The Stress of Progress
I am hoping this is not a rant, because goodness knows the last thing we need is another rant in our days.
No, what I hope to do is simply point out that if you get stressed out just trying to manage the nuts and bolts of life, it is a real thing.
Case in point.
Russ and I signed up to audit a beginning level Spanish class at the local university.
Yesterday I went to the bookstore to purchase the book required for the class.
Please keep in mind the last time I went to a book store on a college campus was to sell back my last semester of books, collect my $4.65 back from the $248.00 I had spent on them the previous September…and head out to spend it as fast as possible on some kind of celebratory event.
I knew the cost of books had jumped drastically but what I was not prepared for was the fact that “book stores” on campuses are really just glorified gift shops.
When I entered the store, a girl about the age of twelve who was sitting behind the counter looked up at me and smiled.
I told her I was there to purchase a book and motioned around towards what I thought must be the back of the store and asked if the books were back there.
She looked back at me like I had three heads and just emerged from a small spaceship.
She handed me a post card for the “Virtual Book Store” with an offer to have my order delivered to this location for pick up.
So I spent no small amount of time searching the internet for the required books, including reading massive and detailed descriptions of various used books that left me wanting to wash my hands several times, if not take a bath…and finally giving over all my personal information to this website.
Our books will be delivered in 5-8 business days.
And I struggle to think how the “convenience” of all of our progress is seeming to be increasingly convenient for corporations and increasingly difficult for individuals.
I wonder how much of our high-tech living is alienating those without means to just function in this world.
You can not hardly book a flight, rent a car, buy a train ticket, order lunch from Panera without an app.
Which makes me want to take a nap.
Not everyone is a twenty year old who grew up with a cell phone attached to them like an extra appendage and it is difficult for even these savvy young ones to keep up with the constant updates and changes.
Don’t believe me?
Call AppleCare with a basic question and wait while the tech gets a supervisor, who gets a manager to help you find that on the device.
I don’t know what the answer is.
Doctors offices will continue to make you use a computer for check in and automated computers who can understand spoken word to direct your call to the next menu of fifteen choices are not going to go away.
But give yourself some grace, people.
You are not stupid or too old or any of the other horrible things you tell yourself as you wade through the complexities of life in 2018.
You happen to be someone who has been placed in a time on earth where being a computer programmer has become a requirement to find out your grandson’s ball schedule…
so…
ask questions…
don’t give up…
be encouraged…
and use this as a great opportunity to connect with the generation coming behind.
As they help you figure out how to get logged in for the Fantasy Football draft, you just might impart some knowledge THEY need <3
Blessings on you today <3