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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

School have just highlighted how unemployable I am...

238 replies

grannyinapram · 18/01/2021 09:55

Failed at the most basic task today- I couldn't figure out Video calls so now my little boy missed out on his first school lesson. It reduced me to tears.
I'm going to need to find a job in a few years and this just highlighted how behind i am compared to most. I can use mumsnet and kind of email. That's it.
I don't even get word anymore because I only know the old word from when I was at school.
I did an online course a few years ago and you had to go through the website to submit your work and use email and I used to cry every month because no matter how many times DH showed me I JUST DONT GET IT. I hate this, I feel so behind but I literally can't remember how to do 'simple' tasks. I even had to have phonecards from universal credit when we signed on for a bit at the start of lockdown.
I'm in my mid 20s.
Why don't I get it?
Been a sahm for 8 years now. I'm at least 8 years behind.

how do people just know how it works? oh god I'm crying again...

OP posts:
GCAcademic · 18/01/2021 10:28

As PP have said, there are loads of YouTube videos which can teach you. I've had to get used to teaching on Microsoft Teams in the last six months and learnt everything I know from some Microsoft guy's YouTube channel.

I also agree that you need to keep using the software regularly, otherwise it is very easy to forget things.

lottiegarbanzo · 18/01/2021 10:28

You learn by doing, not by being shown - especially by someone competent, who is not a teacher, is part of your family, is prone to frustration and close to a deadline!

Youtube videos can be good but you have to learn actively; pause and try it, go back if it didn't work and note down what was different about your computer / software / experience. Often there are small but meaningful differences in the way your screen is set up, that do make all the difference. Note those, set them aside and get on with the next thing. Later you can ask someone competent (at a relaxed time) or ask on an online forum and you'll probably either find it's because you're using version x and the demo used version y, or that you just need to know where to click to reach that function.

I do know how you feel. I feel this about tax returns. Every year I get it together to fill them in, face a question and think 'I have no idea! How did I deal with this last year? Why do I have no memory of that?'. So I started writing a commentary for myself, noting what information was required, or what decision I had made and why. That was very helpful. I do find the same with IT sometimes.

I'm in my 40s and had no IT lessons at school. We didn't even use email until I was at university. I used to do written work by hand, then type it up (when required) and couldn't imagine writing directly onto a screen. I've never been taught to use IT, I've just gradually got on with it, found my way round the things I had to use in the workplace, asked colleagues when unsure and so on. So my answer to 'how do you know stuff?' is that I learned gradually, by doing.

The main thing though, is to think about this in advance and practise at a quiet, stress-free time. Like most things, the experience you describe is covered under the motto 'to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail'.

Good luck!

Lastnamefirst · 18/01/2021 10:28

Honestly don’t worry about this. I am a hospital consultant in my mid 30s and couldn’t work the IT properly for my Microsoft teams interview. Thought I wouldn’t get the job but I did. Lots of people struggle with IT. The more you worry the more you will find yourself not able to do it - a lot of it is just playing around with it and googling how to do things when you have some time on your hands and aren’t stressed.

Dodie66 · 18/01/2021 10:29

I ws about to suggest what skipsurvey said. Write down each step so that you can refer to it
I found it hard when I started using a computer. If somebody shows me what to do I write it down so that I can remember what to do. Now I can use photoshop and do designing on the computer. If I don’t use it for a while I can’t remember how to do something but it does come back to me now. I still have some things written down. If something changes on the computer I take a while to get used to the new version

eurochick · 18/01/2021 10:29

It's just familiarity. I use Word/outlook/Teams on a daily basis so I am confident with those. I rarely have to use excel in my line of work but if I do I am completely lost - because it's unfamiliar and I don't know my way around it.

nobeer · 18/01/2021 10:29

OP you are NOT the only one. I think there is a massive misconception that people of your age and younger are computer literate. I've been teaching online since April and I have had to explain how to use the technology step by step to many of my teenage students. It will come with practice. So give yourself a break, and try again later. You'll get there eventually Flowers

bobbojobbo · 18/01/2021 10:29

I think some people just aren't good at tech type stuff. You can't be good at everything

Sending an email isn't "tech stuff". Neither is a video call, if you're joining rather than hosting, you literally click on a link and that's it, you're on the call.

OP I think you are over dramatising and causing blocks for yourself. My DH used to insist he couldn't do "techy stuff" either, he really just wanted me to do it all for him. Once I refused, he soon worked it all out and can do the basics with ease.
You need to drop the idea that there is anything difficult about it, if you can post on MN you can send an email and get on a video call with ease.

OokSaidTheLibrarian · 18/01/2021 10:30

I would recommend as pp hace said, finding out what versions of software you are running. Your DH might be able to do that. Once you know what OS, what video software, what version of office, you will be able to find videos that match what you are seeing. Also don't stress that you vant remember what you DH said, we all learn differently it will make sense eventually.

Covidcovid · 18/01/2021 10:30

It's just a new skill you haven't learnt yet. Google it, find a youtube video, ask someone.

I'm a senior professional and I've had to do all of the above for sorting out online meeting stuff, etc. I still frequently ask one of the admin staff for help.

I consider myself a bit of a technophobe, however I'm good at my job. I can't intuitively sort out tech, once someone has explained it very slowly to me I'm normally OK.

WishingHopingThinkingPraying · 18/01/2021 10:31

I work in tech, online all day every day using programs, running projects to build online programs for the last 10 years.

Could I fuck get Google classroom to work for my 3 kids? Still using a patched suction to do it because I couldnt get them all logged in.

You're being wayyyyyy to hard on yourself.

WishingHopingThinkingPraying · 18/01/2021 10:32

Suction = solution😂

mindutopia · 18/01/2021 10:32

You just need practice and to get the hang of things. Honestly, half the kids in dd's class didn't have working video or sound or their parents couldn't figure out zoom. I use it daily for work, so I think it's easy, but dh is a high earning company director, very successful, but has never had a video conference in his life. It's just not the sort of thing he does in his working life. It's just good ole phone calls or emails. I've had to teach him how to do it. No one would expect you to just magically know this stuff, but it sounds like you need to take a bit of initiative, start earlier, have a dry run at the weekend, write down step by step what you need to do, so you aren't flapping around and not able to do it.

PenguinIce · 18/01/2021 10:34

Op, I work with computers and I still get stuck! Unless I am doing something regularly I forget so after every annual leave period I come back to work and it takes me a good couple of hours to get back in the swing of things (the hardest part is always trying to remember passwords!).

Even if you dh is showing you how to do something unless you are regularly practising it you are bound to forget so please don’t me too hard on yourself.

Also I remember someone once telling me that if you are having trouble understanding something it is not your fault. It’s because the person showing you is not explaining it right 😜!

Itwontrainallthetime · 18/01/2021 10:34

I know it's hard but try not to panic about it all, my DH is the same and the more he stressed and panics the less he is capable of learning or listening how to do it.
In the past few weeks of online lessons I didn't have a clue how it all worked, but Google and YouTube have step by step instructions on how to do most everything. And the school supports people who are having difficulties so don't be worried about contacting them for help.
Is there a way you learn easier like writing down instructions , taking photos of step by step of the instructions.
You will get it in the end, it's new for many people, try not to panic your not the only one.

Belladonna12 · 18/01/2021 10:35

You are being much too hard on yourself. Loads of people find new IT systems difficult to begin with. You just need confidence and time to practice. Don't think of it as "tech stuff". If you can post on here you can do other stuff on the Internet,

grannyinapram · 18/01/2021 10:36

Yes I hated ICT at school, I failed and that was that. at college I just used to print what I needed off and was okay using physical buttons but buttons on a screen- it is like a new world!
I didn't do any of the website or beebo whatever it was that other kids were doing my age. We got a family laptop fairly late in the game which my brother used but I wasn't allowed thanks mom
I got a smartphone late too, infact I spend a few years with no phone at all and only got one because my dad gave me one for Xmas 3 or 4 years ago. worst present ever! Grin

No I went straight from college into motherhood so I havent needed it. As I said I spent a few K on an online course and have volunteered but I have put off buying the next course I need for my job I want because online stuff gives me the heebie jeebies. DH has told me to just do it but I spent so long crying and shouting at the bloody screen last time it scarred me for life.

GP has switched to online so I'm not going to the doctors anymore. I don't even order takeaways on just eat, I ring and dh does get pissed off about it to be honest.

I am hoping computers become obsolete and ill have been right all along but that doesn't seem likely. I will have a look at Internet courses
and I will have a play around when the kids are in bed later.

pray for me
Its so unnatural

OP posts:
RhubarbTea · 18/01/2021 10:37

You can't really learn and take in new information when you're wildly anxious.

You have an anxiety issue that happens to have attached itself to tech. You need to unpack it and find ways of learning one, small simple action, in a setting with zero pressure while using techniques to calm any anxiety that arises. Then once you've practised that one thing a bunch of times, go on to the next thing. Eventually it will be transferred into your long term memory and you'll be able to do the stuff with the same ease that you, say, make a cup of tea.
Good luck.

HerselfIndoors · 18/01/2021 10:37

Neither is a video call, if you're joining rather than hosting, you literally click on a link and that's it, you're on the call.

That's not true - if it was we wouldn't all be in meetings where half the participants are muted, invisible or keep cutting in and out. (Including TV new interviews.) Various things can go wrong and if you're not used to the software or terms being used, it can be totally confusing what you're meant to do.

SciFiScream · 18/01/2021 10:38

EDIP. Explain, demonstrate, imitate, practise.

You are doing the first three under pressured conditions and not enough of the last step.

I've had to WhatsApp video call a few mum friends to talk them through google class room (not a teacher or IT expert!). I have to see their screens to help them because as you say it looks different on every computer.

Do you have a friend you could WhatsApp video call to talk you through it next time? Try getting on early so that you don't feel stressed.

You've got a bit stuck but you will be able to get out of it.

My local authorities area is running adult learning courses online - could you see if there's any available to you and get your DH to set you up until you feel like you can do it yourself?

How have you learned best in the past? Reading? Doing? Hearing? Moving?

You can get past this - you'll just need to give yourself time and kindness and confidence.

When I started Uni I didn't even know how to turn a computer on! I hand wrote my essays. (1996).

I had to learn and I enjoy gadgets now. I also realise that the only reason I know my way around is because I do it daily. I'd lose my skills if I wasn't doing it daily.

My mental maths is terrible now because I don't practise it enough!

crowsfeet57 · 18/01/2021 10:38

Don't panic. Your local adult education or higher education college will have free 'back to work' courses for people who need them. They are really good and will give you whatever skills you need. a lot of the courses are running by zoom at the moment. zoom is really easy to use as well. They will send you a link and you just click on it.

Girlwhowearsglasses · 18/01/2021 10:38

It's not easy!

There are a few online skills courses to help as you are most definitely not alone

Have a look at Techmums - there's a free online course for exactly this issue.
techmums.co/

MrKlaw · 18/01/2021 10:38

I work for a software company, and have been active with technology for about 30 years. I try to keep up with things as best I can.

...current software sucks..

Its 'easy' to use only if you know how it works. There are plenty of gotchas waiting to jump out at unsuspecting people or simply if you're unaware how things work.

Take it slow, experiment in the background. My wife freaked out when she had a zoom call with someone - I set up a dry run hosting a meeting for her to join, and the walked her through the issues she had and the different icons etc. Might be worth a try doign that after school, rather than rushing at the last minute?

Coffeeandaride · 18/01/2021 10:38

I use computers every day.

I don't know "about computers" and feel left behind by technology, but I can totally do everything necessary for work.

That is because I had some brief training and I do it every day. I'm no worse than anyone else.

I would find zoom /what computer can run what software/ setting up printers/ all kinds of things I don't have a clue. I do give things a go, because there is a solution and when I am familiar with what to do, I'll be ok. You will too.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 18/01/2021 10:39

Not all of us were brought up using computers. I'm 60 and took on an office job for a year to have a break from nursing.
During that year I took a crash course on computering, pestered all of the secretaries for advice on how to send certain emails, how to use the fax machine etc. They must have thought I was a real numpty but never said anything and now I compute with the best of them, do online banking, everything.
Take a course as soon as you can, you will be fine.
I'm back in the NHS now and everything is online so I'm really glad I took that step.

BaggoMcoys · 18/01/2021 10:40

You're certainly not unemployable, just low in confidence. You may really have a mental block when it comes to tech, some people do, but it sounds as though your main issues at the moment are negative thinking and anxiety. Given your age and length of time as a sahm, I'm assuming you either have never worked or have worked very little? I was a sahm for 6 years, although I did little bits of freelance work from home and had worked prior I still found it knocked my confidence massively. I think you're overthinking to the point you've got overwhelmed by it all.

My local library often has posters up for basic tech skill sessions. That won't be an option at the moment of course but you can search on google for free online beginner's courses. You need to familiarise yourself with technology and get a bit of practice in and that will get your confidence up to start with. Even getting online to do searches for a course will help you to familiarise yourself with using a computer.

Once you have familiarised yourself with the basics and gained some confidence, then as a next step it may be a good idea to look for voluntary roles that involve using technology. There's a website called www.charityjob.co.uk/ that often has voluntary admin positions available. Alternatively, you could ask about volunteering for your dc's school. It would be unpaid but will help you to put your skills into practice, and give your CV a boost.

That's the path I'd take if I were in your shoes. There are also explanatory guides and videos available online for just about everything you can think of. I'm sure you can do it op. You just need to start taking action, and posting here about it was a great first step.