There are moments when the overwhelming impact of technology on our daily life seems to hit me like a ton of bananas. It wasn't so long ago that if you'd rattled off alphabet soup like "lol", "brb" or "ymmv" that I would have looked at you completely befuddled and requested a translator! Nonetheless, internet terminology now permeates our culture from a conversation with friends to telephone texting, movies, the office, and beyond.
We often forget it was only 50 years ago that American homes had (egad) only one television set. Music was contained on 45s and LPs (if youre asking what those are youre too young to read this blog!). Microwaves havent hit affordable public levels yet. As for computers? The first complete PC system wasnt even built until 1977!
Fast forward to 2010. Take a quick walk through your home and just start counting the items that have computerized elements or other bits of nifty technology. Youll be hard pressed to find any room that doesnt have at least one, if not several. Thats not necessarily a bad thing (although this big hairy ape still thinks its good to learn to do math without a calculator, and cook food that doesnt come from a box). Our dependence on technology is what makes the hairs on my back twitch nervously. Our society is loosing some arts and aptitudes very quickly (texting, for example, seems to have completely undermined the concept of just walking over and actually TALKING to someone even in the same house!).
Now you might be wondering what inspired this blog. I have a story to share. A few years back I needed to swing out to a store quickly before my eldest son went to work. He stayed behind to watch his sibling. I hurried through the isles, grabbed what we needed, checked out and all seemed well with the world. Got outside to my vehicle and got out my keypad. CLICK
Nothing.
CLICK CLICK
Still nothing. The car wasnt unlocking. I walked around to make sure it was the RIGHT vehicle. Yep, the license was right as were the bangles hanging off the rear view mirror.
CLICK. Still nothing. I am now panicking that my son will be late for work. So, I run to the nearest payphone and call the telephone number on the back of the locking mechanism. I explained to the help center my predicament to which I got the gentle, but bemused reply
Mam, have you tried using the KEYS? There it was. I had become so trained to use the little button that the perfectly obvious solution that was low-tech eluded me completely (much to my chagrin). Any doubts I ever had about the stories that come out of computer help desks were true vanished completely. I was now one of them!
The moral of the story is when the bells, whistles, and bright-shiny things dont work the way you expect, go back to tried-n-true. Count on your fingers and toes and remember to try the keys.