Don't let the title fool you, this is not a technology masterclass. Though, I can tell you it was the iPhone's fifth birthday yesterday. No, I'm a Luddite, the world's crappiest computer-user. Wikipedia says that technophobia is an irrational fear or dislike of advanced technology - but I'm not afraid, well apart from having a video close-up of my wrinkly face beamed across the world on Skype - I guess I'm just stubborn and lazy. I haven't got the time or the inclination to read through the instruction handbook. More of a silver slacker than a silver surfer. And everyone knows YouTube is the font of all knowledge, anyway.
So, Manhattan Brother has recently moved over to Mac. He calls to tell me to prepare for some Face Time, or was it Skype? Is it possible to do both at once? Kind of like stereo. Or a scene from Videodrome? Anyhow, I check all the settings on my phone ready to go face-to-face, fortunately I'm at a friend's house and she has a wireless network so we think we've got it covered. In New York, Wi-Fi is like oxygen, as Manhattan Brother reminds me every time he visits and ends up trawling the streets like an internet-junkie looking for his next connection. I may have carried on drinking the caffeine and cava this month, but 2012 is the year Wi-Fi will be installed at That's Not My Age Mansions. Anyhow. Back to Face Time. Now that my friend has found a magnifying glass to read the tiny Wi-Fi code on the box there's more frantic texting. But no video call. Manhattan Brother reminds me about the code, I text it to him. And wait. Nothing. In the end I pick up the phone and have a good, old-fashioned, trans-Atlantic telephone conversation, adding, ' Oh and by the way, I knew you couldn't log on from 5000 miles away. Honest.'
Technology doesn't always make life easier, as Joanna Lumley told the Mail this weekend. Lumley says she keeps her mobile phone switched off, would never join a social networking site and prefers to use pen and paper.
Tell me, how do you feel about technology? And now I'm off to make friends with someone who subscribes to WIRED.
Mixed.
ReplyDeleteI love a new gadget/phone/ipod/camera and hanker after an iphone. I have a first version ipad for browsing blogs, reading newspapers and my virtual shopping habit where I pile £1,000s of pounds into my basket and then never checkout! I find skype too complicated and am deeply distrustful of facebook. I love my paper diary and prefer books to e-books.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I am stressed by technology. While I love it, mainly because I love to do research, I am feeling pressured with my blog to be on many other social networking sites and I just do not have time....I really am amazed at those bloggers who are also on every other place available to promote their blogs...where do they get the time!! Also, I am old school, I prefer to hold books and newspapers in my hand and mark them up at will!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit like you - too stubborn and lazy to keep updating - I'm terrible with Mac's and I end up wanted to throw Iphones and TomTom GPS systems against the wall when I try to use them.
ReplyDeleteBut I do think when you get used to WiFi you will wonder how you ever lived without it!
ha ha, I needed a magnifying glass for that ridic code as well. A PR told me the funniest story yesterday about a colleague who complained to the IT guy that her mouse wasn't working. She had been using her MOUSE as a PEDAL (!!!) and operating it with her foot. JEEEEZ! (Was it you Alyson?)
ReplyDeleteI am too impatient to read the instructions of any technical gadget. No one here at home has the patience to guide me either.
ReplyDeleteSo I have learned, what I have learned, by trial/error.
For now, I am happy using the net my way: blogging, emailing, reading and searching for something.
I use my cellphone only for calling and answering, text messages and checking the time.
This is about enough for me.
I'm quite disciplined. I set time for social networking, and once time is up, I'm off. I don't have an iPhone, but Hubs did buy me an iPad and new Macbook this Christmas. I'm not great at "sucking and seeing"/trial and error, so I've ordered books to help me get the most out of them. But again, I set time for my iPad, and try not to waste time just surfing for the sake of it.I think there is a place for technology, but everything in moderation ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor me Technology is like 400 thread-count sheets or a Rolls Royce. If I don't have it I won't know what I'm missing. For now I really can't live without EmailFacebookEbayAmazonYouTubeHuluFandangoBlogspotWikipediaGoogleMapquestandTravelocity
ReplyDeleteI'm very afraid that if I get an iphone or ipad or kindle or skype I won't have time to live.
Disney - that's hilarious, and no it wasn't me!
ReplyDeleteSo true, you do need a magnifying glass to read the tiny numbers. Not even a cell phone here...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this topic. You've described me perfectly... except it is my stepson who is in the IT industry! I rarely use a mobile phone and love an ink pen and paper.
ReplyDeleteWarm regards
Ambivalent and sometimes very, very stupid.
ReplyDeleteI think I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I love it when I can get it to work but get extremely frustrated when it f****** up. I love it for getting information and connecting with people but sometimes wonder how it manages to take up so much of my time and what would I do with the hours if it didn't?
ReplyDeleteI love technology, embrace all of it passionately. My friends think I'm weird but my children are all for it.
ReplyDeleteHave to say living all the way in Oz I could not exist without 'Face to face' calls - i.e. Skype with the daughter in UK. And wonders of wonders I got an Iphone in December. Mind you it was the Iphone 3, (the first one) mainly because I liked the shape of it better. Some things never change! x
ReplyDeleteTechnology is a necessary evil for me. If I didn't have a blog, I don't think my business would have survived the recession...
ReplyDelete