Which device for what app?
What button, icon, hyperlink, or secret thingy should I press?
In the olden days, I was a technology pioneer, one of the first women in the US to sell computers, an early internet user, and an innovator of remote demonstrations and webinars. How did I go from being ahead of the curve to the last in line overnight? Oh, that’s right, I was a pioneer fifty years ago, half a century! Geez!
Several years ago in South Omo Valley, the barren, drought-stricken land at the corner of Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan, my only option to determine whether the English-to- Amharic-to-Hamar tribal translators were asking my questions correctly was to observe body language. I was conducting an extensive survey to determine what these incredibly marginalized people needed in order to have a chance for a healthy life. I had flown backward in time and was living in a world where cell phones didn’t work, electricity was rare, and running water meant there was a bucket filled with water overhead, and the nail, plugging the hole, had been pulled out.
Today, I have been catapulted into the world of apps, buttons, icons, and links. I feel lost and out of sync. Even the most mundane technology tasks take me a day or two to learn. Last week, I wanted to change the “About” description on our FB group, The Wise Woman Sisterhood. I looked at the menus and the settings at least 1,000 times. When I finally asked for help, I was told to click on the description, duh.
The other day, I recorded a Zoom session to share with students. I did a quick check before sending it out — it was upside down, and the audio didn’t record.
I sit at my desk with my laptop (to access full program apps and statistics), my iPad (for social media), and my iPhone (to check those never-ending notifications). Several newsletters ago, I screwed up all the hyperlinks. I forgot to include the Wise Woman Sisterhood group blurb. Now I’m told I need to master Instagram and use a bunch of Hashtags.
I want to say YES — but ye gods, I need to learn these tools!
My Wise Woman Within is super old, and social media wasn’t invented when she walked this earth. How can I communicate with people when I can’t tell if their eyes light up or glaze over?I am blindfolded. I have an idea of who may be out there. I’ve read reports and talked to a lot of you, but I have nothing concrete or specific. I can’t see, touch, feel, smell, or hear you. You even might be one of those amazing people who tap your fingers into your phones, rat-a-tat-tat. A native of this modern-day tech world.
