🤖Machine Talk🤖

 🤖Machine Talk🤖

Hello, my fellow Gen-x-ers 👋

This week I wanted to ask you a question..... How are you getting on with modern technology? 

Having just read through what I have written below it seems like I am having a little rant...however, I am sure that this subject is something you can easily relate to!

At this point in time, we were sold the idea that technology saves us stress and unwanted work, however, quite often it seems not to be the case!

Take travel for example, back in the day, it was quite simple to walk into or even call a travel agent and discuss ideas for our next holiday. The agent would then proceed to flood us with tempting options. This old-school process was exciting, easy and enjoyable, flicking through a glossy brochure to look at stunning photos of white sand beaches, the big five or a snow-covered chalet. Our options were endless, every dream could be realised and more importantly, organised for us completely stress-free. The only thing we needed to do, was choose between all the wonderful opportunities that lay ahead and dust off our "flexible friend".

Travel agencies do still exist and I recently had the pleasure of purchasing a trip through my local agent. Normally I spend hours searching the web, looking at multiple options, comparing prices and navigating complicated booking pages which catch us out with hidden costs.

For this particular trip, I wanted to book through an agent, I am travelling with a large group from my choir so I did not want to be solely responsible. Our trip is to visit Kenya to engage in a Gospel Festival. On visiting our local travel agent, we were treated like royalty. Our studious agent was informative, efficient and hey presto within 20 minutes we were booked, So..... Simple!!

We took great delight in leaving, the printed paper ticket in hand, neatly folded within the information folder, we were delighted grinning from ear to ear it felt like we had just won the lottery and were on top of the world. All the nitty gritty the agent had taken care of, best prices and times, travel insurance and visas were all handled by the agent, wow how easy was that! 

Having spent many hours over the years which has accumulated to days and weeks scrolling through flight web pages and comparison sites it brings home how easy we used to have it when someone handles all the organising for you. 

Of course, we all know these scenarios have all been designed so that companies employ less staff and we the end users are doing more work.

Oh and don’t get me started about my car! 🚗  I am always in trouble! It seems to be constantly alerting me by beeping/shouting at me! It gives constant information: seatbelt is off, light left on, I am straying towards the centre carriage white line, I am reversing and even down to just opening my boot! 

All our appliances seem to be "communicating" to us using an annoying beep as if we have done something wrong.... my fridge is not quite closed, the automatic vacuum is stuck under a piece of furniture,  the breadmaker has finished proving, the washing machine has finished its cycle and is calling me urgently even though I frustrating still can't open the door! 

Our so-called time-savers may be helping us but they are also creating stress for us, it's like having a constant parent on our case and we are not able to learn for ourselves that if we accidentally leave the freezer open, then, guess what it defrosts.... surely we can only learn from our mistakes!

Even our spoken language is beginning to incorporate technological language. 

Next week I am going on a yoga retreat to the beautiful Eco Beach -  https://lanzaroteretreats.com/holiday-home/eco-beach/ - the retreat has been named "Reset". I am looking forward to the Retset opportunity its, timing could not be better. It got me thinking about other words we frequently use to express ourselves, Processing, Input, Turn On, Comput, Rewind, Upgrade, Reboot, Streamline. Are we turning into computers? 

I'm keen to hear any words you have picked up on recently that fit into our computer world.

So when you next hear from me I will have totally Reset myself and have had a week to enjoy a digital detox, whoop whoop 😂😂🤗

Catch up soon 💜x💜