Though technology has clearly brought many benefits to our professional and personal lives, it has also occasionally made us annoyed, frustrated and fed up.

Technology has made our lives better in many ways. It’s helped people communicate better, handle tasks faster and stay safer. Yet, at the same time, the digital world seems to have created more annoyances than ever before. Here are some of the things that happen way too often to many of us.

Technology breaks far too often.

Hardly a day goes by without some system, device or app disintegrating. Files go MIA, software doesn’t uninstall correctly or a phone gets glitchy. Battery issues with smartphones, GPS not working right or worse has you literally driving in circles!  How about your Bluetooth in your car not connecting EVERY time?

Problems are too difficult to diagnose and fix.

The fact that things break isn’t even the worst of it. The fact that every problem leads to a long string of tech support messages or calls that can take days to resolve is maddening. Vendors point fingers at one another, reps frequently can’t think beyond scripts, and some companies just don’t bother to respond. These are some of the common “hazards” we encounter as part of our daily work, for our clients this is lost time and heightened frustration.

Tech often fuels nastiness.

Social Media is a wildly popular platform to spread news and information, but the dark side is that it gives people a platform from which to anonymously spread hate, ignorance or intolerance. It seems this is getting ramped up higher and higher each day, many people seem to have lost their sense of decency and manners.  Where did politeness and inclusion go?  Sometimes it’s better just to not say anything rather than regret it later!

We’re not gaining time; we’re losing it.

You probably believe that today’s devices and apps are huge time-savers. That’s debatable. Yes, they can do some incredibly cool things. But automating everything has led to people becoming more impatient and in a bigger hurry. We also spend more and more time buying, managing and fixing devices; tweaking apps; and fiddling with settings. It appears we now have less time than ever, and we’re all working more hours.

Why these failures, shouldn’t it all just work?

Yes, it should but that’s not the nature of most home technology anymore.  Let me tell you a lesson I learned when I started my business as a sole entrepreneur many years ago.  I had a great client (still do) named George.  George was a semi-retired executive and he lives a very active life.  He and his wife travel a lot and they are always off to their next adventure.  Well, George also likes his gadgets and he also likes to have the latest and greatest.  One day about 10 years ago George called me to tell me that he wanted to get a new laptop.  At that time, I was really busy and was already late to an appointment so in my haste I said to George – “George, just order that laptop yourself, you know how to do this stuff, you don’t need me…”.  George patiently said “David, I can tell you are busy, let’s talk about it tomorrow”.  That night after a long day, I thought about our conversation and I realized that I’m an idiot!  Fortunately for me, George was not and he called me the next day and said this to me “David, a long time ago I realized that the best, most effective tool in my toolbox is my checkbook”.  He got the message across and many years later I fully realized what he said.  I too am a little older now, I don’t tackle those DIY projects like I used to and most importantly I now appreciate being able to “write a check” and have a professional do tasks for me.  I even have my employees handle my technology for me – when my email stops working I make a call, when that fancy internet enabled Nest Thermostat starts blinking uncontrollable, I make a call.

Why should I have to pay for someone to fix all my gadgets and home technology?

As stated above, you shouldn’t have to but technology is fragile and although it does have many benefits, the belief that it should “just work” is unfortunately a fallacy that the marketing teams have sold all of us.  You, like me need an advocate on your side.  If you have a loved one or friend that is great at this stuff and is available to you when you need it – great!  If not, establish a relationship with a company like ours, get one of our support plans and let us worry about all this!