A Bit of a Rant About Computers

I wrote this quickly What do you think?

Len spent close to an hour today, in two phone calls, helping a guy who is probably close to or maybe now into his 80’s, fill out an online form to enroll to do the volunteer gig he and Len have been doing for five years. This gentleman spent decades successfully working a complicated career, but most of it was before one documented everything digitally. 

I’ve already written about my volunteer gig at the local food pantry. One of the things I did not explicate is that there is an on-line calendar one is supposed to negotiate. I tried to get into it once, fiddled with it twenty minutes and then gave up. I am faithful to my shift so I smile and don’t admit that that volunteer calendar is as removed from me as a two piece swimsuit. 

I tried to sign up months ago as the National Archives volunteer where they would send, via my computer, copies of handwritten documents and I would transcribe them so that they are more accessible going forward. I spent more than an hour one frustrating evening trying to get into that system and finally went to bed and have never gone back. 

Many people can negotiate these things. For Len, this is easier folding a fitted sheet (which I can do with my eyes closed). Computers are his second language and sometimes his first. If something is digitally necessary he helps me. But we have this mutually respected agreement that it isn’t his job to do all my computer things any more than it’s my job to do all the housework. 

But why is so much of this even necessary? The world needs us older people who know a lot of things and have the time, energy and the willingness to share ourselves. Why do they put up these frustrating and intimidating barriers? Why don’t they just hand us a 5”x 8” inch card, we fill it out, and some lovely fast person can fill it out for us? We can even bring them homemade cookies later. 

I’ve acquiesced to communicating with my doctor via computer. Though I don’t like that in the past few months AFTER there was a data breach, they’ve instituted more steps to get into the messages. 

This is both a legitimate complaint and it’s also an old person rant.

I believe that few things which are truly valuable just fall into one’s lap. I started following Twitter/X in 2011 and Instagram about that same time. I started BlueSky months ago. My son signed me up on his Spotify account several years ago and it took months to get comfortable there. Amazingly, Len now asks me things about it. Some venues are worth the time and negotiation. 

But to just enroll in to a new package or service  .. why is this so hard? 

How are you doing in your digital world?