A Tongue-In-Cheek Look at My Love-Hate Relationship With Technology
In the category of First World Problems, I woke up this morning thinking about how much time I've spent managing my Apple products this week. Now, don't get me wrong...I've been a Mac Girl through and through since the early 1990's and I'll be a loyal customer until I die (or can't type or see the screen). "Once you go Mac, you never go back!!" For whatever strange reason, in this particular window of time, it seems like I've put in enough IT hours for Tim Cook to put me on the payroll.
I got an Apple Watch 5 (to upgrade an "old" Apple Watch 2) and the AirPods to go with it (on sale!) for my birthday this year. These items were proudly added to my current Apple product collection...a Mac Pro desktop (which my husband commandeered to work from home), a MacBook laptop (older version kept because it has a CD slot), MacBook Air (laptop I use daily), iPad mini (for use as an e-book reader), iPad Pro (part of a promotion I couldn't resist), and an iPhone X (hanging in until the next upgrade). The older versions of these redundant devices are still around because I am afraid of what files I will lose even though I haven't looked at them in years or even remember they are there. I also can't find the old charging cord (which is different than the newer one, of course) so I can review, erase, transfer or trade in. Anyone?
So the purpose of choosing the new Apple Watch with cellular service was primarily to go for walks or bike rides without having to carry my phone, attached by cord to the apparently-now-antiquated earphones. Because that is evidently not cool any longer. The AirPods worked fine at first...wow! This IS cool!! Then the other day, I was attempting a work-related phone conversation while walking (effectively multi-tasking to justify taking a break from the laptop) and the call kept dropping. I then somehow heard a random YouTube video in its place. I looked down and the face on the Watch had magically changed itself. So I redialed to revive the conversation...then one of the AirPods kept falling out of my ear (I ordered silicon covers on Amazon immediately when I got home). The next day the AirPods would not connect to my Watch...but they still worked on my iPhone. Why?? What happened between yesterday and today??? Sigh. Just carry the phone. (sound of teeth gritting...)
New Systems, New Capabilities, New Perspective
Apple released new system software earlier this year called Catalina. Awesome! Well, of course I have to have that...or I will be left behind before I even know it!! Not sure why it's better or how long I could just keep using what I have and that doesn't stop me. It must be much better because I trust them. Wait...these apps will no longer work on Catalina? So what do I do about that? OK...I need to migrate 16,000 photos to iCloud Photo. OK...I need more storage to do that. OK...it's an additional $2.99 per month. OK...I can just cancel that plan once I've had time to go through all these photos and delete the ones I don't need or want (ha). OK...now make sure they are all showing up on every other device...and of course, they are not. What's two more hours? Wait...I also need to upgrade Microsoft Office on the desktop but not on the laptop? Hmmm. OK...whatever it takes...I love you and can't live without you! :)
All in all, I am actually kind of proud of the intuitive nature with which I am able to navigate these devices and their foibles at my age and place in my career. And when I get stuck, there is always Google, Apple Support, or the closest 13-year-old. Yet in these moments, I feel more "in the middle" than ever...just confident enough to charge forward in fixing the inevitable glitches myself...and just out of the technology loop enough to hit a dead end or humbly discover my user error. On a regular basis.
We Christians have an understanding of how the world is going to end and Who wins...the same God who gave us the intelligence and ingenuity to create such mind-boggling tools as these and learn how to use them. (I am bigger than my AirPods!!!) Yet in these moments, I stop to ponder...what if all our gadgets ganged up on us? Could that ultimately be the way the world ends?? For now, I think I'll just Google the timing for the release of the new iPhone 12. (September 2020? Can't wait!!)
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