Glitchy Tech: A Digital Swiss Army Knife
Hmmm, why does technology keep leaving me twisting in the wind?
Yes, this is another bitch and gripe post about temperamental technology. The last few months have been frustrating to say the least. Feel free to tune out, if you must, while I vent.
Microphone, oh microphone, where for art thou?
Tech Glitch #1: The internal microphone in my laptop was mysteriously disabled. I could hear other participants in online meetings but not speak. Geek Squad tech support spent several hours working on the problem to no avail.
I had to take the laptop into the Best Buy to be sent back to HP (fortunately still under warranty) to get to the heart of the problem – something to do with a conflict with Microsoft Office. Apparently software problems sometimes have relationship issues just as we humans do.
Software, oh software, why will you not install properly?
Tech Glitz #2: When I got the laptop back, I had to reinstall all the after market software programs. Norton Driver Updater did not install properly. I had to uninstall and then reinstall it. This required a restart of my laptop. Simple, right? Not so much. My laptop froze up in the process. I had to force a shutdown and restart again.
Dishwasher, oh dishwasher, why are all your blinking lights out?
Tech Glitz #3: Our dishwasher, which is only a year old, stopped working. No blinking lights which meant it had no power. We had to wait a week for a Bosch technician to come and repair it. Back to hand washing dishes in the interim.
Camera, oh camera, why will you not focus?
Tech Glitz #4: The autofocus on my DSLR camera, which is also only a year old, stopped working. Canon tech support talked me through a reset which did not help. The camera has now been sent back to Canon for a warranty repair. Another relationship issue?
E-mail, oh e-mail, why will you receive but not send messages?
Tech Glitz #5: A day after sending my camera by courier to Canon, all outgoing e-mails started bouncing back from my service provider. I submitted a tech support ticket. Then it was the waiting game as I cooled my heels for a full 24 hours before they got around to fixing the issue.
Tech Glitz #6: The scan feature on my wireless printer stopped working. The screen display says the scan software needs to be downloaded. The scan software was there and now it is gone? How does that happen?
I have said it before: technology and I just do not get along. It does not like me and I do not like it. It is exasperatingly temperamental. So much complex circuity and programming jammed into it with seemingly endless ways that something can go awry.
A part of me yearns for the good old days before all this technology existed. Yes, we had to do a lot more things manually. Yes, we could not do some of the things that tech has enabled. But at times like these I think we have just replaced manual processes with hours and hours spent waiting for technicians to dig around in the guts of the beast trying to unearth what went wrong.
I have heard it said that using software is like having a digital Swiss Army Knife. But a real Swiss Army Knife is very simple to use and has never left me twisting in the wind. Technology and I will continue to have a love-hate relationship – the more so as it gets ever more complex and as I get older and crankier with age.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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