When it comes to computers, I have a love/hate relationship with the digital wonders. The affectionate side is obviously because they allow me to do things I otherwise would be unable to do, or at least make those tasks easier to accomplish. But as for saving time, which they are purported to do – well, that’s where the aggravation aspect comes into the picture.
I’m sure most people can relate. We wait on computers for a substantial portion of our lives. We wait for programs to download. Then we wait for the programs to install, configure, authorize, and validate, etc. And then we wait for the program to open, to load, and to start. When that’s done, the program attempts to read a file, and of course it may need to do a virus scan so, again we wait. And this is just the beginning. We wait on uploads, downloads, to optimize files, to convert files, and compress files, and save files. We wait for connections, transfers and we wait on searches. Sometimes we don’t even know why we’re waiting, we’re just waiting. I think most of my waking hours these days are occupied with a single activity – waiting. And that’s what makes me frustrated.
I’m sure programmers, way back at the start of the computer age, knew that all this waiting would be a problem. So, they invented an abundance of terms for it, some technical and others not so technical, to distract us. After all, computers are presented as these magnificent marvels that can compute and perform thousands of calculations quickly and accurately. Computers were supposed to save us so much time. They don’t. I often hear the clock ticking as I’m waiting on yet another program function to complete.
I know I should learn to just be more patient – and I will someday. Right now, I don’t have the time. I guess you could say I’m waiting.
Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, his latest ebook, is available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®. For more information, visit http://www.bruceaborders.com or http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders