There can be so much anger in this world sometimes. I can feel it on the roads as I drive home, I can feel it at mid-season sales when there are no sizes left, and I can feel it most when something technological, something that is supposed to WORK, the way I want it to and when I want it to, fails on me.
I have recently had a lot of trouble with a couple of items which has made me very, very angry indeed.
My camera: I must admit that this was not a technological failing… well, it was, but it was kind of induced by myself who dropped the poor thing one night after having a few too many wines. But to me, in this technological day and age, I wouldn’t think that it should suddenly not be able to work. Oh, a broken lens cap? Boo hoo! Poor camera – call the orchestra and start playing sad tunes or just get over it and start taking photos for me! I mean you only fell 90cm, which if we do a height comparison is the equivalent of me falling out of the ninth storey of a building…so ok, I suppose you are allowed to break and die on me, but still I was annoyed!
My wireless: now, tell me if I am wrong, but the whole selling point, the whole gist about wireless, is that it is supposed to work without a wire? Well, guess what, my wireless doesn’t work without being plugged into something. Now, this might just be the start of serious separation anxiety or a desire to begin a relationship with a security blanket, but to me, it just completely defeats the purpose of being able to walk around the house with my laptop as and when I feel like it. How am I supposed to feel the freedom of being a mobile writer if I am chained to the desk in my study?
A 2003 Symantec anti-virus survey concluded that people were annoyed by the following things when it came to computers: slow performance, system crashes, spam, pop up ads and files getting deleted.
So in the spirit of having a whinge, I have come up with my own list of technology related qualms, feel free to add and comment as you wish:
- Ads that block the whole screen when your mouse brushes past information on the internet
- When the batteries run out on you and you have to wait for them to recharge so you can use it again (by which time you have been inordinately distracted and have moved on - which strangely, kind of sounds like my love life at the moment too)
- When you fix things by randomly pressing every button systematically on the keyboard until one, or a combination of them, works – and then you can’t remember what you did and will never be able to repeat the magical fix
- Having to read the online help section of a program to find out how to use something
- Push remorse – when you push a button and immediately regret doing it because you actually wanted to go somewhere else on the site but you can’t backtrack because the computer has frozen up
Well, thank you for letting me release my anger, I really feel so much better now… have a lovely day!