A Moan about Malfunctions.

The modern world isn’t designed for people like me who want simple gadgets that do simple, functional things. It’s made for people who want an endless supply of new and increasingly varied facilities which they can soon come to persuade themselves they need. The result is that gadgets are not as stable as gadgets used to be. They malfunction more, and it seems we’re supposed to grow used to the fact. We live in the Age of the Acceptable Malfunction.

I wanted to watch a film tonight, but the computer wouldn’t play the DVD. I spent an hour trying to get the damn thing to work. I tried various sorts of CD; I checked the settings; I re-set the settings several times; I restored the settings to default and then reset them again. Nothing worked until I had the bright idea of re-booting the computer, and then it worked. But by that time it was too late to watch the film. I don’t remember Windows 98 or Windows XP taking it upon themselves to change their settings without any prompting from me. Windows 7 is made for modern times, it seems.

That sort of thing irritates me, and what also irritates me is that I can understand why I’m getting twinges in my chest and back after all the violent coughing and sneezing I’ve been doing over the past two days, but I don’t understand why my knee hurts. Maybe it’s coming up to speed with modern times. Maybe I need to learn to accept my malfunctions. I wish I could think of something funny to say.