Just worn down and depressed by technology

[Peterbear]

Anyone else? I’m still working from home unlikely ever to see my old team again. Plagued by it issues which just grind me down. Everthing is online (I know I sound about 90 but it really depresses me). I need an account and a fecking password to do anything/order anything/ make any appointments.Nothing ever seems to work and then I go out and everyone’s gawping at their bloody phones. Does anyone else just feel like they don’t belong in the world of technology. I’m only late 40’s but I just feel like I was born in the wrong age. So much time wasted at work/in life pissing around with apps/teams/systems. Just wish I didn’t hate it all so much .Anyone else feel the same?

I can't think of anything worse than being back in the office. So inefficient. Surely just jumping on Teams/Zoom for meetings is so much easier these days?

I've just started working from home and it's life changing. My work life balance is so much better and so far no IT problems. My last laptop use to take forever to start.

Definitely sympathise. Sometimes I ring up colleagues instead of backing and forthing with emails and you'd think they were in outer space they are so surprised to actually arrange stuff by talking to another human

And don't get me started on my home internet connection. Over an hour yesterday on the phone to Shell Energy, then gave up.

@madroid hmmm glad it’s not just me
@radioactive4 well obviously I don’t feel that do I or wouldn’t have started this thread.
Don’t really mean just work I hate how technology has just infiltrated ever sector of life. Very disempowering for some of us.

@sunshineandshowers40 really pleased for you (and I’m not being sarcastic) but you’re not cheering me up much .

I fucking hate it. And I don't work from home or in a job that needs much tech at all. Phones and people's obsession with them baffles and bores me! And I'm mid 30s!

I just wonder if the world is anymore efficient really than in the world of pen/paper/phone calls letters when you take into account time spent pissing around online at meetings and general creating passwords blah blah.
Just had 14 emails from DHL telling me about a parcel - just deliver the fecking thing ffs!

@Peterbear Sorry! I do agree with the phone obsession. I'm trying to make an effort to leave mine in a different room. My DC can barely lift their eyes from their phones when I'm trying to have a conversation with them.

@Callcat same ! It depresses me that everyone accepts the general dicking about time with everything and most days I find myself wanting to go back a few generations. I honestly don’t see much progress re actual work/efficiency/life enjoyment:(

Yanbu. Hate passwords for everything. Never remember them - so many password reset emails.

And printers that never work. Old printer wouldn’t work properly with my iPhone so we bought a brand new one for £200 - this one doesn’t work with my phone either! Epson.

Backing up photos and videos a pain too - there’s never enough space or something goes wrong half way through.

Our branch of H and M is closing down, presumably due to the shift online - nowhere now to physically buy children’s clothes in the town centre.
My friend has a learning disability and just can’t do online shopping and can’t drive. Don’t know what she’ll do now - how disempowering.

That Moan felt good!

I totally agree with you OP, I’ve recently started a new job and the faffing involved in getting my work laptop sorted, the on line training I’ve had to do, having to constantly call I.T due to being constantly thrown out of the desk top computers in the office…

I have just reinstated paper statements for my credit card because the app is so fiddly to use on my phone and I can't easily log on on my iMac because of having to generate ever changing codes on the app, it's so frustrating. Paper statement means I don't have to use the silly app.

I didn’t feel this way before being forced to wfh - was always a big fan of online shopping, sorting stuff out online, happily sat in front of the TV while browsing on my phone at the same time. Now that my whole work day is alone on the computer I hate it. I’m a little younger than you so don’t know if it’s age related or not.

Is it likely to be permanent for you? We’re finally going back (at least part of the time) in a couple of weeks. If we weren’t I’d be looking for another job.

Totally agree! I’m in my 40s and I’ve genuinely come to hate technology!

I went to a Michelin star restaurant for a very special occasion with special friends and family and I looked around and most of the dining room guests were taking photos of the meals and not chatting to their companions! I know it’s nice to take photos of memorable events but there was no laughter or chatting, just clicking and food selfies.

I think we are close to losing the art of communication and dare I say it friendships as everything is done through social media or WhatsApp etc.. so we no longer need to actually leave our homes or talk to another human being

I sound 90 too and I’m glad I was a teenager and young woman before Instagram and the rest of it, I’m not sure the youngsters of today will look back with the same memories of shopping trips, nights out where you laugh so hard it hurts and trips away we’re the moto is “what happens in x stays in x “ as it’s all over social media before it’s even happened

I’m also pretty sure social media has a huge part to play in how young people now struggle with their looks, mental health and emotions far more than we ever did! We had magazines and went to the movies obviously but there was no such thing as a YouTube tutorial on how to get makeup or clothes right! Everyone shows their perfect lives online which if you don’t know the real them would be a hard act to follow and make you feel like crap about you and your own life!

We all looked liked umpa lumpas with orange faces due to that being one of the only foundations us young uns bought 😆 ( and we didn’t care either )

Online banking is a blessing for me though! Our bank used to shut early so I could never get there on time due to my working hours! 🙈

Yep. It's supposed to be a useful tool but tech just gives everyone more stuff they have to "do".

@Dogmum40 yes exactly
@BobbinHood never been a big fan but wfh has compounded it
@A580Hojas that’s the thing though I feel as though I’m the only one looking at the Emporer’s new clothes and no one ever seems to question whether it’s actually,on balance, creating more work/stress,

Sorry for short answers but the fecking iPad isn’t working right ( ohh the irony 😀) glad it’s not just me.x

@PrancingQueen I feel your pain. I really do. You just want to wang the pc out the window and shout ‘give me a f*cking pen and paper’

Totally agree. Mid-forties here. My phone is stuffed full of emails about shite, reminders of this & that. I never look at any of it... So glad that my formative years were in the last century!
I yearn for the time when I’d wake up & lay in bed with my own thoughts. The day stretching out before me... Now, I’m compelled to pick up my phone straight away & “check” it. It’s so pervasive...

Agree. I took my kids to pay in their birthday cheques from great granny at the bank today. I'd got them to fill out their paying in books and they were quite excited by the adventure. Great opportunity to teach a little bit about money I thought.

Oh no, cashier wasn't having any of it. They were barked at they had to use the machines and even though she could she wasn't going to be putting it through her till.

20 years ago that cashier would have had a little chat with my kids, shown them their account on screen and generally made the experience lovely.

That specific branch is closing at the end of this month. It was full of older people taking out cash or doing little jobs they clearly wouldn't be happy doing on line. I doubt v much those people will be ringing the bank or going online next month.

Fucking hate those machines.

Also never use the self service tills in a supermarket. Hate the fuckers.

@flowerycurtain. How sad for the kids. It's just crap in so many ways.

When it implemented correctly, absolute game changer and actually makes life easier. However when done badly, hate it. To be able to register for online booking with my doctors you have to print an application form, fill it and and take it into the doctors who then set you up. Madness

Completely agree! Can you go back to office a few days a week to meet up with your colleagues?
It’s especially shit for first jobbers/ younger generation.
My happiest work time was in the nineties, popping out for lunch with colleagues etc
Walking up to another floor to speak to someone about something, chatty to everyone else on the way.

I can't do my job from home, so was part of the furloughed population. What I don't understand is the massive amount of "approval" (for want of a better word) to working from home all the time now. I really missed the interaction with people / banter etc and it certainly wouldn't be the same having Zoom / Teams meetings. The idea of being alone all day with just a screen horrifies me! Yes, wfh helps with childcare, reduces commute stress, saves money BUT it all seems so isolating to me. Is this the way of the world now?

Sort of, it does make my life easier in many ways but I don't like the all pervasive nature of it, do prefer to phone companies instead of live chat etc. Also totally agree about WFH, thankfully I only do it when I have to self-isolate cos I bloody hate it, I'm a sociable person and like being with people.

I also agree its screwing over certain groups of people, often the most vulnerable already.

Me too , we need regular real life contact with people, the checkout worker, the post office clerk, school mums, friends, family , co workers. .