover a thing I like to call “Patience.”
It helps me relax a bit when it comes to computers and machinery in general. It even helps me with politics. Lots of things work, like “just walking away.” Or maybe I finally actually ask a human for help rather than an endless search on Google and help forms from five years ago. And of course I’ll never actually think of interacting in real time with another human as I struggle with coming to some new understanding of how to make things happen. I’ll email someone and wait. And while I wait I get even more frustrated. I think about the CK Lewis clip. I smile for a moment.
More shaking and cursing and anxiety. It is as endless as the upgrades.
As I read what you wrote, I felt so a kin to what feelings you expressed. I have recently gone from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 and am taking two technology classes at the same time! So I have really been challenged, and continue to learn new things every day. Experimenting can be so time-consuming, yet rewarding if all goes well. Remembering the sequences and replicating good results takes major brain memory, in my opinion. Your reminder about patience and stepping away to think of calmer and better things for a time, is advice well taken. Thank you for sharing, as I view you as a super geek, and this lets me know that you share the most human of feelings when it comes to “advances” in technology.
Wow, it’s like you’ve been reading my mind or something. As I read your post I felt so convicted by the part talking about not asking for help when you needed it. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to reach out when the person isn’t right there. Even while learning about all of the ways to communicate face to face without actually being in the same place. It’s time to break that cycle.
I agree with Ashley. I have trouble reaching out when the person is not right there! Technology can be comical when you look at it that way. I am glad to see so many comedians saying what I would like to say. Sometimes, my frustration with technology becomes great. And I want to give up…but then…Todd to the rescue! I can finally laugh, finally get it, and be ok again…until the next challenge…!
I agree with Ashley. I have trouble reaching out when the person is not right there! Technology can be comical when you look at it that way. I am glad to see so many comedians saying what I would like to say. Sometimes, my frustration with technology becomes great.