It seems that the older I get, the faster technology progresses. And as much as I love the convenience of my iPhone, my apple watch, my iPad, etc., I hate dealing with the glitches, the updates, the constant AI meddling.

Don’t get me wrong, technology has made life much more convenient. A few days ago, I was able to check in for my physical through an email link. I also scheduled my lab work and additional tests with a few clicks on my phone. Hours later, I was alerted by email that my lab results were ready to view. This sure beat the frustration of waiting endlessly on hold with the doctor’s office.

When your car hijacks your calls…

I also love CarPlay. It allows me to do all kinds of things while driving. I can navigate to a location for an appointment from my calendar, listen to a podcast or audio book, send and receive texts and make phone calls – all hands free. It’s all well and good until CarPlay kicks in and transfers a call from inside the house to the car, and the person on the other end is now unknowingly conversing with the inside of an SUV.

iPad living…

I’m also a big fan of my iPad. I prefer it for reading news, emails, books etc. When I upgraded mine last year, I added a smart keyboard. It’s so much better than touch screen typing… That is until it developed a mind of its own and went rogue. Now the symbols don’t correspond with the keys. The question mark is located where the dash should be – and the dash is where the asterisk should be and so on. I’ve tried everything recommended by google to reset it – but it’s still misbehaving. I’m playing nice with it – for now.

AI help?

I love all the online sites for design and publishing. In fact, I was happily designing a wedding shower invitation on one of them when I encountered a glitch. I clicked on the chat bubble for assistance, thinking it would be an easy fix. Soon after typing my question, it became clear that I was interacting with AI and all the accompanying frustration. My queries were answered with a list of FAQ links. I repeatedly clicked “none of the above” and “this did not help” for several minutes before being handed off to a human who was able to solve the issue in a matter of seconds. I’m not convinced AI will take over anytime soon. At least not in customer service roles – humans communicate better with other humans.

Missing the IT guys…

I never realized how dependent I was on the IT department at work until I retired a few years ago. Suddenly, I couldn’t just call one of the guys responsible for keeping our network up and running and have them pop over to my office to fix the printer connection. Fortunately, my husband is more tech savvy than I. Now, when I encounter a problem with my phone settings, I call on “hubby-IT.” It’s reliable and it’s free!

My millennial kids can also troubleshoot like pros. They’ve also taught me how to add stickers to my face while on FaceTime – although I don’t really get the point. My hubby will often turn himself into an animation and add a bike helmet. I’m content to just be regular old Peg – although I would like to learn how to get rid of the dreaded selfie double chin.

Looking back to the “good old inconvenient days.”

I often think how amazed a person from twenty years in the past would be if given a glimpse of today’s technology. We’ve become spoiled and impatient by the lightning speed convenience of our gadgets. My kids wonder how we got through college without smart phones, the internet and earbuds – let alone google maps. We managed making appointments by phone and sending checks through the mail to pay bills. It was all so inconvenient and yet somehow, we survived.

We can all learn a lesson in technology discipline from my 91-year-old mom. She resisted carrying her cell phone with her everywhere for years, and only started texting when she realized that was the only way she was getting photos of her grand and great-grandchildren. So, with the help of her generations of offspring, she learned how to download photos and videos, how to delete emails and other iPhone basics. She uses technology when it suits her and disconnects when it doesn’t.  I figure if she can do it, so can I.

I asked readers to share their technology pet-peeves. As usual, they didn’t hold back.

Leslie Barr: “I bought a new Apple desktop and a new iPhone in the last year. None of my old chargers or other plug-in devices work. More money to buy converters. I’ve spent countless hours making iMovie’s for various events. But they seem to only be saved on DVDs or thumb drives that won’t work with anything. So yeah. My pet peeve is that they always “improve” things by making the old stuff unusable.”

Kathy Plecki: “Not getting a real person on the phone anymore, and jumping through many hoops to finally get a human “representative” that can help with a question or request not on the “main menu” loop.”

Nelena Neff: “The constant use of photo filters. I’m afraid that I likely wouldn’t recognize some people in public.”

Ruth Vedvik: “I hate the auto timeout in passwords just when I’m trying to get something done. They don’t tell you why your login is denied. It’s just denied.”

Cheryl Sunde: “That I have to go to a site, create an account and download information so I can have the privilege of printing the owner’s manual for my new stove!”

Ruth Craddock: “Why do we have to prove to a machine that we are not robots?! Make it make sense!”

Martha Kay Stock Yeakel: “When trying to read comments on Facebook posts and it only shows you ‘most relevant.’ Makes you go to the dropdown menu to see all comments. Let me decide what is most relevant or important to me by showing them all!”

Cindy Magsamen: “No-one answers the phone anymore! Listening to so many prompts and discerning which number to hit. And still not getting a ‘live’ person to talk to. Pick up the phone!”

Frank Young: “When trying to change your passcode because you forgot your passcode and it asks you to enter the passcode you forgot!”

David McCall: “Updates that start while I am using the program being updated. Also, updates that change basic settings. I’ve had my default font changed twice this year.”

Dori Levanti: “Weak cell signal and Internet disruptions can be so frustrating! It’s also maddening when an establishment’s “Guest” Internet Login won’t work!”