This is just a tiny personal revelation. In unprecedented diligence tonight I decided to deal with my broken iPod. The device has been spinning and hanging and generally not playing music for me. OK, it was fine, then it totally stopped about 6 weeks ago, I never really dealt with it.
For whatever reason I decided to try again tonight. I tried reformatting, looking for fixes on-line, etc. Then I recalled a friend laughing and commenting, "maybe he just body slams it, I don't know how he works on these problems." This was in reference to all broken Apple devices, small of footprint and large in popularity and annoying behaviors. So what did I do?
I shook it REALLY hard and I uttered the ultimate invective, a time honored family tradition, usually accompanied by a coy grin as if to say, "I never actually say this sort of thing." Now it's fine. I'm listening to my music even now (all files present and accounted for).
In principal, this is heartbreaking. This is not the behavior I wish to have rewarded. I tried several different ways to be logical, to be gentle, to be rational. Apparently the temper tantrum does work.
At least I didn't throw it.
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5 comments:
Wonderful writing. There is a voice in there poking its way out.
Also suggests a parable on the artistic process. You know--art making at the edges. Act out, shake it, and iPod it! Lots of potential here.
It was a scary post for me, so I really appreciate the postive feedback. I do think technology has its uses both for engaging us and for producing feelings of absolute rage (road rage is simply not possible when on a country road walking, where no vehicles are present).
Haven't you ever been stuck? When I was young, six weeks would have been forever, but now it's just a blink of the eye. Maybe the Ipod was stuck. We know what it took to get it un-stuck, the bigger question is what will it take for you to continue this path of being un-stuck?
It engages, it enrages, just like people! No wonder we feel the urge to treat technology as if it could think and be motivated or stuck...
In me this raises questions of order vs. disorder...everyone agrees striking a watch with a hammer is unlikely to make it work better, but we also all know people who can nudge or bump or tweak or frob a machine in a way that seems to enhance it (or at least do no harm).
I think a spirit of constant experiment and exploration is what gradually leads to the confidence such behavior demonstrates the mastery of! I think something similar happens to artists learning craft. To outsiders the end result looks like magic, because they can't see the wastebook or sketchbook or back-garden or basement full of junk produced by the learning process...
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