Too Much Tech
A couple of decades ago, when my husband and I first acquired a house Lakeside, things were quite low-tech. For instance, there was no Wi-Fi available for our home. We had no car then and kept fit by walking two miles to Ajijic every couple of days to go to the “internet cafe” on the square. We rented a computer to check on email and make sure things were going well back in the U.S. My husband still worked full time, and I did charity work. I don’t recall us ever having any serious problems which could not be handled remotely.
Today, if I forget my iPhone at home, I am anxious until I return to learn its location. I get way too many emails, many texts and few phone messages. I am definitely addicted to the technology of today.
We are vacationing in Santa Fe, New Mexico right now. One event cascaded into many, and I am in a very unsettled state.
The chaos began when we received an online invitation with the word “Shhhhh!.” on the front. I wanted to see when the surprise party was, so I clicked on to a screen which required I sign in on one of the major email providers. When the system wouldn’t accept my try with two or three passcodes an alarm went off for me. I called the sender and was informed he had been hacked. I had been the victim of a “phishing” scam. I looked at the invitation again and noted the grammar error, which should have alerted me to the scam. I think this wasn’t the first time I got caught by this hook.
I began trying to quickly change my email password, but my passcode notes were dated. Many frustrating attempts and one hour later, I finally was allowed to access my email.
The next day, my visiting sister and I tried to use the Uber app. Something was wrong, and the app was showing exorbitant charges for a short ride. We scratched our plans until I could cancel and reload the app at a later time to remedy the issue. We were very disappointed and frustrated by this delay as we had wanted to go to the Georgia O’Keefe museum that day.
The following day, I went to the museum site to purchase tickets as we had learned only a few visitors were granted entry at one time. The system wouldn’t work correctly. I tried for about ten minutes to purchase tickets and finally gave up. I called the museum where a harried clerk informed me that none of their systems worked, and they couldn’t even send reservations to their front office due to a worldwide technology failure. She said it sounded like CrowdStrike or something and wasn’t supposed to be a malicious attack, just an error of some kind.
Here is what “not malicious” can do: airplanes were grounded. Hospitals were cancelling surgeries. We could not reserve tickets for Georgia O’Keefe. I’d hate to see a malicious attack.
The next day we decided to take our chances and show up without reservations to the museum. We arrived to no lines and few visitors. Systems were still down. The network disruption resulted in decreased stress.
On our return visit home, we decided to use a GPS app and go to a restaurant. The app acted like it was infected with bugs, telling us to go in circles, and turn on streets going away from town. We finally quit in dismay, aborting our lunch plans and heading home based on our memories.
I look back at the few days that the world experienced a serious technological problem. Things were difficult, but we made it through. My sister’s flight out had serious delays, and her journey took many hours longer than it should have. We count ourselves lucky.
What if one of us had been scheduled for a colonoscopy, done the prep, only to have a phone call that the operation was cancelled? That hideous thought stayed with me like a horror story.
I’ve been wondering. Is our dependence on technology really progress? The Amish people may be on to something.
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