Computers baffle me. I use one every day, but I have next to no understanding of why and how it does what it does. So when the Word screen all of a sudden goes white in the middle of a writing project, I react as if it’s the worst possible thing that could ever happen.
It’s an over-the-top and unwarranted reaction, but it happens because I am at a total loss for why the freaking laptop is behaving this way all of a sudden. It happens without warning, and it is rage-inducing. I have no idea how to fix it. I wait for the circle to stop spinning. I hit Control-Alt-Delete, I hit the on-off button until it executes a forced shut-down. I call 911 (no, I don’t), I reboot, I sit and stew and curse.
It’s the not knowing that frustrates me beyond words, except four-letter words.
There’s a wall that exists, though. So much of what we have at our disposal is stuff we take for granted without having a concept of the often complex inner workings. We consume things, we buy things only to use them, trusting that we’ll never have to troubleshoot. I want my laptop to work every time, to handle the tasks I demand of it, without worrying about breakdowns and glitches and sudden white screens and error messages and warnings that make no sense.
It’s the sudden onset and randomness that does me in. Did I hit the wrong key somehow? Did I inadvertently give it a command to stop functioning normally and go into hair-pulling mode? I guess I need to step back and learn to go into my own evaluation and assessment mode—to treat this as my own riddle to solve, as a “fun” challenge, as a journey of discovery…
Computers are logical, after all, so there must be a straightforward explanation. But in the moment, that’s not necessarily what I’m thinking.
3 Cents' 