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Did you wake up one day and find that the world seemed to go technology crazy overnight? Everywhere you look these days, things are automated, computerized, swipe-card operated. You have email, voice-mail and caller ID. Even "normal" mail is called snail mail. When did everything start moving so fast?
If you're utterly bewildered by the epidemic of technology which surrounds us everyday, take heart: there are ways of coping with this new era without resorting to staying in your apartment for the rest of your life. Try some of these survival strategies.
Don't press the panic button.
If you're faced with a technological situation which paralyzes you with fear, the worst thing you can do is panic. When you panic, you lose all capacity to reason or think clearly. So take a deep breath - in fact, take two or three - and just calm down.
Look rationally at the object before you. Are there any kinds of instructions visible? If you stay centered and focus on the issue at hand, you’ll find that you're quite capable of solving what is probably a simple problem
yourself.
Look directly at the object and try to work out what is wrong. Did you swipe your card according to the diagram? Is that new kind of ATM waiting for you to strike one more key before it will spit out your money? The answer to your dilemma is probably being flashed on some kind of screen in
front of you. Calm down for long enough to read the message and remedy the situation.
The mysteries of computers.
What if you're faced with the daunting sight of an incomprehensible error message on your computer screen? Or – even worse - what if there's nothing on the screen at
all, but a black void that ironically mirrors the terror in your mind as you contemplate all that information which has somehow been transported into a parallel universe. You have three options available to you.
If you are facing an error message, read it carefully. If your horror is too great for you to take in what it's saying to you, stand up and get away from the screen. Go and make a cup of coffee and calm yourself to a point
at which you can handle engaging with the information in the message. Return to the dreaded screen and read it again. Does it make more sense? If so, follow the instructions and watch your document re-appear.
If the error message is still utterly incomprehensible, you need help. Call the IT support people in your office and explain your problem, keeping your voice as steady as you can. Don't be embarrassed at your lack of knowledge
- these people are paid to troubleshoot precisely those kinds of problems that you're having right now. Chances are, a friendly computer expert will be on her way to help you out right away.
What if you're trying to perform a function which just won't work? You go through all the steps of the process, but the computer seems to have evolved into some kind of superior intelligence intent on foiling your plans for productivity. Before you execute the same futile moves for the 6th or 7th time, stop and save your work. Right. Now go to the help screen and methodically search the information there until you find the solution to your problem.
It's amazing how many people just skim the help pages without taking a really good look at what information is available there. Slow down and take your time. If you can't find your problem under the term you expected it to be under, what other categories could you try? The solution is unlikely to be under "B", for "big problem", but might be under "F", for "formatting”, for example.
The two golden rules for dealing with technology stress are not to panic, and to look for further information. You'll find that, if you stay calm and rational and face that
stubborn machine in front of you, you're actually not as technophobic as you thought.
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