More Tech Musings

The past two days had me feeling a bit under the weather, as is customary of me every month, and I don't expect the next few days to be any better – the only glimmer of hope I have is that my workload is getting lighter, so I still feel productive while nursing a headache. Might be another prattle post – OH that actually sounds good – but I've had a lot of time to mull a few things over.

From my last post, I said that I decided to do some digital decluttering, and believe it or not, it's still underway. Some websites I've made an account with, like VRV, Viki or Barnes & Noble, didn't have the usual “Delete Account” option, and instead I had to go write them an email to delete my account. I find this absolutely puzzling because either I've been spoiled with the choice of deleting it by myself conveniently and without any other human interaction, or because I don't understand the rationale behind them not having that option in the first place. Shouldn't I be free to withdraw from these services as I please and just slink away to internet-oblivion? Barnes & Noble has a more complicated process to it as well – I had to verify not just my password but a whole lot of other information.

Weird.

But besides that, everything else has been smooth sailing. A few weeks ago I also toyed with the idea of migrating to FastMail and, after a few days with it I think I'll actually push through. My personal biggest hindrance is that email isn't as popular, and yet still necessary. Let me clarify – it's not popular for personal interactions with friends you already have (they're all reachable via Messenger or just a text away), but I would still need to have one for online transactions or other personal related documents and notifications. I have a work email that I rely on heavily for communication with supervisors and clients, but that's a separate thing. I did send my Aunts and Uncles (the usual crowd who still does send me emails from time to time) my new one – just to notify them of the upcoming change.

Which brings me to say, I can't exactly De-Google 100%. Aside from the usual perpetrators (Youtube, mostly), I own a really cute, baby pink Pixel 3XL. Before all this, it has always been my dream phone for such a long time and I scraped up all my hard-earned money to buy it when it went on sale! I was absolutely happy when I got it, and I'm still using it now. I live with my family, and we've set up coordinating most things with a few Google apps, which I can't change. Have you ever tried to explain new technology to older parents? It is a nightmare. I've learned through the years that, at least in my parent's case, familiarity is everything. They don't understand the “concept” of most things on the screen, and rely heavily on the distinct and specific steps and images that they've seen repeatedly – around 100++ times. For example, my dad knows how to use Spotify since he's used it before, but if we transition to YouTube Music, although with the same concept and buttons, he'd have a hard time. Okay, that was a bad example, but I hope it illustrated my point. Bottom line – they are not tech folk, and if I wanted to live a life of peace, we would have to stick with what they already know.

To be honest, I both love/hate how I dabble into things like these, just because no one in my immediate circle understands or is into it. The same goes for my interest in eco-minimalism (which thankfully my cousin can relate too), and books. The most common thing I have with my friends is cooking and games – I should probably write something about those next time!

A few more things:

I should totally stop eating.

10/100

I'm currently doing a challenge called “100 Days to Offload” – you can join in the fun too by visiting https://100daystooffload.com

If you'd like, drop me a message here – I would be absolutely thrilled to hear from you!

#100DaysToOffload #Journal #PrattlePost