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Technology August 2013

Password Meltdown

By Eda Suzanne

However, our friends encouraged us to stay on course. They said we would eventually master all the nuances and it was important to prove to our children we weren’t too old to learn. Unlike our parents, who were ancient in their 70s, we have eternal youth.

My spouse of 51 years had tears in his eyes in public, and we weren’t attending a highly emotional occasion — the only other time in our married life he has cried in front of others.

It might be hard to believe — then again it might not if you are collecting Social Security — his cause was his fairly new cell phone, the kind that’s smarter than too many of its owners. Hubby charged the phone before he went to bed, his usual habit, but in the morning, no matter how many times he slid his fingers along the screen, nothing happened. Sometimes the minute elf who lives in his phone flashes suggestions on how to fix the problem, but “Elfie” was MIA. All the bells and whistles inside the gizmo were incessantly alerting him of incoming messages, but there was no way he could retrieve them from the cell. Frustrated for the umpteenth time since we upgraded our phones, he set it down and headed for his computer to check his emails the “old-fashioned” way.

Both of our almost middle-aged sons, Atlanta and Florida (who lives near us), cautioned before Hubby and I purchased the phones that the technology was more than we needed and would frustrate us at every turn. They suggested we keep our easy to use, no internet available, no passwords needed for anything, low monthly cost cells.

Just as they rarely heed ours, we ignored their advice.

A skilled salesperson at a cell phone kiosk convinced us not to listen to our “boys” and jump into the 21st century of communication. I posted about our purchase on Facebook, and Atlanta son immediately responded, “Return them NOW.”

Later that day he called and clarified his concern was he didn’t want us to get a phone he didn’t have because he could not talk us through problems. He warned that if we needed help, he would not be able to give quick advice as he does with our computers. Florida son’s gripe was the carrier only had one service department in our county, which was over 25 miles from our home.

However, our friends encouraged us to stay on course. They said we would eventually master all the nuances and it was important to prove to our children we weren’t too old to learn. Unlike our parents, who were ancient in their 70s, we have eternal youth.

Passwords were the first obstacle. The salesperson explained they were needed for her to download or upload — I’m not sure of the difference and at this point I don’t care — our email and Facebook accounts. Since neither of us remembered all of them, this step needed a quick 11-mile trip home (at $3.50 a gallon) to secure the information and then back to the kiosk in the bulk food store.

After that, the only big snafu we had before Hubby’s cell shut down was my phone (different from my husband’s) and my car’s Bluetooth were incompatible. That’s another story for another day, but I needed a different model. Obviously, I had to start from scratch again. It was an uphill battle for several months, but we both mastered the basics.

The afternoon my husband’s phone broke, he took out his master list of passwords and copied those for his email and Facebook accounts on a slip of paper. We then headed to the service store 30 minutes north. He was confident he had all the information the tech would need to make any repairs.

When we entered the store, the employees behind the counter smiled in recognition. One young man took the “sick” phone and headed into the rear of the store. Fifteen minutes later, he came out and explained that the problem could only be fixed by transferring all the information from one cell to another. Supposedly, another trip to the auto dealership for the new one to be paired with the car’s Bluetooth was all we needed to once again be hooked up to 21st century technology. Hubby took out his list.

Then the sky fell in. The young man said, “Sir, what’s the password to your cell phone?”

 

Eda Suzanne, a retired teacher, is now a free-lance writer and author of the humorous book, "Retired, NOT Expired."

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