Too much technology | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Kathy Manos Penn is a native of the “Big Apple,” who settled in the “Peach City” – Atlanta. A former English teacher now happily retired from a corporate career in communications, she writes a weekly column for the Dunwoody Crier and the Highlands Newspaper. Read her blogs and columns and purchase her books, “The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday” and “Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch,” on her website theinkpenn.com or Amazon.

    It all started when I needed a new cell phone. I was perfectly happy with my old smartphone until it would no longer update. For various reasons, a new iPhone seemed to be the best choice. I simply needed a phone that would work for Instagram, the Square app, and Facebook as well as the basics. I'd never had an iPhone, and I wasn't by any means longing for one.

    Little did I know how different an iPhone is from an Android. I slowly started learning its bells and whistles. Overall I like it. It takes much better photos than my old phone, and I can do cool things on it like create videos with music.

    Unfortunately, when I shifted everything from my old phone to my new one, my Instagram account was suddenly no longer properly connected to Facebook. I fiddled and fiddled with it, googled how-tos and never could connect it to my Facebook author page. Being able to post pics to my author page was the whole reason I got on Instagram in the first place. Next, Instagram stopped giving me the option to post to Facebook at all.

    When I described my technology woes to my husband, he quoted one of his favorite songwriter musicians Ian Tyson: "Technology was going to set us free. That ain't the way it turned out to be." At that moment, I had to agree.

    I kept saying I wasn't as smart as my newest smartphone, but my technology overload didn't stop there. Next, I bought a new car. That may not sound too technologically advanced until you realize that I'd been driving my 1998 Acura Integra for twenty years. It had power locks and power windows, and that was about it. Heck, it was even a stick shift.

    When I brought home my 2018 Honda CRV, I decided I'd learn something new about it every day rather than tackle it all at once. First, I read the owner's manual and highlighted what I thought I needed to know right away. Then I went out to the garage to make friends with my new car.

    Even that slow-go approach was daunting. A backup camera, a navigation system, lane keeping assistance, syncing my phone and even my house alarm-all of that was making me crazy. I thought I was doing well to get the phones connected, the garage door opener synced, and the radio stations set. I still haven't mastered syncing the house alarm, and I'm not sure I quite trust the backup cameras. Now not only is my phone smarter than I am but so is my car.

    Meanwhile, I went back to the smartphone to create more cool videos to post on Facebook. Creating the videos is pretty much a snap. Posting them to the right place on Instagram or Facebook when the links are messed up? Not so much. Do you have any idea how much time you can spend googling various how-tos and trying the recommended solutions-all to no avail? After spending way too many hours on the problem, I gave up and poured a glass of wine.

    Lo and behold, when I posted a photo to Instagram the very next day to see if it would show up anywhere at all on Facebook, it appeared on my author page. I have no idea why it started working, as nothing I did the first day helped at all. Perhaps the Instagram and Facebook gremlins opened a bottle of wine together and decided to take mercy on me.

    Kathy Manos Penn is a Sandy Springs resident. Find her latest book, "Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch," and her collection of columns, "The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday," on Amazon. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com, and follow her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/KathyManosPennAuthor/.