our opinions: CURMUDGEON MUSINGS
The Last
BY MARK BROWN
T
Word
Timesaving Technology —
The Biggest Time Wasters
ime, such a precious commodity, but the world
doesn’t look at it that way. So when you end
the month with not enough time, think about the
culprits. Do you ever think about how certain people
and things can have a profound effect on your life,
and more specifically on your time?
When I was younger, I thought the way we spent
our time was mostly working and weekends. It
wasn’t until later in life that I figured out that work
and fun was actually secondary in what consumes
our time. Actually, the largest time thief is other
influences. For instance, our new, supposed less-time
consuming new technology is hugely time consum-
ing.
How many of you are like me? I’m a prisoner
trapped in Username/Password Hell!
In fact, I have two password vaults, just to find
them, which is a whole topic of complicated all in
itself.
In the olden times, you know, the Dark Ages,
back when you could actually throw your canceled
checks away in the trash, back when you could open
your mail, and actually look at your bank statement,
you didn’t need a username and passcode to do that,
now you need both of those and have to answer a
question to boot, questions like, “What was your
high school mascot?” Or “What was the maiden
name of your boss at your first job?”
Then every other place you do business with has
the same methods.
So how much time do you spend with those
hurdles everyday? When you get done with that,
which, by the way is not time you have budgeted
into your daily schedule, then a crazy neighbor
moves in next door, flying his freak flag, and you
spend hours with their stuff. Or, your company
changes prescription cards, and it takes a dozen trips
112
to the pharmacy to get that fixed, literally about six
hours in time including trips back and forth.
If you have to deal with the medical world in any
fashion, go to any kind of doctor or dentist, you end
up with hours of filling out forms, dealing with insur-
ance companies, waiting in doctor’s offices with a
1:00 p.m. appointment and finally getting in at 2:30,
a real time-killing black hole.
The last time killer I’ll waste your time on is TV
(not even sure that is a correct name for it anymore).
The state of the entertainment medium we used to
call TV is absolutely abhorrent! Talk about time
consuming, and I’m not talking about actually
watching. It’s so confusing. What show is on what
platform? How do you find it? Apple TV - Amazon
- Hulu - Regular network TV - or any of the other
dozens and dozens of channels. Who really knows
what you’re paying for?
Searching for a show is soooo pleasant. You have
to use your remote to scroll through hitting letters
and numbers to punch in the name of what you want
to watch— simply horrible. So, I bought a small
Bluetooth keyboard to try to make it easier, but of
course it is more difficult to keep it connected every
time I use it, so it’s easier to use the other method.
If you are the unfortunate owner of the new Apple
TV remote, well, let me tell you it is the most awful
remote I have ever seen, (I thought the old one was
bad). It’s jet black, and so slick Chevy Chase could
sled down a slope on it. Every time you touch it,
you change everything. So now when I think about
watching something, I get a migraine and go to bed.
Someone told me once about time, if you waste
an hour, you can never get it back, but if you use
that hour productively that hour will pay you forever.
I choose the latter.