Get Off The Train - Goethe, Gravy & Guitars

'Technoverload'  

Like others of a similar age, I dabble in the technological arena.  In some instances I like to think that I am fairly proficient; at work for example I use Excel to a reasonable level, I am more Photoshop literate than most people I know and I am currently getting to grips with Creative Suite.  However, social media and the further reaching aspects of wifi and 3G quite frankly give me the heebie-jeebies.  My feelings about them are not dissimilar to my feelings about the sea - I like to dip my toes in and play every now and then and on very rare occasions I will even go for a full dip.  Whilst I'm out there I have to keep looking underneath me, I feel vulnerable and unsure of what is lurking in the depths.  Invariably this notion overwhelms me and, somewhat panicked, I swim back to shore.

'How can you feel like that and write a blog?' I hear you ask.  As anyone who is following my gobbledegook will know I am a very recent blogger.  I blame the OU.  It is they who got me -  first on a forum (never done that before) then setting up my own blog (that either), next testing out the amazing annotation programme (first time I'd used that).  These 'firsts' led me onto the slippery slope.  I have since rejoined Facebook after two years of paranoia induced absence and have spent the last three days playing with my new iPad.  There's an iTunesU app on which you can access an array of enticing (and free) resources.  Not to mention the BBCiPlayer on which they are currently featuring Shakespeare's Henry IV and Richard II.  I can access my emails, keep up with my blog, contact my friends, connect with my Kindle, organise my diary, do the shopping!!! ....  And breathe......  I can't put the thing down!  I didn't know I needed one 'til my lovely husband got me one and now I am constantly walking around clutching this beautiful, shiny, magic tablet.  I have spent an inordinate amount of time organising the layout of the colourful little icons, setting the wallpaper and login background, adjusting settings and looking for free apps.  Cocooned by my collection of gadgets (all red or pink I might add) I check my inbox on the iPad, take a quick flick through Facebook then shift to my laptop (sometimes you just need a bigger screen) to compile my sons photobook online.  Whilst doing this my iPad tinkles at me and my aunt is contacting me from Malta via Facebook.  She wants a chat, I'm fighting with the useless online photo formatting system  (I'm on a tight deadline here) and then my mobile pings - a text has come through and I really should respond to it.  Out of the corner of my eye my Kindle light turns to amber telling me that the battery is low.  So much to do and so little time, says the panicky voice in my head, my heart beats faster -  I should be looking this up, I should be watching that...  It's time to switch off, I must switch off.  I go to bed and a vivid mass of coloured screens and icons fly through my mind.

For the second morning I wake up exhausted, with a techno hangover.  I amble around the kitchen trying to resist the urge to switch on 'my precioussss' and glance over at my 'to read' bookshelf.  I look lovingly at my comfy reading chair.  Here is improvement and knowledge, here is escapism, here is calmness and quiet,...  here is my half read book on the shelf.  Tonight I will sit and I will read my book.....
......................  just as soon as I have checked my emails....