Technology is our friend

I love technology. I love the look of it, the feel of it, and the cool things it can do. I love having technology even if I don't use it. I own a MacBook Pro, an iPad, and an iPod. I not a technology geek, however, and until last winter, would have put myself in the nominally proficient category. Last winter is when my husband went from full-time work on a Tennessee Walking Horse farm to a job with a company that required him to use a computer. When he graduated from college with a business degree, his computer work had been done in one class, on MS Dos. He had worked at companies in sales but only used their business programs. He had been out of the regular business world for almost ten years! He could surf the internet on my laptop, and spent many an hour going through gun sites and watching clips of old westerns on YouTube, but he did not know how to check email, create a document, create a folder, search for anything stored on the computer, etc. I never realized how much I knew about computers until I began to show him how to use Word and Excel and Outlook. In the beginning, he would get confused very easily. If it didn't look exactly the same, he couldn't figure out what to do. I would show him, and he would say, "How did you know how to do that?"

Nothing is so frustrating as having wonderful technology and it not work for you. My siblings and I went together to get my mom a Nook for Mother's Day this year. She and my dad were about to take a trip to Germany and a cruise down the Rein, and we thought mom, an avid reader, would enjoy having several books at her fingertips without having to pack actual volumes. Unfortunately, the experience turned into an awkward and frustrating event. Mom, unlike me, does not love technology. She retired from teaching after 30 years but before computers were a staple of the classroom. She does not surf the web. She does not check or send email. She was frustrated by what seemed to us very simple and obvious and user-friendly technology.

After I spent an afternoon setting it up for her, she was able to download some books and ended up rather enjoying the experience. Dad told me today that he has read a couple of books on the Nook. Tonight, we spent another frustrating 10 or so minutes trying to peruse the ebook website via the Nook. Finally, I gave up and went to the laptop, where we could view the entire screen. This worked wonderfully, but I left them with the task of waiting for the downloads to complete and then transferring the new purchases to the Nook via the USB cord. This is a new thing, and I'm not sure how it will go. I promised to return tomorrow if need be.

For now, we'll have to be satisfied that she enjoys it when it is set up for her. So when is technology NOT a helpful tool? When you can't work it, that's when!