Is Technology Giving You a Headache?

December 23, 2007

Like most of you, I appreciate the Internet and all the technology we have available right now. But sometimes, it can be a real headache.

I’ve been struggling to get time to read my favourite blogs recently, so on the advice of Mike at Exit 78 I subscribed to Google Feedreader.

Well, it was great - until I tried to log in to my own blog. And I couldn’t get in. I tried everything. Then as soon as I logged out of Google Feedreader, I got back in.

Why does technology have to clash so much?

And then there is the matter of safety. Of course, there’s a lot of technology which enables you to monitor what your children are doing on the Internet. But, now there’s lots of social networking sites that make it difficult to know what your kids are doing at all.

My two joined Bebo recently. So like any other responsible parent, I thought I would register and check that they are playing safe. Then I discovered that I’m not allowed to view their profiles unless they invite me.

Now I appreciate that this probably protects them from all kinds of weirdos. But, it doesn’t give much reassurance to parents who want to make sure that their kids really are safe from all the wacko’s of the day.

And whilst these virtual communities and worlds are great for socialising, how do your kids really know who they’re socialising with?

Before Bebo, they were really into Runescape. And I have to say that this was the Internet equivalent of sending them backpacking in Afghanistan.

My husband monitored some of my daughters conversations on there. And it soon became apparent through the dialogue used that several of the people she was talking to were adults posing as children.

Surely there must be a way we can allow our children to enjoy the internet, whilst keeping these sicko’s away from them at the same time. Will anyone come up with a solution?

Which sites and gadgets are giving you a headache? What would you do to improve them? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Comments

7 Responses to “Is Technology Giving You a Headache?”

Mrs. Micah on December 24th, 2007 4:16 pm

Internet Explorer crashes on my computer….but there are some sites that work best on it.

My cell phone periodically doesn’t recognize its own SIM card (simple reboot fixes that).

I can’t be looked into several different Gmail accounts at the same thing (I think). It’d be nice since I have one for me and one for Mrs. Micah (and a few other ones that I might occasionally need to use).
Ian on December 24th, 2007 9:12 pm

All I can say right now is Merry Xmas to you and the family! Sod work and blogs, make it a great one!
Catherine Lawson on December 25th, 2007 10:57 am

Hi Mrs M and Merry Christmas. Internet Explorer can be a pain. I almost always use Firefox now. It’s worth downloading it if you don’t have it, as you don’t have to get rid of Internet Explorer - you can use either.

Hi Ian Merry Christmas to you too. I have only logged on for a few minutes. I’ve got a bit of spare time as the turkey turned out to be bigger than I expected so it won’t be ready until quite late!
Mike Goad on December 25th, 2007 2:28 pm

Internet Explorer, of course - and I use Firefox, except when absolutely necessary to use IE.

Sometimes I just feel techno-fatigue.

There’s too much new stuff, too often.

Programs that I just bought have a new upgrade; WordPress 2.3 comes out and a few days later, WordPress 2.3.1 is issued.

I have a relatively new lap-top, less than a year old, but I’m running XP instead of Vista and Office 2003 instead of 2007. The ONLY new Microsoft product I’m using is Expression Web because it is so much better than FrontPage.

When the old stuff works just fine, I don’t see the need for the new and improved.

I don’t have an ipod - don’t want one. We bought a flat screen TV because we had new furniture and the 250 lb. 31 in Sony Trinaton TV from 1992 was just too> big for the remaining space. I have a cell phone, but it’s for convenience, not for staying connected - we always have minutes left at the end of the month.

We went part way techno-Christmas but not overboard!. We bought the grandkids Crayola digital cameras, but we also bought them a snowman kit — stove-pipe hat, plastic eyes, carrot for a nose, a scarf, etc. For them and their parents, we had a six foot toboggan. Our other daughter and her boyfriend got some a tent and sleeping bags that they had been looking at.

Merry Christmas!
Mrs. Micah on December 29th, 2007 12:26 pm

Ironically—Firefox has become infected with IE popups and thus may crash my computer. I don’t even understand, it’s definitely Firefox doing it. So I’ve been using plain old Mozilla 99% of the time (some things just won’t work right in it. Then I pull up Firefox, then I get popups. *sigh*)
Barbara on January 2nd, 2008 5:40 am

Technology moves so fast, who can keep up with it?

Our kids all have a “Myspace” (they’re all grown), and they claim I need one so they can send me pictures and communicate, but I told them to just pick up the phone so we can talk, or mail/email me the pictures. They all are into texting too.

I don’t need any more technological gadgets, nor do I care to make time to learn about joining social networks or the like. My blogs take up most of my free time, and I don’t plan to burden myself with more than I can handle.

Trying to learn it all, could get very overwhelming.
cathlawson on January 2nd, 2008 7:16 am

Mike - a six foot toboggan sounds like brilliant fun. Technology can be a real pain - and as you say - do we really need all this new updated stuff?

Mrs M - I too am getting a lot of pop ups on Firefox. I did manage to disable them but when you do that, it stops things from popping up that you need to pop up.

Barbara - kids seem obsessed with social networks these days. I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets overwhelmed and confused by it all.