Coffee and Technology Frustration

I am writing this whilst sitting in Starbucks, waiting to be seen by the Apple Store.
After 2 weeks of checking daily to get a genius bar appointment with no luck, today I decided to just turn up and see if they could fit me in.

My macbook is rapidly becoming slower than one of those giant tortoises you see on wonderful nature programs with Attenborough…
The past few weeks it has got so slow that I’ve actually been writing the bulk of my blog posts on my iPhone and then opening it on my mac to add the pictures and schedule etc. Not ideal.

It got me thinking though, as I sat at my desk this morning genuinely debating throwing my macbook out of the window, how completely addicted are we to technology?!

I read something recently that if you are thinking of making a serious commitment in a relationship, you need to see that person with 3% battery, really patchy signal and no wifi and then you will see a whole new side of them! We are so completely addicted!

But it does, technology not working properly genuinely changes people. The past couple of weeks, while my mac has been playing up, I have felt more infuriated and frustrated while working than I have in AGES. When technology doesn’t work it seems to bring out an aggravation in people that you don’t see otherwise – it’s a bit scary really when you think about it – it’s just a laptop!

I suppose it is just the moving forward of technology and we happen to be in the generation that experienced not having a phone, to having a Nokia 3310, through to an iPhone 6 (though I’m still on the 5!)
We have been slap bang in the middle of the technological revolution. We have grown up with this technology, as it itself has grown, so we are used to having the latest version of it all there at our fingertips. Our parents generation like to use it, but have also had a whole life without all this technology around, so if it doesn’t work, it isn’t the end of the world….For our generation, we know we could probably cope without it, but frankly, we don’t want to and why should we – it’s there to use!

I bought this Macbook when I went into second year at drama school so it must be 5ish years old now – which in technical speak is, I suppose, quite old and a lot of people must be reading this thinking “it’s old, it’s bound to slow down and die at some point!” – I know friends have said that to me – but actually, I can’t afford a new one right now, and I can’t help but think that something that cost me over a grand should probably last me a bit longer than this…though if it plays up for much longer it’s going to find a home on the street below a smashed office window!

Anyway, I’ve been waiting for about an hour, I’ve had a coffee, I’ve wandered around the shops, popped into “Lush” and had a really lovely chat to a few of the staff in there, and am now back in Starbucks waiting for my phone to buzz telling me that they are ready to see me.
I decided not to let the annoyance that my macbook isn’t working properly get to me.
I decided to enjoy my waiting time (when I have spent 2 weeks trying to book an appointment).
I decided to treat myself to a coffee and a new lippy instead of getting wound up.
I decided not to let technology frustration ruin my day.
….and now my phone is buzzing for me to go back to the store….

OK, so apparently I’m now not getting it seen today…Instead of an hour (which I have waited) it is going to be 4.5 hours…
I’ve got work to do and I’m hungry.
I guess I just need to tell myself to chill out.
It’s only a laptop…

R xx

photo credit: Fuji X100S via photopin (license)