It’s appropriate I’m writing about technology this month. Do you have a love/hate relationship with it like I do? It’s something you don’t think about until it doesn’t work the way it should.
Since November 7, I’ve been experiencing various problems. It started with losing access to my site stats, which I use a lot. Then I noticed a lot of the information normally on my pages wasn’t there. I won’t bore you with the technicalities, but I needed to add all that back.
These issues surfaced when my theme (what determines the look of my site) was updated. So, I thought I might be able to fix things by using a different theme. You may have noticed a change in the appearance of my site, which is due to the change I made. Sometimes I really hate technology!! Let me know what you think of the appearance and navigation.
I really liked my old theme, but this new one is Ok for now. I can always go back to it if I feel like it. Having a fresh look might be fun for a while.
I don’t think these changes have impacted your ability to access my site, but I can’t know for sure without my stats. And yesterday, I couldn’t even create a new post.
I called my host – GoDaddy – and hope they can figure it out. I’m afraid I will only mess it up more if I continue playing around with it. I hate to spend money on this stuff, but I’m afraid I have no choice. The guy on the phone was able to fix my access issues, so I can at least write this post, but not the stats plugin. So, a ticket’s been submitted and we’ll see what happens. Cross your fingers for me!!
In the meantime, a tech support guy from GoDaddy texted me today and he helped me get back access to my posts. Turns out I needed to clear my cache. Lesson learned – do this periodically!!
Past Technology Posts
Going back in time to review previous technology posts, I’ve come across a few to share. I’ve had other problems with my blog site, but it seems I never wrote about any of those.
One post that I thought was kind of fun was for World Emoji Day. It’s July 17. Not sure how that was chosen as THE day, but did you know there’s an emoji for it? Have you seen it and wondered what it meant? Now you do.
My post provides fun facts and some history about emojis.
I’ve also discovered there are emojis that make you old. How can that be? Emojis aren’t even that old. Here is a link to the list: https://www.kidspot.com.au/lifestyle/fitness-and-wellbeing/me-time/gen-z-release-a-list-of-emojis-that-officially-makes-you-old/news-story/25697a8c4709851bf23a998304a2c47c
To summarize the article, here’s the list. How many do you use?
- Thumbs Up (24 percent) 👍
- Red Love Heart (22 percent) ❤️
- OK hand symbol (20 percent) 👌
- Tick (17 percent) ✔️
- Poo (17 percent) 💩
- The ‘loud’ cry (16 percent) 😭
- See-no-evil monkey (15 percent) 🙈
- Clapping hands (10 percent) 👏
- Kiss mark (10 percent) 💋
- Grimace (9 percent) 😬
If you’d like some new emoji information, here are a couple of links.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/unusual-weird-rarely-used-emojis-compilation_id117948
https://blog.emojipedia.org/new-emojis-in-2021-2022/
The only thing worse than losing my blog site functionality is losing an internet connection. I’ve become so dependent on technology, it’s kind of scary. I write about that and something called Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Until I wrote about it, I didn’t realize it was a thing. https://retiredintrovert.com/what-happened-to-my-internet/
Do you ever feel paralyzed by Information Overload? It’s definitely contributed to some sleepless nights for me. It’s become increasingly important to filter what comes at me and focus only on what’s important. If out of hand, it can become a big time waster too.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve fallen for a scam. I blame it on the panic factor, which I will never fall for again. But I can definitely see how it happens to so many people. Read about my experience in case it helps you avoid the same thing. I cringe whenever I read this post. https://retiredintrovert.com/true-confession-i-was-scammed/
Do you dread switching to a new laptop? It can take forever to reestablish all your apps and files. I’ve started getting tech support for this, which has made it much easier. But there are still things only I can do.
About a year and a half ago, I had to get a new hard drive, which might as well have been a new laptop. My tech guy did a good job, but he set some things up differently, which made it challenging for me to find everything for a while. I also think I have a lot of things duplicated as a result. But I’m not messing with it. https://retiredintrovert.com/transitioning-new-laptop/
Early on, I had a poll asking people about their social media use. It’s shared in this post – Social Media Poll Results. I wonder how the results would change if I did another poll.
Lastly, I discovered that I could use an old iPhone as a security camera. We don’t do this anymore, because the only reason we used it was to watch the cats when we were on vacation. It’s not perfect, but it was interesting and fun to watch them.
So, please do let me know what you like or don’t like about the new appearance of my site. I need some feedback!!
Oh, man, changing to a new WordPress theme is *NOT* for the faint of heart. I ended up losing so much information the last time I did that, though somehow — through the grace of some higher power — I managed to get a bit of it back (I still have no idea how). Suffice to say it’ll be a while before I change my blog’s appearance again.
I think your new look is nice — definitely very clean. For a very short time I worked in website design usability, and I remember how clean lines and lots of white space was always recommended so the reader’s eye can scan things easier. Your site allows for that nicely.
Glad you like it. I picked a theme that was pretty easy to change to but it did require learning some new things. But even my old theme required some work after its last update. I lost all my widgets. I will likely change back at some point but I kind of enjoy playing around with this one for now.
This post resonated with me greatly. I also have a love-hate relationship with technology so tend to stick with what I now. That has tons of limitations and still doesn’t always work (insert here me pulling out my hair)!
For a few months now I have received a spam warning for all email notifications of your post (It says “Be careful with this message. Gmail could not verify that it actually came from [email protected]. Avoid clicking links, downloading attachments or replying with personal information.” Phew! As I result I don’t open your posts by email. But the downside is that I often forget to go and look for your posts by other forms. Yup – email sadly rules my life! I am not sure if this has just been happening for me (my compuer can definitely be cranky). I have missed your posts.
I wish I knew why my emails include that warning. I get that warning as well whenever I’m notified of a new subscriber. I think it’s ok to click on the link. But I understand wanting to be careful in this day and age. I’ll check my settings to see if it’s something I’ve mistakenly done. Thanks for letting me know. Yes, technology can really stink at times!!!
I noticed new blog format as soon as I opened this up. Not sure about ease of navigation, as I don’t tend to navigate…I go in on the newest post, read and comment. But I do like the header and the tabs. I’ve been told I need to add a “contact me” on my own blog – your’s reminded me of that!
It’s definitely different when you first open up my site!! But I’ve managed to keep a lot of the same things. Thanks for letting me know what you think of the changes!!
I enjoyed seeing your emoji face ‘though I’m sure I’ll get used to the new appearance. Coincidentally, I’ve just been tutored by my young neighbor on some computer technology. She went so far as to say that I wasn’t as computer illiterate as she expected! She helped sort out my printer issue & photo filing. Each generation has its issues as even she had some difficulty with the unfamiliar computer.
I think younger people are good at using technology, but not always at fixing things. Yet, they do know a lot more than we do. I felt like I knew a lot more when I was working, being exposed to it, and I’m gradually losing that knowledge. Or more accurately, I’m not keeping up with all the changes. Oh well.