Perils of modern living
Thursday, January 3, 2008 I got my wish at Christmas - a brand, spanking new iPhone - but it's still in its box. I can use most modern gadgets, including computers, once they're set up, but that's the problem. I'm hopeless at DIY of any sort.
Last year I spent most of Boxing Day trying to rig up BT's Home Hub system (a Christmas present to myself) and failed dismally. When, finally, it kicked into life and I could access the internet wirelessly via my laptop, it was thanks to a BT employee in India who managed to operate my computer remotely and click the right buttons.
The year before it took the best part of six hours to erect a flatpack desk from John Lewis. Even then I got it wrong, glued some wooden dowels into the wrong holes and had to pay someone to sort out the mess.
Last Friday, with the clock ticking on my mother-in-law's imminent arrival, I made a similar mistake with our new spare bed. No glue was involved this time so the error wasn't catastrophic, but it still took two hours to complete a job I was told would take ten minutes.
On Saturday I had to register (online) my children's new pay-as-you-go mobile phones. I'm sure this is as easy as pie for most of you, but after several attempts - during which I was asked for security and ID codes I didn't seem to have - I gave up, jumped in my car and drove 20 miles to the nearest Orange shop to let them sort it out.
The point I am trying to make is this: what is the point of modern gadgets and flatpack furniture if they make our lives even more complicated and stressful? To be fair to Apple, their products are (usually) incredibly intuitive. So, today, I shall get my shiny new toy out of its pristine black box, consult the instructions, and master the iPhone "tool by tool" (if it kills me). Watch this space.
Postscript ... I have just spotted the following in today's Telegraph: "Rumours are swirling of some important new product launches in the next few weeks, not least ... a much-improved version of the iPhone." Aaarrrggghhh!!
Reader Comments (1)
You are a man after my own heart. I can't even empty a hoover bag or change a light bulb without detailed help from my wife. So modern technology is beyond me. But I understand the subtleties of Chekhov and Ibsen and despair at a society that has never heard of, let alone can compare, Wilde and Shaw. My world is light years from the modern age which treats you with contempt both in its concept of customer service and it assumption that you can follow the most convoluted instruction. We aint stupid, Simon Clark and I, just made to seem so.