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troubles
Young, old learn how to cope in the information age By Andy Romey J201 Reporter When Pat Beall's husband passed away in December she had to deal with many atypical things. Like planning the funeral in South Bend, a city where the 70-year-old had lived only for a few months. But grief would turn to frustration and frustration to fear as she realized that, if she wanted to keep afloat financially, she would have to become a proficient user of a machine she didn't even know how to turn on. This became evident to her two weeks after her loss during a visit from her youngest daughter, Amy. "She says to me, 'What about the computer?'" Beall said. "And I thought, 'What about the computer?'" Beall, eager to turn fear into proficiency, realized the only answer to this question was to learn about the computer – quickly. Like Beall, many Americans are being forced – willingly or not – to cope with new technology. Confronted with a dizzying array of products ranging from computers, to Internet-service providers to more sophisticated versions of DVD's and TV's, consumers face ever-increasing challenges simply to deal with everyday life. These frustrating experiences often can turn into embarrassing moments. Eighty percent of international respondents acknowledge that they've cursed out an electronic machine at least once in their life, according to a study by Kent Norman, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland. An additional 20 percent also admit to being frustrated to the point of intentionally throwing a device on the ground.
Adam Smith helps these types of people everyday in Bloomington. Smith, a longtime employee of IU's University Information Technology Services, helps students and faculty with computer problems every day. “Typically people come to us with just general troubleshooting,” he said. “People thinking they have viruses, or they're frustrated with spy-ware giving them pop-up windows, or they'll say something is broken when they can't figure out how to use it.” These problems are only magnified when high-speed Internet is factored into the equation, Smith said. Problems with high-speed Internet services often frustrate Bloomington residents, who turn to UITS for answers, but those questions are unanswerable, Smith said. UITS instead points these residents in the direction of their Internet provider. Computer novices like IU juniors Steve Brennan and Jim Knight, are confused on two different levels. On the first level, they both described themselves as helpless with computers, each getting individual access to the Internet for the first time in their IU dormitory rooms. On the second level, when the two moved into their house this year, they were clueless about what type of Internet package to get.
“I honestly didn't even know DSL was high-speed Internet,” Knight said. “I thought that might have just been a fancy name for a phone line or something.” But instead of beating on UITS's door for help, they beat on their roommate's bedroom door for help – frequently. “I'd say it's about two or three times a week,” said Matt Pawelski, third roommate and computer science and informatics major. “Sometimes, ‘What in the hell is wrong with the Internet?' is like an echo from them.” Pawelski, who says he feels like he should get paid as an Internet technician, doubles as an Internet consultant. In the beginning of the year, he set his household up for Insight's basic high-speed Internet package with digital cable services. But figuring out “what in the hell is wrong with the Internet” two or three times a week has grown old, he said. He plans on switching his household to a different provider if they live there this summer. Ultimately though, Brennan and Knight have found an answer – to become technologically literate after Pawelski moves out. Resting on the footrest of a loveseat sits a 15-inch television in the apartment of IU sophomores Meghan Lucas, Megan Carey and Kayla Woodward, but the trio has only been hurting their eyes for a few months now. Now, the three squint, but they used to look wide-eyed. When they moved in their apartment, they needed a television and out driving around one night, Lucas hit the jackpot. “I looked at the dumpster (outside of Sigma Chi), and there it was,” Lucas said. She spotted about a 25-inch television. Up until February it had its glitches with the occasional static and fuzz, but that could be fixed with a hard pound on its top. Its major malfunction is its lack of a cable plug-in, which is the likely reason why the fraternity threw it out. It appeared as if the cable port had been broken off, but the roommates didn't mind because it kept them from paying a cable bill. They also only used it to get together on the occasional weekend night to watch DVD's and eat ice cream.
But their DVD player was junk deserving the same fate as their TV, Lucas said, and one night everything came crashing down. “We were watching Sex and the City, and it cutout when I told everyone to watch a scene,” Lucas said. Lucas then got up, and out of frustration, hit the top of the TV a little harder than usual. Normally, the DVD or the TV would have kicked back on, but this time was different. The makeshift TV stand, made with two barstools and a strong piece wood, came crashing down – literally. For almost a week, shoes had to be worn in their den to keep feet from getting cut by shards of electronic equipment. “I regret it a little bit,” said Lucas, who squints now at a TV they acquired from Woodward's grandmother. “That damn thing – I still don't think it was my fault.” Simplicity isn't always a good thing For Bloomington residents like Pawelski, Brennan and Knight, the “roadblock's” size is magnified by three. Or so it seems. Bloomington has three high-speed Internet providers, but drive four hours north to South Bend, and things are different. Much different. Go three hours farther north into Ann Arbor, Mich., and it becomes apparent – Bloomington is different, not South Bend and Ann Arbor. Like many other towns and cities, both have a high-speed Internet market dominated by SBC Communications Inc. – a fortune 30 corporation that fills 58 million Americans' high-speed Internet needs, more than any other provider. But look around in Bloomington and SBC is hard to find, offering residents only basic DSL services – a minor service among many – but it could be different. Extremely different, said Rick Dietz, Bloomington's director of information and technology. “In the event that SBC or some big corporation did come into the market the three local (high-speed Internet Service Providers) would be ran out of business almost immediately,” he said. The three local providers are Kiva, Insight and SBC Yahoo! DSL's basic DSL package.
But a big corporation won't threaten these three in the near future, Dietz said, because Bloomington's small technology market, and its unique small size for a college town, is unappealing to major corporations. All three offer many of what Dietz called “choices and options” to residents. Kiva gives IU students, faculty and staff an option of DSL at a discounted rate, with free wireless service in designated areas for all customers. Insight offers cable-based broadband Internet and is the lone provider of digital cable as well. SBC Yahoo! DSL offers both low-speed and mid-range DSL services, with hidden fees for a Federal Universal Service Fund, which covers costs for relating to its data transport supplier, according to the company's website.
While it may be easier to pick a high-speed Internet provider in a place like South Bend, Dietz said it's still always better for consumers to have choices and options. The same choices and options that Brennan, Knight and Pawelski will look at if they decide to retain their house this summer. All three agree that having these choices and options might have added to confusion, but in the end, these ended up being the answer. About 200 miles north of Bloomington in South Bend, Beall sits clicking-away at her husband's old computer desk with her new black-haired poodle, Herkey, sitting on her lap. Managing her financial information on Schwab.com is an easy task these days, she said, considering she recently went on a spring cruise with her daughter that she arranged entirely on the Internet. But it's been a long road from grief to proficiency for her, and unlike Brennan, Knight and Pawelski, answering her question was more complex than switching Internet providers.
To get where she is, she went back to a place she hadn't been in over 50 years – a classroom. She attended a senior citizens' technology course at Southwestern Michigan College, a community college about 10 miles north of her house. “The guy who taught us, he was a fifth-grade teacher,” she said. “I think he walked in on the first day and thought, ‘Oh my God! Give me my fifth-graders back!'” But 10 weeks later she emerged, knowledgeable, unafraid and above all, proficient. “If I'm bored around here, I just jump right on,” she said. “I think I can pretty much play around with anything long enough and figure it out now.”
Page designed and edited by Aileen Cook Last updated May 2, 2005 |
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