My history with technology is not long or complicated. I left the corporate world just as Microsoft Office was moving in. I was never trained to use any of the applications, even though as a writer I had used rudimentary Word docs. After using a typewriter for years, cut and paste was a cool feature once I got used to it. It took a while to trust it.

Spell check and Grammar check irritated me. Still do. A writer has a voice. It is not the standard built into computer nanny applications. Sometimes we use incorrect spellings. We use truncated sentences to establish pacing. We do stuff that our high school English teachers would chastise us for in class but celebrate after they knew we had mastered the rules.

This no longer matters. Compliance with technological standards matters. You VIL do vat ve tell you! (A salute to Hogan’s Heroes, further dating myself.)

Wanna sound different than everyone else? Lotsa luck. Wanna have a personality that is different from those defined by memes? Prepare for battle.

Predictive AI makes it even worse.

Upgrade equipment at your own expense. Good luck keeping everything compatible. Take another job to afford your computer connection with your printer. If my fridge and oven ever start thinking about collaborating, my sledgehammer is just outside the door. Not a joke, as our current president likes to say.

Upgrading wi-fi for internet and phone means your TV needs a refresh, too. If you can use them, the cables and adapters meant to keep your relic at least usable will drive you to distraction or drink, depending on your family history and personality. You may, like me, have days when you want to chuck all the equipment out a second story window or drive your vehicle over them several times to make sure they are dead. A person’s equilibrium takes a beating. Do not succumb!