Monday, May 31, 2010

Why Does My Husband Get it And I Don't?

Deb: I’m a bright girl! I’ve been well edumacated! So why does it take me so long to grasp simple technical things? For example, I learn on Tuesday how to organize my photos. Wednesday, I look at the screen and cock my head to the side like a dog! My husband comes over and calmly goes: click, drag, pull, puff ... and done. “Thank you dear,” I say, not meaning it. Eventually I get it, but it takes days, sometimes weeks, even months. I swear he is NOT smarter than me! Okay, he may disagree, but hey, this is MY blog. Truly––WE ARE EQUAL SMART! So how come he “gets it”? 

Barbara: Oh my gaawwwwd! This is so me! Why, oh why, does it take so long (if ever) for me to absorb technical things? I feel like I should wear a “I’m a techno-simp” bib when talking with, well, anyone who owns a TV, DVD player, or computer––especially my husband!  My husband's grasp of electronics and such just blows me away. It's like he just has to LOOK at a piece of equipment to understand it. And I, sadly, never, ever feel like I get it no matter how many times I STUDY it....

Deb and I already riffed on our low E.Q. (Electronics Quotient) when we bemoaned our blog-making-conundrums, but it’s especially frustrating when the “illiteracy” involves everyday items, like new-fangled washing machines or coffee-makers. 

Deb: Add to that the humiliation of my three-year-old niece grabbing the remote from me with a look of disgust on her face when I couldn’t access the “Movies on Demand” channel. I thought I handled it with great maturity. Told her I’d run out of cookies.

19 comments:

  1. I'm okay with the basics of computers. I can figure out when my blog is doing weird things. I know how to fun my video and photo software, however TV's I have trouble with if they have like a cable box AND a Tivo AND a dvd player attached. I can either never, get them on, never turn them off, or can't find the right input.

    And don't get me started on my new cell phone. I was hoping my daughter would figure it out for me (we got the same kind after she did all the research) but the other day she said, "Yeah, I don't really know how this thing works yet either." So I play with it when I have the time to figure things out (no I will not read the manual, I'm a kinesthetic learner)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes technology can be hard. I just got a laptop last year because i am going to collage and some of the things that i try to do on there i have to ask my boyfriend about. Things that he finds simple arn't to me like how to clean out my files or how to download differen't things just real simple things. I think that sometimes people are just trying to make technology harder. Like you, it takes me forever to learn, my boyrfriend can tell me something about my laptop 50 million times and i still look at him like if he were crazy. Thats ok we all know that women are smarter than men well i should say smarter than some men you do have some smart ones out their. (some are)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just a note that Megan, in fact, helped us out a lot setting up -- and she's a new long-distance friend who we met through blog world! So I must give her full props for all her help here. Check out her blog at: http://meganbostic.blogspot.com/

    And Lyndsie -- just when I start to think I'm all-that-smart, nothing shoots me down as fast as my husband swooping in for tech-support!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My boy friend helps me out too,when i need help with technology stuff like my computar. Expecially now that i am in collage. Like i said you do have somemen out there that have brains and know what they are talking about. Sometimes i don;t know what i would do with out my Boyfriend expecially now that technology is gettin so much more advanced.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have the same problem with smartphones. Probably because they're smarter than I am. If my roommate hands me her Google Nexus so I can watch a video on it, and the screen goes blank suddenly because I didn't hit play quickly enough, I just stare at her with this "Help, what do I do?" look until she fixes it.

    But I practically live on my computers, So I do okay with them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. yep, my comment disappeared and this time I KNOW I typed the dumb captcha. Grr.

    suffice it to say, I am in this group. I can work little on my computer and less on my tv. And HOW do i download songs onto my iPod again?

    sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You see, Gae, if we were tech-geeks and not tech-illiterates, this problem you (and possibly others) are having may not be an issue!!

    Sigh indeed...

    ReplyDelete
  8. If you see that your comments keep going away, try going to "save as" and save it under your file then hit "post comment". I tried it and it work for me so it might work for you. Just giving a suggestion.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If only I understood a word of what lyndsie just wrote, I bet it was awesome advice...

    ReplyDelete
  10. A HA! Lyndsie, it looks like you might be a tech-geek after all!

    Anyway, folks, we have done a little investigative work -- and MAY have solved our comment issues. Gae, who was having problems, just posted 2 comments without a hitch. So *fingers crossed* problem solved???

    To any and all of you having issues, thanks so much for your patience!

    ReplyDelete
  11. not really a tech-geek just on my computar alot for collage and to surf the net but i hope my suggestion help anybody

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just finished babysitting the two-year old son of a friend of mine. After watching me do a couple things on my iphone, Matthew picked it up, turned it on and proceded to play all the games. The kid can't even read and he had the phone figured out in under 5 minutes...I just sat there in awe...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, this resonates with me, however, not on the computer front. For me, it's assembly instructions and car maintenance.

    Now, I'm a fairly smart person, but there's something about diagrams, screws, boards, and tab-A-slot-B that strips my brain's transmission. Even sewing patterns (assembly instructions) can drive me to tearful frustration. (FWIW, I'm a reasonably skilled crafter in several media, but I still prefer to make my own patterns and creations than to craft based on someone else's pattern and instructions.) Oddly, I can cook by following recipes, but that's because I approach it like I approach a laboratory (and, thank goodness, my kitchen doesn't have a diamond shaped hazmat placard on the door with level 3 and 4 ratings LOL).

    To a certain extent, my seemingly innate incompetency does extend to electronics in that it takes a lot longer than it should, fierce concentration, and at least 1 break for a cold can of soda and some ibuprofen for me to, for example, assemble the computer and all its peripherals with all their cords, plugs, fasteners, and software.

    But, one of the things I am proudest about in my post-end-of-marriage life is that I assembled, by myself, a small cabinet with doors and a computer desk. Mind you, the small cabinet took about 3 hours and I had to do the doors twice before I got them right. And, the desk took an entire afternoon, drew blood, left a big bruise on my forehead, and involved a tearful trip to the hardware store for more screws and wood glue to repair a significant blunder. But, the cabinet is still in good use in my son's room, and I'm typing this sitting at the computer desk. So there! :)

    I was raised by a father whose attitude about car maintenance and his daughter was, other than telling me to get my oil changed regularly, when I asked him to show me how to change a tire, "You're a girl. Stand there an look helpless. A man will stop and change it for you." I've always carried jumper cables in my trunk, but the assumption was that they were there for someone else to use for me. Luckily (and strangely enough), I learned how to jump a battery for myself in my late teens as a result of a science class lesson. I can now change a tire (although, to be honest, I prefer not to on the side of the road. Makes me nervous.) And, thanks to my best female friend's husband, I know how to change my oil, own the maintenance manual for my beat up old (paid off) car, know how the gas gets from the gas tank to the engine, can find various interesting bits and pieces under the hood, know how to change out the battery, and a bunch of stuff like that. Later this summer, he's going to teach me how to change my brake pads. I am thrilled, empowered, and grease stained. ;)

    Like y'all learning to blog and do computery stuff, I just had to find the courage in myself and the friends in my world to not only try in the first place but have the fortitude to keep plugging along even through the screw-ups. For example, I've quietly cheered for y'all as y'all've persevered in tackling the problem of the mysterious non-posting comments.

    ReplyDelete
  14. um, Rigel...didn't understand a word you said...until you got to the last sentence!! Oil changes, cabinet building, jumper cables, huh??? But relying and learning from friends and your "quiet cheering"? Got that loud and clear. Thank you!!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi all our lovely followers,
    Just want to give a welcome to Rigel who has done the summer school course in our blog and boned up commenting on everything. Welcome you energetic witty little thing you. Love it! And to anyone I might have missed and you are out there, I am tired and confused now. I have tried to troll each answer and remember what I have and haven't responded to. Suffice it to say, I have laughed, cried, been impressed or all three by everything you guys have posted. My lack of response to anyone is ruled by time constraints and never by their impact on me. Thanks one and all!

    ReplyDelete
  16. OK I'm very late to comment on this, but ... I can press the right button, with a witness, twice, and machines still don't work for me. Someone else can do exactly the same thing and voila, no problem.
    So I'm not mechanically challenged; it's the machine!
    Maybe it's the same for you. Still a g.d. mans' world even when it comes to technology!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pssssssssssstt! Barbara! Psssssssst! Hey, Barbara! Guess what?!?!? I changed the air filter in my car today! Yup! Just me and a phillips head screw driver in the Autozone parking lot! Hoodyhoo!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I guess some people get it and some don't. In my house, I am usually the techno savvy one, but when it comes to anything to do with the car, I stay far away.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hey - I bet your husband has been sitting up all night memorizing how to do that only so that he can be able to show off like that ;)

    Seriously, though, I think it has to do with one thing and one alone: experience. Computer thingamabobs can only be figured out by failing a sufficient number of times, THEN get it right.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.