Is it me or are our lives becoming too complex?
Take passwords for example. When I was a kid growing up in a seemingly much simpler world than today, and during the summer holidays, when our days would be accompanied by untrammelled blue skies, we used to build camps in the woods. The only way that one would be allowed to enter would be by producing a pre-arranged password. This could be a simple term such as ‘cat’, but sometimes it could be more explicit depending on the social class of the chooser, but it was always very easy to remember. Not anymore!
I don’t know about you but passwords are becoming the bane of my life. Originally, computer passwords were quite simple, you know, the name of a restaurant that you passed on the way to work, or in my case the name of my great uncle’s Labrador dog. I know what you’re thinking, and to save you hours of detective work, maybe I should point out that both are long deceased; as is the use of that particular password.
It now seems that almost every aspect of our life involves the use of online contact, whether it be the local plumber or access to the bank or whatever. In addition we are now told that, for reasons of security, we should really have a different password for each account. Ouch!
Fair enough, I fully understand the necessity for increased security here, but on numerous occasions I’m being informed that my password should be at least ten characters long, include one capital letter, contain at least one number plus a non-alphanumeric symbol; and all I want to do is determine the refuse collection days for the current period. It’s simply rubbish!
The conundrum is: how do you store all of these passwords? There are too many of them and they are required to be increasingly complex, so unless you have a phenomenal memory you are going to have to write them down somewhere. But where? On a piece of paper? Hide it in the house? Forget where? Perhaps there are logical solutions available and if so it would be useful to learn them, or maybe there’s an entrepreneurial opportunity for somebody here.
We’ve recently had new ticket machines installed in our local car parks, and whereas at one time obtaining a ticket was relatively simple, it now seems to be more complicated than piloting a jumbo jet. I often walk through the car park on my way to the High Street and the queues of angry frustrated individuals attempting to purchase a ticket is a sight to behold. This has turned out well for me because I have now mastered the complexities of these new machines. As a result I’ve become a bit of a hero locally by being able to explain to watching audiences how to obtain a valid docket.
Along with many other towns, the number of banks in our high street has slowly declined along with the closure of a variety of retail outlets. Our bank still remains, but now it’s much more like an amusement arcade, being full of various types of inanimate soulless automatons – and that’s only the staff! Look, I’m sorry, I don’t mean it. You know me by now, I simply just can’t miss the opportunity of attempting to make a joke. Anyway, my branch normally seems to be full of people with puzzled looks on their faces who, fresh from passing the morning trying to master the car parking machines, are now ready for a new challenge.
Oh and talking of automatons I’ve literally just read about a Japanese hotel which was entirely staffed by robots. Owing to numerous customer complaints, it has now decided to employ some real people. You couldn’t make it up really.
I’ve only given you a few examples of what I’m trying to get at, but I’m sure that you could think of many more. The irony here is that this increase in our self- induced complexities seems to coincide with a period when all of the Earth’s problems appear to be coalescing in this present era. Global warming, deforestation, plastic pollution, tree diseases, overpopulation, water scarcity and many more.
Have previous generations suffered with such a myriad of problems? Maybe, but because they existed in a much more insular world, they probably had no more to worry about than their day-to-day struggles - which even so were perhaps much more disturbing than the complications of modern living.
So there’s a price to pay for a more comfortable, well informed life, but is that price worth paying? It’s a question that’s difficult to answer because as an individual we can’t make a difference; although maybe it’s worth trying. But first we must finish that Box Set we are currently watching!
… now what’s the password?