Here’s a moment that may unite us, whoever we are. Life is changing. Computers are a constant. And we are human. Dr.. Porter – “Step one, enter your student ID#. Step one is stalled because that number is not recognized by the computer…

Dear Neighbor,

I think I was one of the last college students to wait in line to sign up for classes. We had to stand in line for the class that we wanted and have the professor sign our schedule card. Sometimes, I would get to the front of the line, only to find out the class was full. When the schedule was complete, we took it to the registrar’s office to formally register for the semester. Sounds like computers made that easier, right? Well….fast forward 30 years to my daughter registering for classes on the computer. Step one, enter your student ID#. Step one is stalled because that number is not recognized by the computer. Step two involves going to the registrar’s office and waiting in line for a human being to fix it.

When I graduated college, I became employed as a social worker for Child Protective Services. There were no cellphones and still no personal computers. So, I had to get directions to my clients’ homes from a human being. Sometimes the directions were a little off, but I never did have to go back to the office and call anyone back to clarify the directions. Fast forward 30 years, and I am navigating to a meeting in another city. The maps app on my phone takes me down a dead-end road and tells me I have reached my destination. In this case, there was no human being to help me fix this.

Another aspect of my job was recording notes about my cases when I returned from home visits. I recorded these notes onto a cassette tape, placed it in an envelope and set it on a cart where it went to a large room full of human beings, listening to the tapes and typing them up. If the human did not understand something, they picked up the phone and called me for clarification. After the notes were typed, I put them in a file cabinet in my office. The file could be located using the alphabetical order of the last name. Fast forward 30 years, I have to do all my own typing, in addition to my regular work assignments. This adds about 50% to my workload. If I were still a social worker, I would not be able to handle as many cases.

As of today, all day long, I have been dealing with one computer problem after another since 8 a.m. this morning. There are no human beings to help me navigate the increasingly frustrating world of passwords, verification codes and changes to how I manage my non-profit’s website, Facebook page and mass email system. Even the young people in my organization are having the same difficulty with the constantly changing ways to add text, photos and various links. I just have to suffer through it.

Also today, as a final straw, the screen on my car flashes a message that the computer system on my brand-new 2026, 4-month-old car needs updating. “Would you like to do that now?” It asks me. I think, OK why not? I say yes. Then I get a message that I cannot turn off the car until the system has updated. I am pulling into the parking lot for a meeting. I do not have time for this, as it seems to be updating very slowly. I turn to Google on my phone to inquire if I can turn off the car and finish this later. Google says I will totally mess up my car’s computer if I turn the engine off now. So, I sit in my car for 15 minutes, waiting for it to update. I am late for my meeting. I am almost never late. But the day is still not over; I get back in my car to go home, and I get a message that to complete the update, I need to turn the car off, lock the doors, walk at least 10 feet away and wait 5 minutes before restarting the car. Heavy sigh….

Even now, the AI on my Google Documents is trying to tell me how to write this. I do not think I will be taking any of its suggestions.

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.