Why is EVERYTHING digital?

[Neuroticmillenial]

I feel like such an old fart, but digitalising everything makes things so much harder than need be.

A few years ago, the care company I worked for decided to go digital. All the paperwork for the med stock, daily diaries, handovers, etc., were scrapped. The lady we supported had unlimited Wi-Fi with her Sky package and was absolutely fine with staff using her Wi-Fi as she couldn’t read or write and wanted updates on upcoming events or opening times.

The company brought in a laptop and dongle and we were told that we absolutely couldn’t use her Wi-Fi as it’s unethical and against company policy. The dongle connection was ridiculously weak which caused discrepancies with the medication count as the system hadn’t saved the updated count. Basically, the medication had been administered but wasn’t saved on the system as the connection was temperamental. Staff wrote things on post-it notes scattered around the office. Things got missed resulting in a safeguarding referral as it appeared medication was missing (it wasn’t.). I can’t remember what happened in the end as I went on maternity leave.

I was recently invited to be admin for a Facebook page. The password I was given for Facebook meta was wrong so after trying to log in three times and messing around with Microsoft Authenticator, I was locked out of meta and could only access normal Facebook where I can’t save posts as drafts which is what I was asked to do. It’s not a big deal as it’s not a paid job and I can still make content, it’s just annoying.

I’ve tried to sign a contract for a new child minder and I was sent about 5 different links to the Kinderly portal. Late last night I opened the form and signed it. I might have forgotten one signature (I thought I’d finished it) but it appeared as incomplete so my child couldn’t go to the childminder’s because the link had expired. He ended up going to another nursery where I
signed a contract in pen six months ago.

Maybe it’s my ADHD and (suspected) dyslexia, but I find it all so stressful and overwhelming and I’m only 35! I’m starting to see why school kids are so stressed out.

AIBU?
Should I just enroll in an IT course or something because I’m starting to feel so inept with technology!?

You just sound quite disorganised sorry! Sorting and signing childcare forms late last night for today is disorganised. How did you book him in to a nursery that quickly? Sounds chaotic.

I really feel for you, as have older relatives who massively struggled with things switching to being online.
However, my experience (AuDHD and Dyslexic) has been that things being increasingly online has really helped me organise pretty much everything.
However, we all have a different profile.
I think I'm only surprised by your struggles as a mid 30s person, as companies I used to work for used to really put the time in to support people who are not as technologically savvy as others.
I'm sorry you haven't had a similar experience.

The strange thing is that when MySpace and Bebo were a thing… I was bloody amazing at HTML and typing. Don’t know where it all went wrong.

Just find the process more overwhelming I suppose.

If you're unfamiliar with technology it's worth learning, especially as it'll only get more and more integrated into every day life. The most basic of tasks require some use of it these days.

Start with what you use most often, websites/services/apps...etc and learn the basics of how to use them.

You're not alone, when I was 18 I worked in cyber security. Now I'm 30 and struggle with many online platforms.

Definitely agree with this OP. I have been dealing with a lot of forms (over 200 pages) in the last couple of weeks - very complicated and needed very specific detail. Fine. I can do that. Except I had to download them off email, edit them and then drag them into a Dropbox thing. It took me longer to do that than it did to answer the questions. Hate it. All of it. Bring back pen and paper. Or tablet and chisel in my case 🤣

Bring back the fax machine!
On second thoughts pls dont.

It's got its benefits. I changed my address for my bank in about 30sec using the app. 20 years ago I'd have had to go to the bank during working hours and fill out a paper form.

If you started at a nursery 6 months ago you have a little one? In which case some of your issues will be due to that. Babies take so much brain power, plus lack of sleep and you have so many plates slinging it isn’t surprising that some smash.

Leaving things to the last minute (probably due to the advice and adhd ) won’t be helping either.

I find a lot irritating and overly complex.

But some could be avoided. Leaving everything to the last minute isn't a good idea. Why not do things earlier. I never leave anything to the last minute if I can help it, I actually action things immediately or as soon as I can as my default.

the whole not having decent WiFi is just silly, penny wise pound stupid. People think they are saving money, but what does it cost you in hassle on a day-to-day basis? Is it worth it?

Some of this sounds easily avoidable.

To be fair OP half of that sounds like badly administered IT. I work in this field and there is a lot of complexity that builds up which is frankly unnecessary. And a lot of software is very poorly tested and doesn't stand up to common use cases like the connection dropping halfway through.

I've worked in hospital IT systems design and honestly I'm shocked that there aren't more issues with medication given the state of some systems! Most of the time there are 3-4 systems used in different parts of the hospital which only partially sync (then someone installs a new one which will theoretically replace all 4 - congrats, now you have 5 systems!)

TL;DR is that doing anything on the cheap is going to end badly.

Check out the long thread on fun uses of AI if you are interested in the bigger picture. Some of it ain't so fun.

You are not wrong I am 40 and I’m struggling with absolutely everything being online. I went on holiday last week where I had to have a stop over in Germany the amount of different boarding passes and faffing around at the gate getting them up on my phone and they wouldn’t stay in landscape mode stressed me right out
massive queue of people behind me and I had to step aside to sort it out. I did see other people had paper boarding passage which they had printed at the machine. I kicked myself for not seeing that option.
trying to get up boarding passes for 5 people ( a mixture of elderly and children ) was annoying ) as each leg needed a separate pass and my phone had not saved them in order - arrrggh!
certainly everything we do at work is online or assessments our care plans ect which has streamline things but it takes me twice as long to fill out a electronic document then it does if I were to do it by hand .
parents evenings on the school cloud are even worse. I can never get a bloody connection. It has nothing to do with being disorganised. It’s just unnecessary in some case

Everything was a damn sight faster with pen & paper..

I don't mind things being digital- but do I need to 'register' for every little transaction online?!
I stayed at a travel lodge for a wedding and tried to pay for parking only to be told I have to download the app and do it on there. So frustrating, all to then delete the app afterwards and still receive lots of emails asking if I'd like to know more about parking in Norwich 😹

Digitisation is generally great if its accessible and theres the correct infrastructure in place, for example if your work had adequate WiFi it sounds like it might not have been an issue, it sounds like the childminder sent several links which probably isnt useful.

Agree it doesn't work well for everybody and I do think its really important that for essential services such as to book appointments or engage with mandatory things there should be support for those who don't know how to work it. I also have ADHD and it did take a long time to get my head around how to best organise my work plans, notes and documents online after years or printed and written papers and notes. There are some free courses floating around usually online?

No, it really wasn't. Things that can today be done virtually immediately would take weeks and months to do with pen and paper. Just think about online shopping - I can order virtually anything for delivery tomorrow, yet before the internet, mail order delivery time was typically 28 days! Take transferring money between bank accounts - used to need to physically go into a bank, wait in a queue, and then the transfer could take a few days - nowadays just do it online and the money moves in a minute or two. Get a cheque in the post, have to go to pay it into a bank, would take a few days before it cleared and you could draw it! Trouble is that people forget how things were in the "pen and paper" days.

I think, of you're capable and a whizz at technology it makes life so much simpler. If you're not it makes life harder!

I'm inbetween, have used tech as soon as I could to do things like reports, powerpoints etc, so quite simple I know.

Now all the spaces to keep docs in, I just tend to download to desktop, fill in, then send as an attachment. There are easier ways used by people I know but I stick to this older method as it's what I can do lol 😆

Surely it’s up to the company to give you the training you need to master the systems. Not for you to find out as you go along. If anything goes wrong you can be held responsible. The training time you should be paid at your normal rate and I hope you are getting paid more to take on the additional responsibility. Sounds like a bit of a shambles.

I agree 100% OP. And I’m sick of people assuming it’s because I’m middle aged. I was an early adopter of tech, I know stuff about it, I’ve been using the internet far longer than most people, but the whole thing has jumped the shark now.
I want to feed a couple of coins into a parking ticket machine. I DO NOT want to have to download another sodding app in a country park where I can barely get a signal.
I do not want to have to register for every bloody thing with one of my many spam email addresses and then think of a 12 digit password, which I will then forget next time and have to go through the “forgot password” rigmarole ( and try to remember which burner email address I used…)
I just want to be able to ring up a company and speak to someone, to make a doctors appointment by phone and to leave my mobile at home and be able to move through life.
I don’t think setting up a society where we are all obliged to walk around holding tiny computers is a good idea. And it doesn’t make things easier. It’s all just a bloody fiddly faff.

The parking app thing drives me mad.

Last year I bought e tickets for the cinema using my phone. Since then whenever I buy e tickets and try to access them, the first set of tickets that I bought appears on the screen rather than the new tickets. It doesn't matter what cinema, theatre or concert venue, I download the new tickets, try to open the correct pdf etc, and hey presto the 12 month old tickets appear. I've deleted files, cleared caches, deleted cookies, followed the problem solving instructions on the internet, all to no avail. I've wasted so much time trying to solve it and I've now decided it's better for my blood pressure to just pay £2 to get them sent in the post.

I find it difficult to use forms online, and have ADHD and autism. I have difficulties noticing and processing info online, so I usually mess up the forms or don't click submit etc. Found it most ridiculous when I struggled to fill in an EHCP assessment application form for my son online, and I rang them to explain my difficulties. They sent me a paper copy, but when that was done I was told everything else would have to be done on the online hub, which I then struggled to do. Ironic that the department dealing with learning disabilities can't understand the difficulties people might encounter.

IT actually makes everything more complicated. The problem is, we are over-reliant on technology that when it breaks down, we can't function.

My DH has some neuro issues that lead to reduced 'executive function '. This makes any sort of form completion on paper difficult and on line almost impossible.

I have issues round compulsory app use as I don't always have space on my phone to load. I have cheap phone but I know people who don't even have smart phone.

Digital exclusion can affect anyone for lots of reasons and yes, I think its a problem and you are not being unreasonable