We're living in the future.It's strange how technology has quickly been assimilated into our lives.
The last few weeks, technology has been both a help and a hindrance. I have laptop and printer issues and it's getting a bit beyond a joke!
At university we weren't even taught how to use computers - an essential for any fashion designer these days! There were only 3 computers for the whole arts faculty to use & I had to type my dissertation on a word processor - no quick editing there - I had to use tippex if I made a mistake!
It always makes me laugh telling my work experience students what it was like before mobile phones and internet. I got my first mobile in 1998 when I was 21. Suddenly I didn't need to make lengthy plans before leaving the house. I remember the first few festivals I went to before mobiles - whole days wandering around trying to find people. I got so frustrated with it I ended up going to Glastonbury festival on my own one year - it was the best festival ever!
The trouble with being available all the time is that you just don't chance to switch off. Running your own business means you don't even dare leave the phone at home or go more than a day without checking the emails. And as useful as they are for cheap marketing and promotion, facebook and myspace and now blog are all yet more things that needs to be done.
We've invested more and more money into technology as the business as grown but the rate that it becomes obsolete is scary. When you become reliant on something which isn't as fast or as reliable as it should be can be a frustrating time. Such as the two banes of my life - laptop and printer!
I'm almost at breaking point over my laptop - a cheap secondhand number off the ebay which was only going to be used as a spare for checking emails and a little bit of writing. Before it arrived on the scene I used to use the pc in the office or use what has now become gordons laptop as alas my lovely Mac was stolen (quite old but great for design!). So now (because its here in front of me) I'm trying to use photoshop, illustrator and corel on a pc with only ?mb (who knows....all i know it's not enough) of ram, a dodgy fan and suspect power connection. It's soo slow and has come very close to being thrown across the room!
Insert dreams of macbooks *sigh* (check out this 24 carat gold and diamond one!)The great A3 laser printer which we use to create our transfer print tees has also had a malfunction - we thought it was getting a bit hot and now the fans broken! The call out fee is £150 + parts and labour....it's gonna hurt.
But even though there's heaps of frustrations all round, I love the digital age. It offers loads of new possibilities and I'm looking forward to the next new inventions - let just hope they're gonna be self repairing!
i know what you mean about facebook and blogs becoming another thing to do. i've read, and i'm fairly sure i agree, that having an interent presence is very important...especially to a little shop like us that has just opened. But sometimes i get a bit confused by it all...Twitter???how can that help???
ReplyDeleteI get very annoyed by the net these days, I was so addicted to it but now I find it a chore unless I'm, blogging, shopping or catching up with friends. So, how you guys cope with a lot of the business invested on the net I have no idea! I can see how you must find it frustrating and expensive when things go wrong! On the flip side I do agree with your conclusion; It is an exciting time and so far away from the old days with no mobiles! :) I would miss the net and all our technology terribly if it weren't here but I do worry our children will be totally lacking in social awareness and crap at face to face relationships. Xx
ReplyDeleteYes it can be frustrating, i get annoyed with having to repeat everything on different formats - but then it seems to work, so it's worth it. I'm just waiting for the next stage when you can just type in and upload pictures and text and point at which social networking site you want it uploaded to. Neil told me about "social networking aggregators" but they don't seem to be quite right....just yet!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how it will change todays youth but the teenagers I know seem pretty well adjusted and self-confident.