Time taken over a tech problem

Next day…

Oh no! What next!

Jason: You didn’t pick up last night. Thought you’d fallen in the bathroom and broken a leg. Nearly called an ambulance.

Sybil: I thought of texting you. I was busy. Downloading an app and recalibrating the headphones took longer than I expected.

Jason: Yeah. At this stage of life, I often can’t be bothered with some tech problem that I can solve but I’ll never need to do it again. 

Sybil: Waste of what little time I have left.

Jason: Rather play with the cat?

Sybil: And what’s wrong with that?

________

Voice-over

Understandably frustrating wrestling with tech. Wait until the next day. Search online. Ask someone, lay or professional if you have better things to do with your time. Or even troubleshoot it and use it as a learning opportunity. 

The Wisdom of Slow Decisions

After a frustrating purchase…

Ella: I bought a pocket wifi, ignoring the “Fools rush in” principle. Put a card in, no internet connection.

Bella: Did support help?

Ella: It took an army of them, four hours. First, they had to register the data card number with my passport number. Second, the data card was telephone, not internet data. Third, the card was upgraded, at extra cost, still no connection. Fourth, went to carrier helpdesk, the guys there couldn’t find the problem. Nice but hopeless. Fifth, called the pocket wifi helpdesk, no reply. Sixth, someone said the 4G card wasn’t compatible a 3G pocket wifi, did that, no result.

Bella: A litany of joyless frustration?

Ella: I was ready to leave the pocket wifi with them forever. Smiling nicely, of course. But finally a techie girl tweaked the pocket wifi settings and it came online.

Bella: Heaven comes to he who waits?

Ella: Patience did win the day.

___________

Voice-over

Try before you buy, or buyer better beware!

...

Spinal stoop and text neck

Spinal stoop

Naomi reports a pain in her neck…

Fitness Fiend: You use a computer and you text. I’ve seen you. You spend a lot of time squinting at screens. Hunching over a computer, leaning over a mobile phone. Result is the same. Pain in the neck.

Text neck

Naomi: Have to see a chiropractor to straighten things out?

Fitness Fiend: Not always. Take frequent breaks and pull your chin into your neck when at the computer. Rotate shoulders. Sit up straight and hold phone high when texting.

___________

Voice-over

If you are addicted to the chiropractor twisting your neck to make it go click as a quick fix, go ahead, pay the fee. The lower-key and more economic option is to do the preventive maintenance.

...

You can't miss it

Ernestine tries to pin down optimistic Olga on a meeting point.

...

Olga: There’s a chicken stall outside the station.

Ernestine: Easy to find?

Olga: Near the exit. Can’t miss it.

Ernestine: East exit or west?

Olga: It’s the one with the Nokia ad.

Ernestine: Remember my mobile’s at home.

Olga: No worries. I’ll see you.

Ernestine: You’ll see me? What time?

Olga: Threeish.

____________

Voiceover

Expressions intended to reassure, like “You can’t miss it,” or “No worries,” can be unsettling. Especially to those who like plans, details, are nervous, or those without a mobile in this GPS, GoogleMaps era.

Pre-mobile phones, we fixed a time and place. And had a backup plan.

...

Storytelling by mobile phone

Going up the Damascus elevator, Benoit has a revelation.

...

Benoit (talking to himself, looking up at the advertisement): Nokia N82: Storytelling rediscovered. Well, well.

Man wearing Dubai hat: Excuse me.

Benoit: Sorry.

Man wearing Dubai hat: Shukran.

Benoit (continuing to voiceover himself): Story telling was an oral tradition once. People told stories. Then we had drama, then we had movies, now we have telephones telling a story. Huh. What sort of stories can telephones tell? Jokes like "Ring, ring, Who's there?" Who do they tell the story to? Other telephones? Will humans soon be out of the loop?

...