Millennial Assistance?

Posted byDenysePosted inComputer Literacy, jargon, live-chat, Millennial, Techno-syncrasy, Web Hosting

One of the advantages Millennials have is that they were raised with technology. I was not. My first exposure to computers – and I am dating myself – was in high school. They weren’t the laptops, tablets, and computers we carry around in our pockets. They were behemoths of wiring with black screen CPUs and we had to learn how to program them. In one of my classes we learned about COBOL, FORTRAN and BASIC. And, all I really remember was there were zeros and ones and the order they were in meant something. Technology was beyond my purview and so far off my radar as to be part of a black hole in the atmosphere. It still is.

Why does this matter? Recently, I saw a debit in my bank account for hosting my website, not unusual because I set up the account. The thing that I had assumed was that a few months ago I paid for hosting with another provider, and then transferred that account to WordPress. It’s my own fault for knowing so little about websites, their care and maintenance, that it was unclear who was hosting my site, or what I’d paid for.

As a writer, I leave a lot up to the fates, to the designers of technology, and to the unseen, voiceless keystrokes behind a “live-chat.” I think the term live-chat is an oxymoron, since the “person” on the other side of the screen could be a robot for all I know. As a member of a generation a few decades ahead of millennials, I am somewhat at a disadvantage technologically, which puts me and others like me at risk of being taken advantage of. It’s food for thought as I sit with my website, writing blog posts, opining my own ignorance when it comes to web hosting, web-page development and the like.

It’s not that I’m incapable of learning the intricacies of it, nor that I am completely ignorant or a technophobe. There is still, in the recesses of my mind the notion that one must be mathematically savvy, or at least have some inclination toward it in order to master computers. I know how to use the programs I have installed, I can even sit with a manual and write, using the jargon of programmers, but therein lies the end of my interest. So, in the end, when I am being double-billed for hosting, paying prices beyond necessity, it is not the faceless, voiceless script running on the “live-chat” that is to blame.

What are your thoughts? Are you of a generation that embraces technology enough to understand the techno-syncrasy (idiosyncrasy is a word attributable to humans) of artificial intelligence?

Published by Denyse

As a writer, my passion is interviewing people and telling stories. For the past few decades, I've had the opportunity to do just that across a variety of media. Beginning in print journalism, I worked as a contract beat reporter for several years, later getting a Master of Arts in Journalism. I picked up magazine work as a freelancer, writing for a couple of lifestyles magazines, and even joining a graphic artist friend to publish our own city magazine. With the evolution of newspapers into the digital world, I headed back to school again, picking up a technical diploma in Digital Media Arts. There, I learned audio and video editing, content creation, blogging, and picked up part-time work in a couple of radio stations as a reporter and content producer. Later, I moved into television news, where I handled the news assignment desk. Writing is and always will be my first love. I continue writing features, interviewing people living their best lives, and telling the stories of those who trust them to me. I am a mom, a grandmother, and am blessed in marriage and life. My husband and I spend time on the water in the summer on our sailboat, and when I can, I am outside in nature on my bike, or walking my dog. I also think dirt therapy is the best kind, and will usually have my hands full with weeding and tending my flower beds.

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