Today’s topic for Sadje’s Sunday Poser is tech-phobia. Sadje describes having been encouraged to learn Linux for a while and having had a Macbook sitting around for several months now too, but both intimidate her. She asks us, and specifies that her question may be more relevant to those of us who didn’t grow up with modern tech, whether we’re tech-phobic.
I grew up with computers and got an Internet connection when I was fifteen. That’s relatively late for someone my age, but I attribute that to the fact that I’m blind. After all, my parents did have access to the Internet already, but my first private computer, or rather the Braille display that came with it, didn’t support Internet Explorer.
When I was fifteen, I acquainted myself with the Internet quite quickly, but still stuck to old-fashioned methods and platforms far too long. I mean, I had a DiaryLand diary until 2007, when I finally moved to WordPress. Currently, the fact that for this post, I’m still using the classic editor, is probably proof of the same. I think I’m quite old-fashioned when it comes to technology. I am rarely the type to try out new functions when they first come out, or even when they’ve been out for a while.
With respect to Sadje’s question of being overwhelmed by new technologies, such as smartphones, I can only answer in the affirmative. Of course, again, this is complicated by the fact that I’m blind. I mean, a regular touch screen can’t be worked by a blind person, so it was no wonder I felt hugely incompetent when my husband tried to guide me hands-on to send a text message on his phone when I was about 29.
I was nearly 31 when I decided I wanted to learn to use a smartphone after all. Thankfully, a blind person who was also a qualified computer trainer for the visually impaired lived in my town. He came by the psych hospital to introduce me to the iPhone. He allowed me to use his iPhone to practise on during our introductory lessons, because of course if I couldn’t learn to use an iPhone there was no point in me buying one myself. Eventually, I not only was found to have the skills necessary to learn, but I mastered the use of the iPhone in half of the amount of course time he’d originally thought I’d need.
Since starting to use an iPhone, I have overcome some of my technophobia, but not all of it. Like I said, I still dread the WordPress block editor.
I’m also somewhat anxious about possibly making the transition from touchID to faceID on a phone. I know, I don’t have to, as Apple released the third generation iPhone SE last March, but with the fact that I now have a second generation SE, it just doesn’t quite cut it, honestly. For this reason, I’m really looking forward to the models going to be released this fall. Then again, if I can’t get faceID to work for me, this might be a lot of money gone to waste (unless I find out soon enough and can return the thing).
I’ve also been thinking of buying an Apple watch. That’s less of a risky investment than the faceID iPhone, as firstly they’re less expensive and secondly it’s not as essential (yeah, I consider my phone to be essential now). Both of these pieces of technology though induce my technophobia. But they’re both also really cool.
A Multitude of Musings 
My grandson transitioned me to an iPhone after my android but the dust. Since I live alone I require a phone and he took all my phone stuff and coordinated with my iPad which had been my go to. I finally started using the block editor—no choice really and it is okay to use but takes a while when you use a lot of photos in posts which I do. Good luck because I’m sure just like your crafting, nothing will stop you if you want to do it👍🏻❤️
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks for commenting. I know you have no choice about the block editor since you use your iPhone. I primarily use my computer to blog on, so I thankfully still have a choice, but I’m slowly trying to get used to the block editor too.
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I use the block editor now, but it’s annoying!
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I tried it for a bit back in February, but then somehow kept deleting entire blocks from my posts. Also, one of my posts that I’d done using the block editor, for whatever reason, landed in my drafts folder several months after I’d published it and I couldn’t restore it properly. It may not have been the block editor, but the coincidence did give me some extra reason to despise the block.
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Thanks for sharing Astrid. You’re doing so well with WP and iPhone. Very impressive.
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Thanks! I don’t use WP on my iPhone though. I write my blog posts primarily on my computer.
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You’re welcome! Yes that’s wise. I’m now so used to doing all the blogging from my phone that the thought of using the laptop for blogging makes me anxious 😅
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That makes sense, that once you’re used to doing something one way, even a method you used to employ becomes scary.
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Yup, that’s true
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I’m very impressed that you blog so much, Astrid. I’m not a fan of the Block Editor either. I keep choosing the “Classic” block when I write new posts. 🙂
I recently updated my iPhone and have FaceID. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but I LOVE FaceID! It works very well for me, much better than using my fingerprint ever did. Hope you have good luck too if you switch.
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Thank you so much! The problem with FaceID is that, since I am blind, I may not be able to properly use the “attention required” function and, with that off, my phone would be less secure or so I’ve been told. Some blind iPhone users don’t care, but I still need to investigate the risks of having that function turned off before I buy a FaceID-enabled phone.
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Oh, I understand. That might make a difference.
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I am a bit of a technophobe. I like to use older things as long as I can. My email account has just changed and updated and I don’t like it and for now I can switch back to the old one.
I am rubbish using my smart phone and I’m always asking my girls for help. x
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I feel you about E-mail changing. I can never seem to get used to Outlook the way it works on Windows 10. Then I’d prefer to learn something completely new such as to use E-mail on my iPhone (which is now second nature to me). Thanks so much for sharing your perspective.
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Tech stuff can really be intimidating, even if it can also be helpful. I can relate to what you said about acquainting yourself with the Internet rather late, I mean I got my first computer when I was a very young kid but I only really started to use a computer and the Internet as a teenager I think and didn’t have much of an idea about it before. I guess that’s part of why I don’t entirely understand my generation or kids Sofi’s age who get FOMO and all those other weird things.
I guess I also generally either learn to use new technology quickly or don’t learn it at all, but making a transition and all sorts of tech changes are always extremely stressful if not scary to me, even if they can also be exciting at the same time if it’s a good change and not a forced one like, for example, the block editor has been for many people.
And as you probably know I also learned to use an iPhone really late because I was scared of touch screens. I still much prefer using it with my Braille notetaker as a keyboard, or a regular Bluetooth keyboard, and when I use a touch screen I’m a lot slower and less efficient than when using a keyboard and totally don’t get how any blind people have the skill and patience to type on the screen, but generally I can do pretty much anything on my iPhone now, one way or another. I think it’s actually quite funny how I used to despise touch screens and cling to my old Nokia, and now I’ve got three Apple devices in less than two years. With the iPad, I find the larger screen really disorienting so I use it almost exclusively with a keyboard, nevertheless I do use it and quite a lot.
Face ID/no home button has been a scary idea for me as well and so I really hope that Apple will keep having mercy on people and releasing iPhones SE with Touch ID. Just very recently I bought my Mum an iPhone and she found iPhone 11 most aesthetically pleasing and she didn’t have a Home button on her previous Android phones so she didn’t care about the absence of that. Except I did, because I had to set it up for her and show her how to use that phone. And I did figure out how to use it without a Home button, but didn’t find it overly blind-user-friendly at all. And then with Face ID, I helped my Mum set it up and so VoiceOver was on when we were doing it, and as you may know when VoiceOver is on, your Face ID is set up by default to not require attention so that you don’t have to look directly at the phone. I’ve heard many blind people say that it makes it a lot less tricky to use, but it seems that it also makes it a lot less secure than I would have thought. Because my Mum decided to try just for fun if her phone would also unlock with my face, and it did, every time we tried. And yeah, we are family, but we definitely aren’t extremely similar where facial features are concerned. When we turned Require Attention on, it only reacted to Mum’s face as it should. So that’s quite worrying I think.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I can’t type on my iPhone screen either except for really short messages, so I usually type on my Bluetooth keyboard. Thanks also for letting me know this about your Mom’s iPhone letting you in when “Attention required” was turned off. I rarely use my iPhone in public places, so this may be less of a concern to me, but it’s still worrisome.
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I find new technology overwhelming too. I think many of us do. My husband bought me a new phone and it took me about 6 months to try to start using it.
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Thanks for sharing. I can see how I’d be the same if my husband bought me a new piece of technology, especially if it wasn’t something I’d specifically been wanting myself.
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I’m still using the Classic Editor too! It works just fine for me, why would I want to learn something new??
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I tried to learn to use the block editor in case they’re doing away with the classic one entirely someday. Then again, since you have a self-hosted blog I believe, you’ll most likely be able to download a plugin to make the classic editor work even if it disappears.
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