I love technology and I’m excited by technological advances. In fact, I want to make a yearly pilgrimage to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas when I retire. But while I am completely fascinated by innovation and the promise of greater efficiency, I realized that I am woefully falling behind each year in my utilization of it.
At work this past week, we had a training facilitated by one of our computer techs to maximize our use of the email and calendar system. He admitted from the start of the training that we will likely only use about 10% of the features available, but that was normal. I was awestruck by some of the features he showed us and even incorporated a couple of them right away. It was crazy to realize during the training that my computer and operating system were actually obsolete in terms of the software he presented. Because of all the moving and reorganizations that occurred, my scheduled upgrades had been missed. And I never noticed! I could do everything I thought I wanted or needed to do. Until the tech started showing us features that my old system wasn’t capable of doing, I would have continued on with my old computer and Windows 10 operating system. So, I’m scheduled to get a whole new computer and the newest operating system in the next couple of weeks.
But this just brings me to my point. It is easy to get stuck and to fall behind when it comes to technology and to never even realize what you’re missing. A couple of summers ago, I laughed at my aunt’s flip phone and then showed her all the cool features and things I could do with my smart phone. Thankfully, she now has a smart phone and I hope she’s utilizing at least some of the conveniences it provides. I find with each passing year, that I’m not much better than my aunt because I still have an iPhone 6. I’ve refused to spend the money to upgrade to latest and greatest because I’ve grown accustomed to the one I have. I don’t know what I’m missing by not upgrading to the newest technology. Admittedly, I’ve avoided going into the Apple Store to see because I’d probably leave with a new phone. But my aunt and I are not alone in our tendency to get stuck.
As I begin preparations for my family’s reunion in 2020, I’m finding that we have to prepare for family members on all levels of technology use. I actually stuffed and mailed 136 letters to family members who lacked email addresses. Most with emails, didn’t respond for days, if at all. I learned from one person with an email address that she didn’t know how to scan and attach documents to an email and so would rather just mail things to me. We are preparing to receive payment via check, Pay Pal and Zelle. I had family members email me to tell me that certain family members don’t do technology at all. So, expecting everyone to register on-line for the reunion is a no-go. Others told me they preferred text messages over emails. We are in a constant state of flux as technology progresses and individuals move along at their own comfortable pace.
My daughter, who is a technology master, insisted that we share everything related to our reunion planning on Google Docs and Google Sheets and I’m fine with that, but I had a moment of pause the other day when I opened Google Sheets to record expenses for postage stamps and copies only to find that the expenses had already been posted. I felt like the bank and Google Sheets had become “Big Brother” knowing and recording for me these expenses even though I had not connected the two accounts. It’s like that feeling you get when you’re shopping on-line and the item you looked at but didn’t purchase mysteriously shows up in your Facebook feed. After the shock wore off, I thought, well, this was going to save me a lot of time. But when I mentioned what occurred to my daughter, she informed me that the expenditures showed up on her family reunion bank account app and she entered the expense on Google Sheets. I was both relieved and disappointed.
Which brings me to apps. I have so many of them. Every good idea, including online banking, seems to become an app for me. I counted and then recounted the apps on my phone for this blog because I couldn’t believe that I actually have 125 of them. That is six pages of apps! So, today, I’m going old school, Martha Steward housekeeping on my cell phone apps. If I haven’t used it or don’t need it, I’m getting rid of it. I might also do the same with the 1,714 photos I have stored on my phone.
I love technology, but it is nearly impossible to keep up with.