Post Election Online Angst
Just some random thoughts this week.
I think I'm election-lagged. The downside of too much information has been so evident the last couple of weeks as the Internet bloated up with political screed. It was all I could do - and I mean that literally and not figuratively - to scan through the hundreds, thousands, of angry, vitriolic, downright - ok, I'll use the word - mean comments, posts, blogs and reports from all sides about how stupid, ignorant, foolish, idiotic, dangerous... ok, you get the idea... the other side(s) are. I was kind of hoping that now that the election was over the nastiness would slow to a trickle, but no such luck.
Meanwhile, as I bounce around the Internet, I've for the 100,000th time been told "Congratulations" as a little banner ad flashes at the top of my screen telling me that "Honest!" I am the 100,000th person to access the site I'm on, and I will win a prize if I just "Click Here!"
And just think, ten years ago, "Click here" mean nothing!
And remember than panic that used to set in when you inadvertently accessed one of those "free clip art" download sites that was really porn, and you were at the office and each time you tried frantically to close down the site another and another and another would pop up? Well now it's Facebook that's causing agita: click on that interesting looking video that someone has linked to, which turns out to be (you guessed it) porn, and Facebook advertises for all the world to see that you've clicked on a porn link! What fun!
Oh, and another complaint about my iPhone 5: after chatting on the phone, more often than not the touchscreen is inaccessible, sometimes to the point of requiring a hard reboot. I'm told that a firmware reinstall can fix this, though some people have had to demand a new phone. Lovely. Thus far, 9 times out of 10 my touchscreen works again within a few minutes, but for a user in the habit of accessing the Internet while talking on the phone, this is quite a come-down.
Same goes for my otherwise much-loved Vaio laptop: two major issues. One is that when I boot up, sometimes (and I can find no particular pattern or fix), the sound and mic are both on and up, and I get feedback from the mic. Talk about annoying! And the mute button won't work until the computer is fully booted - meaning I have to be sure I've got headphones jacked in every time I boot up to be sure I won't drive co-workers out of the room shrieking. Another frustration with this laptop is the touchpad: it's nice that I can use a simple pinch gesture to resize the windows, but it's very annoying when a simple, inadvertent touch will send the screen into HUGE mode, or conversely, so-tiny-its-impossible-to-read size. Again, I can find no ready fix for this, other than be sure to have a mouse on hand at all times!
There - a few general complaints, and I'm ready to take on the post-election Internet again!
I think I'm election-lagged. The downside of too much information has been so evident the last couple of weeks as the Internet bloated up with political screed. It was all I could do - and I mean that literally and not figuratively - to scan through the hundreds, thousands, of angry, vitriolic, downright - ok, I'll use the word - mean comments, posts, blogs and reports from all sides about how stupid, ignorant, foolish, idiotic, dangerous... ok, you get the idea... the other side(s) are. I was kind of hoping that now that the election was over the nastiness would slow to a trickle, but no such luck.
Meanwhile, as I bounce around the Internet, I've for the 100,000th time been told "Congratulations" as a little banner ad flashes at the top of my screen telling me that "Honest!" I am the 100,000th person to access the site I'm on, and I will win a prize if I just "Click Here!"
And just think, ten years ago, "Click here" mean nothing!
And remember than panic that used to set in when you inadvertently accessed one of those "free clip art" download sites that was really porn, and you were at the office and each time you tried frantically to close down the site another and another and another would pop up? Well now it's Facebook that's causing agita: click on that interesting looking video that someone has linked to, which turns out to be (you guessed it) porn, and Facebook advertises for all the world to see that you've clicked on a porn link! What fun!
Oh, and another complaint about my iPhone 5: after chatting on the phone, more often than not the touchscreen is inaccessible, sometimes to the point of requiring a hard reboot. I'm told that a firmware reinstall can fix this, though some people have had to demand a new phone. Lovely. Thus far, 9 times out of 10 my touchscreen works again within a few minutes, but for a user in the habit of accessing the Internet while talking on the phone, this is quite a come-down.
Same goes for my otherwise much-loved Vaio laptop: two major issues. One is that when I boot up, sometimes (and I can find no particular pattern or fix), the sound and mic are both on and up, and I get feedback from the mic. Talk about annoying! And the mute button won't work until the computer is fully booted - meaning I have to be sure I've got headphones jacked in every time I boot up to be sure I won't drive co-workers out of the room shrieking. Another frustration with this laptop is the touchpad: it's nice that I can use a simple pinch gesture to resize the windows, but it's very annoying when a simple, inadvertent touch will send the screen into HUGE mode, or conversely, so-tiny-its-impossible-to-read size. Again, I can find no ready fix for this, other than be sure to have a mouse on hand at all times!
There - a few general complaints, and I'm ready to take on the post-election Internet again!
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