The Perils of New Technology

Is it me? Am I just getting old? I find the increasing pace of technological change a little bewildering. Yet I was using technological devices almost as soon as they appeared.

My first mobile phone was shaped like a brick and weighed a ton, but at least it was relatively simple. I’ve had quite a few since then and my current model boasts so many add-ons that I do not understand and will never use. Added to this it is small and disappears in my handbag, resulting in the mad scramble to find it on the odd occasion that it does ring (I’m a texting girl!). Whenever I get comfortable with a device, it seems to need upgrading or dies.

The criteria for my first portable pc (note: not laptop) was whether I could carry it! I remember it weighed as much as my sewing machine and I was in danger of dislocating my arm when I took it to another office. Yet again though, I got good at using it and I used most of its facilities. Who would have envisaged how reliant we would be on these machines (especially writers). My laptop of eighteen months died a couple of weeks ago and I felt as if my right arm had been cut off. There was no question of not replacing it – how could I function without it? My new one arrives tomorrow, purple and shiny, and no doubt engendering another phase of insecurity as I learn its foibles.

My husband is a gadget man and likes to have the latest products. Consequently, our wardrobes and garage are a technological graveyard and we have more computerised game devices than is healthy. At least it means he can sort out my technology problems. I went into apoplexy when my laptop died as I had just written some (to me) important things. Not phased, he appeared with yet another device, dismantled my pc, took out the hard drive, and retrieved my documents onto this ancient desktop pc on which I am now typing. My hero (in more ways than one)! New technology is fine as long as it keeps working.

So wish me luck tomorrow with a new generation of pc all shiny and bewildering.