Look Through Any Window

~ humoringthegoddess

CAM00209I keep saying over and over again that I’m not getting older, that technology isn’t getting the best of me. After all, I do work in an office; I do code copy for the Web; I do work with spreadsheets and word documents, and do design a website here and there. So it’s not like I’m a rookie here.

But I recently bought a new laptop with Windows 8, and I can’t tell you how lost I am.

There are boxes on the startup screen that mean nothing to me. Boxes I want nothing to do with. Yet it is nearly impossible to figure out how to get rid of them. I’ve been looking for how to open the DVD drive (besides pushing the button on the side), or how to put an icon on the desktop. Every corner is a link to another universe. Is this supposed to be the new wave of enlightenment? The “world” at my “fingertips”?

I am beginning to understand why my father wanted to cocoon himself in his apartment in his later years. I can see why seasoned veterans would rather make phone calls with a flip phone or turn on the telly and have only 5 stations to choose from. Every time I turn around I have to learn something “new” which, to most of us, means “complicated.”

I am all for growing and learning something new. Or reinforcing what we already know. You’re never too young or too old to develop or refine your skills. I know a lady who is learning to speak a new language, a girlfriend who is going to cooking school, and a couple of guys who are building a car practically from scratch. What’s not to learn? So it takes some of us a little longer to put piece 1a3 into 2f6; sooner or later we figure it out, and are (hopefully) wiser for the fact.

But back to Windows 8. Who really needs all this stuff? Who needs three different browsers and two photo saving programs and clouds and Skypes and skies and a dozen game icons? I know – they all have their special place in others’  lives. My girlfriend used Skype to talk to her husband who was in Thailand, and many people would never know what their nieces or nephews or their kid’s friends’ kids look like if it weren’t for downloading their photos into one of the galleries. Listening to your own music from your laptop is really nice, too.

But what I don’t need is to click on four different corners to change screens, or a plethora of icons that will take me weeks to figure out. Am I just lazy? I don’t like that word. Stupefied? No…not that word either. Mystified? Well, I do like that word, but I hate to use it on such a three-dimensional object as a laptop. Maybe it’s more like being … distracted. I am such a sensitive, awakened, seasoned, middle-aged persona (like you) that I don’t have time to waste learning things that aren’t important to me (kinda like the subjects in college).

I already have a hard enough time coordinating jewelry and outfits. Or keeping my laptop files in some semblance of order. I’m not up for figuring out squares and corners. I just want simple word documents and chat boxes and an easy way to get to WordPress. For me and my limited play time, all I really need is a laptop with a smooth keyboard, a bit of Photoshop to play with images, and, okay, I-Tunes. And that mahjong game. And the link to Yahoo TV.  And, okay. The link to my horoscope. You get my drift.

My head’s already in the clouds enough the way it is. I’m not sure I need my laptop there, too….

Published by humoringthegoddess

I am a writer of fantasy fiction that often surrounds middle-aged women. I am a married mother of two and granny to three, a BoHo Chic kinda gal. I am recently retired and busier than when I worked 9-5. But writing and blogging is my main game.

14 thoughts on “Look Through Any Window”

  2. Long time subscribers to all things microsoft, our family is finally relenting. Our daughter…today, in fact…is trading in her laptop for an Apple computer pad (or whatever it’s called). Totally self-contained…no gimmicks or tricks to keep everything up and running…no trying to work on all manner of computers in an effort to make “one size fit all.” After getting a thorough appraisal of their product, even I could see the benefits of a Mac. And I’m definitely no genie in a technological bottle. hugs for all your efforts…and a huge good luck!

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  4. It seems to me that the more we invent and add to the technology of communication the further and further we drift apart. I catch myself surfing past channels that I haven’t the slightest interest in and yet it is part of “the cable package”. I open my cell phone (a questionable device to begin with) and again drift through various dubious features that again are part of “the package”. I had to have a new key made for my car and discovered that it would cost $50 instead of $3 because the key had a chip in it that had to be programmed. I assume it was part of “the package.” And we all pay for “the package” whether we wish to or not. I finally gave in to “texting” because my children informed me that if I wanted an answer then I better “text” it. They also promised that now that I could text they would communicate more. Let’s see, I have had texting now for about a month. So far, one text. My youngest daughter needing money for car repairs.
    I give up.

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  10. So right about just turning around and there’s something new to learn. All this technology is hard to keep up with and sometimes it’s really not necessary, as you so eloquently pointed out. It’s mind-boggling and sometimes my head fills like it’s over loaded with information that I’ll never use. We just have to be selective. Glad I found your blog. It seems interesting and I like your style of writing.

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  14. From what I’ve heard about Windows 8, you are not alone. My husband had to get a new laptop recently, and luckily he was still able to get one with Windows 7. I’ve heard so many negative things about the new version. Once you figure it out, you can develop a tutorial for the rest of us. 😉

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