Computer not booting up properly

[seahermit]

Just spent yet another late night sorting out the multiple problems arising from my attempt to register the tablet on the Asda Mobile network (which now piggy-backs off Vodafone).

It's an example of how complex the technology is and how even the networks' employees do not fully understand it. In the beginning, I inserted an Asda Mobile SIM into the tablet but, when I tried to register an online account, the Asda Mobile website said "temporarily unavailable" and my requests for help went unanswered. (I have now registered the tablet with a different network).

However, a £7 charge somehow got generated (presumably for mobile data), even though I didn't have an active account! And the demand was sent by Vodafone via text message, instead of from Asda Mobile who sent me the SIM card!

Nobody can explain why Vodafone became involved and the two networks are currently blaming each other and arguing about whom I should pay and how - I never received a proper invoice in any form!

It's all a bit crazy and very time-wasting. Computer technology DOES have its place and does solve problems - if it is properly managed and works efficiently, but complexity is the big issue and many, many people have said that IT creates as many problems as it resolves. Sometime, that will have to be confronted - because the alternative is surely that the technology will grow to be so complex and cumbersome that it is of no benefit to humans in their daily lives and just grinds to a chaotic halt. As it indeed already does at times, depriving people of communications, essential services and cash!

[Richard]

I think you need the right mind set-to cope with the vagaries of life in general, let alone technology.

I only have a desktop PC and very basic Nokia mobile (text and voice).

Life still goes on.

[seahermit]

Avoidance is certainly one way of divesting oneself of the complexity of technology. Like poodling around the streets on a bicycle because modern cars are so complicated! I have one or two friends who find even a mobile phone somewhat terrifying ...

But of course that means choosing to eschew all the benefits and convenience which technology brings. The technology should work properly and, if it doesn't, you have to confront it, not run away from it.

I hope I have largely resolved the current issues, obviously there wouldn't normally be problems on that scale. But, as I said, there remains the inefficiency of the networks - the systems are too complex and, when problems arise, the staff often don't know how to deal with them.

[Richard]

'Poodling' about on a bicycle is not really about avoidance of complicated modern cars.
A car is an expensive luxury unless you need one for work.
I have all the benefits and convenience of technology from my desktop computer.
Very useful to access a bank account and gas/electricity providers, order goods online, etcetera.
I can deal with emails and it is very useful to order goods online, etcetera.
I have no use for a 'smartphone', if it just entails fiddling with tiny buttons to get a fix from constantly looking at what?

What is this life so full of frustration at having to satisfy a need for instant gratification?

[seahermit]

The cars I used to have weren't expensive models, nor expensive to maintain if you looked after them and did some of the servicing yourself. They took me around Wales and Scotland, gave me some very memorable experiences.

But I stopped driving after the roads became so congested that they were just a rat-race and road-rage became prevalent - not a term which existed in the 1960's/70's. In addition, nowadays the financial equation doesn't add up. Buying the car is the least expensive part - insurance, tax, repairs, servicing etc. have all become so expensive that running a car is a waste of good money unless, as you say, you need it for work.

For a while, I hired cars. Now, I am hoping to get up to Scotland later and it will be via the healthier options of a non-stressful rest on the train and then walking! You also miss a lot racing about in a car and you don't get to talk to the locals.

The interesting lesson from all this is maybe that you should take what you find useful from technology - and no more, and stop using it when the "need" disappears. The very last thing I do on a smartphone is walk around jabbing at buttons and playing with social media. I won't do banking (until forced to) because of the risks but for other things the pocket-size smartphone is absolutely invaluable. Once I start travelling again, the phone will enable me to make (or change) travel bookings, check emails, keep in touch with news and travel problems, I sometimes use Google Maps but prefer paper ones which I have been using since about age ten!

You have to remember that a smartphone IS a computer - many times more powerful than the huge office computer which filled a whole basement when I started my first job.