By Shannon Williams
As I started my college career, computers were not something that were part of our everyday life. I was thrilled when my parents let me take the family portable typewriter to college, I think I was the only one who used it, but I had already started the habit of taking notes by hand in class and to study I would type out my notes. I think that started when I was taking a typing class my junior year in high school. I was not happy about “having to take a typing class” I remember the argument with my mother, as I wanted to take an art class, but she insisted that I take a typing class. I thought it would be a waste of time, as I had no plan to earn a living typing. WOW, was I wrong and I told my mother and thanked her several times for making me take that class. So, I learned basic keyboarding skills in high school and for some reason I liked to type better than hand writing. I did not interact with computers till my junior year at college. I was taking a research class and had put together a research project based on a survey I had put together. I was really excited when I got time in the computer lab to enter all my data! I had no clue what I was doing, but at that time one of my roommates was out of college and working in the computer science field. This was in 1980, so it was all new to all of us. My roommate went to the lab and set up the program for me and then I began to enter each survey which would then produce a data card (sorry to your tech types that none of my computer terms will be correct). I sat down to start the process and had to start over several times, I dropped the cards once or twice as I was ready to load them into the big machine to read it and give me my results. I guarded those cards with my life and don’t think I tossed them till years later! I could not understand how a machine could read dots and symbols and give me a report that told me how each question was answered, it was really amazing.
When I got out of school and started my first professional job, computers were not part of the process. As a social worker, I had to do a long interview with each patient who was admitted to the hospital. I then had to type it out as a basic format. Since I worked at a state mental hospital on the substance abuse unit, the social history was a big part of how we decided the treatment plan for each person. I had to make five copies of each one, and most were 5 – 7 pages. So, I had to type them using carbon paper! I am an awful speller, so correcting mistakes was not fun! I only had to do this for about 6 months, when our unit got to take part in a pilot program, in which we dictated our report and had a pool of staff that would then type them up. I must have danced a happy dance for a week when this took place. I continued with this for several years and then it was announced that we would all be learning computers and the typing pool was going away! I was not really happy but at the same time the long narrative social history was also going away and we went to a software that we could fill in the blanks or use a drop-down format to get all of the information we needed. We all took classes and learned how to both use a computer and the software. By this time I was married and we had an apple computer at home, which was used to run my husband’s music studio for producing radio ads. I did not want to confuse myself, so I never really learned much about the apple computer, but I took to the new process with ease. I never understood much about the programs and had no interest in learning more than what I needed to do my job. Once they became part of my professional life, I started to move more into home use and got myself my own computer to do my checkbook, write letters, and had great hopes of getting my recipes in order (still working on that one after buying more than a few software programs for just that).
I became very dependent on computers at work and home, but was blessed with great IT folks who would just tell me to “step away from the keyboard” and they would fix whatever I had messed up. When I had a problem, I just assumed it was user error.
Over the years, there were many and I mean many calls to the IT department with me almost in tears, each and every time they would save the day. I went through a few computers as they would die or they wanted to update me. I ended up with a big set up with 3 screens and life was good. When I retired, I was gifted my setup and the IT guys told me I would have a lifetime use of their help. I think it was that I made it a habit of sending pizza to them to thank them for keeping me and my projects up and going.
The other day, my computer was just not acting right, it was slow and not loading. I put a call into my dear IT guys. It was decided that we needed to run a virus check, which was done and I was clear. I no longer was on the work firewall, so got Norton, but failed to add the computers to it! So, we updated everything, got the Norton up and going. They told me it would take awhile and the screen would be black and I would need to restart. I did not listen too well, as they had told me that they would let me know when to do that. I was trying not to take up their time, but it turned out badly. I decided to restart the computer after what I thought had been a long time and it died! It was kind of an old computer and had served me well, but I killed it. I wish I could explain what I did, but they were “wiping the system and if I tried to use it during the process it would kill it and it did! I cried, yes, I cried big old crocodile tears, I hate dealing with broken computers and cars, as I don’t understand either and have to be totally dependent on other people.
I had gotten a new laptop about a year ago, as I was not sure I would be keeping the work computer. I had not really used it much. At first, I was just going to get a new desk top, I don’t like change and wanted to keep my set up the same. Between my son and the IT guys, they talked me into just using the new laptop and they could set it up as I was used to. When I retired, they had wiped my computer out and removed all the work stuff and then rebuilt what I would be needed, but I had to set up everything again, passwords, shortcuts and all that goes with that. I did not want to do that again. I thought that my data would be ok, so off to Best Buy I went to buy an external hard drive and have them transfer my computer. When I dropped it off (without an appointment, not a good thing but they worked me in) I was told it would be 2 days before they could get to it. I was so upset I had to do some shopping therapy, but as soon as I started home, I got a call that they had finished it and I could come and get it. When I got home, I was able to plug it in and there was most of my stuff. I have a few programs that are old and I would have to reinstall with the disk, so I had to order an external disk reader. So, as of today, I have 2 screens working, everything but my QuickBooks back up and running and found most of my passwords!!! It was stressful and I melted down a few times, but I learned a lot as I went through this process, I don’t want to be depended on others to do basic computer stuff. I think one of the problems is that when I learned computer, I just learned how to do what I need and nothing about the process of who and why, just had no interest in that. It was the same with cars, I really did not care why or how it worked, I just knew I needed to put gas in and it would go. I have had to learn a little more not to destroy cars! I guess it is just part of again, that new comes in and we have to depend on others to learn it. I do wish I was the type of learner that likes to learn how things work, but I am just not, so I will be dependent on others for my computer, I guess. So, remember to “save” and back up and when someone tells you to “step away from the keyboard” you should listen!
