Technology is Grand...When It Works

When it comes to smart phones, phablets, and smartwatches I choose to be a Luddite. I've a faux crackberry circa 2009. I keep it mainly for emergencies and the occasional text. While innovations in newer technology are awesome--by the truest definition--I have issues with the culture surrounding them. I despise being omni-connected. I abhor the external expectations of being always available, always reachable. I loathe the new normal of six people sitting at a table and no one is having a verbal conversation with the people right in front of them. I cringe when face-to-face meetings are interrupted by someone taking a call or answering a text; thereby relegating the person present in their company to lesser value. Their time less respected. Their companionship less desired.

Manners have gone so far out the window as to be orbiting the International Space Station. 

 #GetOffMyLawn

That said, I adore the convenience of modern tech--wireless connections, long-life laptops/tablets, online shopping, and even select social media sites. I am a Mistress of Google-Fu. Twitter is my favorite distraction, and I'm waiting for Facebook to implode. 

Then Tech Fails... 

There is no more weighted a Frisbee than a personal computer that does not work as designed. I am, for the most part, a patient person...until tech fails. I go from Zen to keening banshee toot-sweet. Adware software bobs in my wake. Hardware fragments litter my trail of destruction. I have zero tolerance for lag time, auto-reboots, buggy updates, and security ware that fails to do its damn job. 

To prevent my writer's life turning to shambles during such times, I back-up my files to cloud storage and thumb drives. Cloud-storage daily. Thumb-drives...ought to be weekly, but end up being quarterly (that'll eventually bite me in the ass, I'm sure). The redundancy may seem excessive, but when you're weeping over a lost WiP an extra two minutes a week of dragging & dropping doesn't seem like such an high investment.

Now, while I loves me my PC, I don't know squat about Macs. I've tried to learn. They all ended up as Frisbees. Oh, and anything gaming related? Utterly clueless...unless it's Mahjong. I totally space out while playing Mahjong.