OAP TECHNOLOGY (New Year 2017)
As yet our appliances aren’t very bright
And don’t chat to each other during the night
The phone is just landline and cannot bestow
Anything more than basic info
The washing machine only knows how to clean
And the boiler still needs us to press stop and go
But we’re muddling through
With the brains we have left
Technology hasn’t left us bereft!
Some weeks back, my hubby Pete had to change his bank card; a simple enough operation we thought; until he tried to use it for paying for online grocery shopping; a system we set up at the start of Covid. Despite many attempts and many phone calls, over several weeks, to both bank and store, we failed to get the new card details accepted on the website.
But what amazed us most was the inability of the bank and store staff at the end of the phone lines, to sort out the problem, even after referrals to ‘the technical department’; both asserting that it was the other one’s fault. The main contender for the mix up appeared to be a ‘new’ security code, that could only be accessed via a text on a ‘smart’ phone.
RETRO RANT December 2017
Why should I desire a smart phone
Or some gadget that’s hands free
Apps that do the heavy lifting
Make more of a fool of me!
GPS may have it’s uses
None of them a pleasure though
Much more fun, with map and compass
To decide which way to go
I don’t care if it seems backward
To eschew technology
Put it down to making choices
Now that I am elderly!
I do have a mobile phone, which is an ancient model discarded by one of our children. And Pete has a ‘smart’ phone, again donated by offspring, which proved its worth when he was hospitalised during Covid. But, as we have no signal on this bit of our wild Welsh peninsula, it rarely gets used; and is only an emergency standby when we travel away from our patch. In conclusion dear reader, we cancelled our online grocery orders, and have returned to our original, fortnightly, direct shopping procedure; a system which I much prefer anyway!
SHIFTY SCAMMERS
You’ve got to hand it to the Scammers
Despite their vile intention
How do they creep under the scanning
To circumvent the high tech planning
Of fraud detectives’ best prevention
Nearly every day a horror story of scamming relating to fraud, can be found in the media. I am a techno ignoramus; which I think is, probably, an aid to not getting caught out by these anonymous robbers, who have no regard for the damage they do to peoples’ lives; since I view anything and everything to do with technical know how with extreme suspicion; and I am constantly amazed at the ease with which the fraudsters trap their victims. Don’t the scammed take any notice of the constant warnings by banks and websites, never to transfer money or financial details, to seemingly genuine contacts, without doing a belt and braces check to a known and trusted financial contact?
My contention is that the general populace have been lulled and dulled into a false sense of security and ignorance, by ubiquitous technology offering them the alternative ‘no think’ mindset which, allegedly, makes their life ‘easier’. Speed of access appears to be the daily mantra. To adapt a well known saying ‘Never mind the content; check the speed’!
I have no idea, or interest, in how ‘Whatsapp’, Instagram, Twitter or other social media platforms work. The downside of this mindset, according to outside sources, is that I am missing out on the advantages of our high-tech world. I still prefer pen and paper to digital. I would rather contact a real person by our landline phone than by email, even when having to hang on for unacceptable lengths of time. I regard automatic disembodied voices constantly repeating that my call is ‘important’ or suggesting that communication would be ‘easy’ via their website, as indifferently mendacious.
Some years ago, I was rather taken aback when a friend regarded me with awe, as I rummaged about in my handbag to find my mobile, to add her phone number to my list of contacts. “Do you turn your phone off” she said? Up till that point, it had not occurred to me that most people leave them on!
Hopefully, my aging brain will continue to be my most useful ‘app’!