You just want it printed. You spent a bunch of time getting the page just so. You clicked the right buttons and the page is supposed to (magically) appear. But nothing. No blinking lights. No confounded error message. Nothing.

Normally, all our nearly ubiquitous technology works amazing well, day after day… until it doesn’t.

And when technology doesn’t work, it affects our attitude. The frustration colors how we accept new technology, hampering  the most efficient and productive use. We waste time and energy defending against being let down by the technology.

Our attitude is the most controllable part of the vicious circle with technology. If you have a bad attitude toward technology, any glitches may seem much worse. If you feel at the mercy of the machine, it will be harder to cope with the inevitable malfunction.

Approaching the use of technology with a spirit of adventure and an acceptance of some trade-offs will make everything easier. Investing some time learning about the inner workings, best practices, and short cuts will pay rich dividends.

So, what to do when something doesn’t work? Stop. Take a breath. Understand that the annoyance you feel is a by-product of the (hopefully momentary) loss of a blessed convenience (ever tried using a quill pen?).  Look for anything unusual in what is going on: icons, indicator lights (or lack thereof), or anything out of place. Take another deep breath. Save your work, reboot the system, try again. Take a most important deep breath and call tech support. After the incident is resolved, reflect on what happened and how it affected you. Your next trouble is likely to be less stressful.

This doesn’t mean we just accept any sort of technology issues. We want you to analyze how the systems work for you. We want you to be active in deciding what technology is employed. Systems that don’t work well need to be retired or upgraded. We constantly evaluate our systems and try to incorporate end-user feedback in shaping our technology moving forward.

Talk with us. Your experience is useful to us, even more so if it is something other than venting frustration!

Together, we’ll keep things humming along productively.

“The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
– Charles R. Swindoll

– Earl Daniels

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