Technological Romance

My name is Flynn, and I'm technologically challenged.

Professionally speaking, my world has always positioned me somewhere near the forefront of new technology.  Every job I've had as an adult has hinged on my ability to either adopt or quickly understand what's coming next.  In college, I worked the front desk at the university computing lab, helping design students navigate everything from broken zip disks (remember zip discs?!) to their basic Photoshop woes.  At the same time, I found myself entering the music industry just before it began to undergo radical change through the advance of digital media.  I worked for the first record label to have its entire catalog available in MP3 form; I used that early knowledge to start a path in a career in digital sales and marketing.

The truth, though, is that at the end of every workday, I always went home.  For years, "home" meant an aging Dell laptop computer with two keys missing from the keypad, propped on my old Greek textbook in order to properly aerate the inner fan that no longer felt inclined to spin on its own.  Prone to overheating, it would turn itself off without any warning - usually as I struggled to write my undergraduate thesis.  Eventually refurbished Mac Powerbooks came into my life; as my work life began to revolve around digital music stores, I managed to get an iPod two years after all of my friends, and right before the brand new "in color" versions were introduced into the world, ensuring it would look outdated just months after its purchase.

The newest devices have always failed me, in some way.  The cheapest and most basic of telephones served its purpose for years before work forced me to trade it in for a Blackberry.  I never did buy another iPod.  I still buy records (sometimes on vinyl), and I read actual books with actual pages.  Still, I am curious: I want to know what stands for progress and what makes new technologies useful.  I may have had the world's slowest desktop computer in 1999, but I used it to start what was then called an online journal (later, a blog.)  Through it, I made friends, and I landed my first job.  Social networking has always afforded me the same simple luxuries; I can't say I've shied away from Myspace, from Facebook, or from Twitter, even as I have the most basic understanding of new devices and apps. Even as people around me complain about losing the value of face to face communication, I can't help but think that all these advancements are affording us new and potentially meaningful ways to connect with each other.

And so, after suffering the loss of my fourth laptop in the last six or seven years, part of me wants to go back to give up and only write in notebooks.  What's the point of all this technology if it's always failing so consistently?  Another part of me, though, wants to see this as an opportunity.  What if the problem isn't technology itself, but my failure to embrace it?

I've never used a touchscreen before.  I've never downloaded an app.  When I went to the Apple store last week, I asked a question about Mac / PC compatibility.  "Ma'am," said the Apple Genius, "our iPods have worked with PCs since 2002."

My name is Flynn, and I'm technologically challenged, but I bought an iPad and I'm going to use it as a computer. Along the way, I hope to figure out how to make technology work with me instead of against me, and I'd love it if you came along for the ride.