Technology

Aaaaaargh

@£$%ing technology

It has taken me ages to write this post, largely because I am finding tech very very confusing. This is not helped by apathy during the last few months and the torment of buying a house. Just to rub it in Parkies doesn't help. Not one jot.

I was okay with tech until quite recently. I relied on it at work and handled huge volumes of emails, endless social media gubbins, links to view and dreaded zoom calls, it is how the world of work works.  I have felt pretty cool with it all so I didn't expect a deterioration of my tech abilities.

Parkies decided to interfere.

The gap is constantly widening on what I know and and the changes in functionality of devices and software.

It makes me agitated, I feel incredibly stupid and frustrated: It thas taken me hours to get my head around the process of editing and posting this piece today. Everytime I want to go online and tweak the post I can't remember how I got to the editing bit.

Every action worries me: subscriptions, banking transfers, emails, direct debit, bill payment, travel ticket purchase, making a phone call and text, working out the increasing pile of plastic cards all of which come with passwords and a range of different security measures.

Add fraud to the mix and I am a gibbering wreck.

With all the customer centric design in the world I fear little is done to make it work simply and easily for the everyday users, let alone us befuddled Parkies people.

Passwords in particular are a nightmare. Inevitably so because of the sheer volumes of spam and fraud.

I end up changing half a dozen almost every day.

For some sites I seem to have loads of passwords set up, and consequently have no idea which of them is correct. Streamlining and editing ought to be easy, but it isn't. In fact things get worse as I get into more of a muddle.

In the last six to eight weeks I have had more junk mail and potential scams than ever (2 already today - FedEx and Amazon), and hear of more sophisticated attacks on our data. Scammers, I'm sure, are preparing for a merry and prosperous Christmas as our festive frenzy of parcels and messages whizz around the country.

And now I read the Russians are going to launch cyber attacks on the UK.

My difficulties have become particularly acute trying to buy a house.  The muddle I have got into on my phone with messages and decisions piling up left right and centre makes it practically impossible to make head or tail of the thread. I know my filing leaves alot to be desired, unfotunately that's just another complication.

Parkies, tech, moving house - not the cocktail I was hoping for this Christmas.