I Need A Break: From Technology

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No – I am not about to punch my monitor, but I am so frustrated with the theme have been using for years. I used to love the theme, but then the company got sold, which is a modern thing that happens, and like many of the things that I was with for a while when they get sold – annoying things happen.

For a while I wasn’t having too much of an issue with it but of late I am – and so I think I am canceling my subscription.

What I’m using today is actually a free WordPress developed theme. We’ll see how that works.

I was always into modern technology. As a kid I wanted that Dick Tracy watch – I probably had a toy watch that I could talk to and do all those things with – now I don’t have a toy.

I now have a smartwatch. And yes, I can actually talk on it!!

And my phone? I rarely use it for phone calls but if I want to, I can see people on it when I talk to them – just like the old science fiction comic books, watches, and phones.

The first computer I actually had anything to do with was [I’m guessing] an IBM that took up a whole basement of a building in Boston and I was working with one of my grad school professors helping do the data analysis for one of his research projects.

Someone did the key punching. I don’t type so I would never offer to do that, but then the punched cards were fed into this huge machine, which did “stuff” with them. Somebody else programmed the computer and then at the other end after some amount of time, reams of green computer paper came spewing out of the computer and it was my job to do something with all of the info coming out of the computer.

I laugh now because I used to be very good at math and data analysis and now we have programs that give you all the answers. You don’t have to use your brain much anymore.

And that’s my love/hate situation with technology. I am at the point in my life where I no longer want to do all of the basic stuff myself. I don’t want to code. I don’t want to go under the hood and have to figure out all the things about making it work. I guess the saying is: been there done that.

It’s like with cars. I used to know how to work on engines because my father insisted I know how to do that before I was allowed to take the car out on my own – because he knew that I would be driving places where I wasn’t going to be near service stations. So I could do a lot of basic engine work. I’ve had cars as a grown-up that needed things done that I could do.

Now? I take it to the service station because it’s all computerized and I won’t fiddle with them anymore.

So I don’t hate technology. I’ve always loved it. I just hate when it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, but that’s more me than the technology. One thing I’ve learned since I started fiddling around with computers is that they have times they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, but then neither do people. [I do have a Ph.D. in Psychology.]

I’ve learned what happens in those times is I take a break: from the people, from the computers, from the cars, etc – and now I’m going to go out and play in my garden because for me, that’s a good break from technology.

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Comments

8 responses to “I Need A Break: From Technology”

  1. Doug W Jarvie Avatar

    I can relate to this.
    You probably also know that gardens don’t always do what they are supposed to do either. They get viruses and pests stealing from them.
    When the frustration dies, you can write about it in your journal.
    Blog on!

    1. Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. Avatar

      Thank you for your comment. I’ve been laughing since I read it. Yep gardens don’t always do what they’re supposed to do either and I’m thinking back through the last couple of years of crazy weather that I’ve had that have disrupted my plans for the garden. It didn’t do what it’s supposed to do even this summer … That’s why I’m planning on trying to grow things inside where I can control the environment a bit better than my controlling what is out there… And yes, some probably tomato worm has eaten one of my tomatoes, and I thought well as long as it keeps taking on the one at the end and sort of avoids the whole row of plants that are actually doing quite well this summer I’ll be happy!!

  2. Alice letts Avatar

    Oh wow 🤩 that is absolutely fascinating to hear your involvement with computers 💻 from such a long time back – and what changes you’ve seen in technology since then! And of course it never ends, does it?

    1. Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. Avatar

      Thank you for your comment. Yeah my son points out the changes that I have seen in my lifetime and it reminds me of the changes I used to talk to my mother about in her lifetime. And the watch I wear on my wrist or the phone that I carry in my pocket or purse can do much more than that computer that took up a whole basement. I marvel at the computers I’ve been through in my life and how I thought each one was so up-to-date. Nothing is ever up-to-date – the minute you get it up-to-date there’s a new up-to-date available. Like you said, it never ends.

  3. Kebba Buckley Button Avatar

    Lynn, good for you, getting out in the garden for that much-needed tech break! Being in the garden will raise your DHEA, the master hormone, and you will feel much refreshed. Most tech devices emanate EMF, electromagnetic frequencies, so whenever you work on your computer, you are absorbing EMF and getting tired. Going outside, the opposite. Going back in time: how well I remember the days of punch cards for feeding programs into computers! So noisy! And any computer from those days had less capacity than the laptop you’re probably reading this on. I remember when Dick Tracy’s watch phone was science fiction! I read that a watch could receive a signal. However, in, say, 1970, they had no location homing chip to find your watch phone, so it could receive a call. Well, you enjoy your break and take them regularly.

    1. Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. Avatar

      Thank you for your comment. Somehow those days of punchcards seem so much more idyllic. You had to wait until things happened, but then I remembered dial up modems that matrix printers and things where I had to wait now I want everything to work instantly just like everybody else. So I do know I need breaks when I get that way because we all need breaks – like the old days when they were forced on us because everything was slower. And I laughed because sometimes I hit the wrong button on my watch and it tells me where my phone is and I just laugh. Everything is so connected that’s good and bad. That’s another whole discussion.

  4. Lily Leung Avatar

    Yes, I think we all need to take a break from technology. I use WordPress, too. Seems easier than blogger. Sometimes it’s good to take a break from people, too. It’s too hot to play in the garden here now. It’s almost noon.

    1. Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. Avatar

      Thank you for your comment. I started a long time ago on blogger even before it was bought out. But for professional reasons, I went with WordPress and I like the system. It’s just that I haven’t figured out how to really make it work for me without using a paid for theme and that’s not even working these days. I like your idea – I take breaks from people too. And it’s been very hot here but it’s cooled off this week.

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