Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, but it rarely ever seems to

Sometimes it's not the big issues that can spoil our frame of mind. It's the culmination of those little annoying aggravations that can do us in.

Lately one of my little annoying aggravations has been all the little techno-interruptions that have wormed their way into our everyday lives.

These days I frequently hear myself muttering "this really shouldn't be so hard" as I navigate what should be routine activities. Not least of which is simply shopping.

My mother made a recent visit to Hagerstown and I took her shopping while she was here. As she attempted to check out at one store, she was asked if, a. she was a "rewards member" ("no," she replied), b. wanted to be a rewards member (again, "no") and c. then what did she want to do with the reward points she'd earned?

As the clerk was attempting to load all this information into the computer system, Mom was getting a little frustrated. So I explained that the sales clerks were required to ask all these questions. She seemed to understand, but wasn't any happier.

And then the same thing happened at the next store. No, not members. No, don't really want to join. Yes, we were sure. Do you really need a phone number?

It didn't seem to matter that other people were waiting to check out, too.

This time I was the one who was quickly losing patience. I bit my tongue to keep from blurting "look, we just want to pay up and go. Enough already."

Now I realize that while the actual reason behind these programs is to let retailers track consumer trends (i.e., what's selling and what isn't), they can sometimes save us money. Sometimes a lot of money.

But sometimes you just don't want it to be that complicated, not to mention time-consuming.

Sometimes you just want to pay your bill and go home.

Remember the last time you visited the doctor's office? How long did you wait while you were being looked up in the office's computer system, new information was being typed in, dates for your next check-up were being scrutinized for conflicts, etc., and you just wanted to get the answers you came for and get on with things?

Then there's the MVA. On second thought, maybe we won't even go there.

And here's the unnerving part: Once you're in that system, you never get out of it.

Work took me away from Maryland for a few years and when I returned, I found that I and my old address were still in all those systems, even though somebody else now owned my house and I had done "all the things" from home ownership to car and voter registration to health care in a different state. I suspect I'm still haunting all the computer systems in that state, too.

Now if you're thinking this is a rant against technology, let me correct that. Technology can be a mighty force for good. And while some of us might yearn for simpler things, the more youthful among us are far more comfortable with it. My college-age nieces have no concept of life before Al Gore invented the internet.

(Once when my younger niece was little, she was watching something on TV at my parents' house but had to leave the room for a few minutes. She asked us to "pause it" during her absence, as she was accustomed to programs being streamed at her house. We had to explain to her that her grandparents didn't have that particular option; that this was live TV and couldn't be "paused." She looked at us as if we'd just arrived from Mars.)

But shouldn't technology make our lives easier rather than more complicated?

Back in pre-pandemic 2019, IT executive Dan DeMers wrote in Forbes magazine that "new technology loves to boast about new features and functions, which, in reality, are new complications … Instead of making life simpler, technology has made it more complicated. That's not the way it's supposed to work."

And that was before lockdowns made so many of us even more dependent on technology — for work, for communication, for entertainment. Suddenly we had techno-intrusion on speed.

DeMers' advice from 2019 bears repeating now. "The solution to the problem of technology-driven complications is easy," he wrote. "Stop looking for the most features and start looking for simplicity. Instead of asking, 'What new work can this do?' ask, 'What work does this take away?'”

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He was writing, of course, for a business audience. But that advice works at home, too.

If the technology you're using is working for you, it's an advantage — from the gadget that sweeps your floors to the application that lets you order your groceries online.

But if it's adding extra steps and taking extra time, maybe it's time to, well, "pause it."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Techno-interruptions have wormed their way into our lives