Gadgets, Repairs and Techies

Over the past couple of decades, as I have 'matured', more and more gadgets are invented, upgraded, replaced, added to, made obsolete, improved, yada-yada.  Have you noticed how most of the time these 'advances' in technology are becoming something that we cannot, generally, repair or improve on our own?

I don't want to carry on about 'back in the day', but in today's world everything is so specialized I would think that everyone should have a job because all of our gadgets, appliances, toys, etc. have to have special tools and adapters and synchronization ad nauseum.  What's under the hood of a car in todays world is a maze that can no longer be repaired at home because everything is so tightly jammed in there that it now required specialized digital technicians to remove, replace, and calibrate almost everything under that hood.
I dearly love my computer and this is a computer world we live in, however, as we keep advancing we do put ourselves at the mercy of some 'nerd-herder'.  I also love my Toyota.  I like having automatic seats, MP3 players, automatic external temperature digital readouts, and so on.  So, yes, I am just as spoiled by all of this as the next person. 

As I speak there are two repairmen from the Geek Squad in my kitchen repairing the cook top that had a short in the wiring of one of the burners.  They had to remove the builtin oven below the cook top in order to get to the wiring of the cook top because the installer secured the cook top to make it secure.  This is the third visit in 8 days and this time the techie brought along a second person to help with the lifting.  All this to replace a wire. My...  Now I realize that this is not hi-tech stuff, and the cook top is still under contract, but it still amazes me.  This week we also had to attach adapter boxes to our tvs that were not on the digital DVR box.  They were activated and one of them did not take, so a cable techie wil be here on Friday to see what is the problem.  I chatted online with a support person yesterday and the problem seemed to be fixed, then this am the problem resumed so I called the number for trouble shooting support.  That didn't help at all.
So someone is coming to see what the problem is with the "advancement".

I know, I know, I'm rambling like an old-timer, but sometimes we old-timers can do that because we have a base line by which to gauge these things.  People younger than, say, 40 yrs old have no idea what is means to go to Sears and pick up a part for something, anything, and put it in yourself.  And, just imagine if you had to wind and set a clock!!  Or, if your calculator went out, good grief.  But then we could always use the one on our phone or computer.  What was I thinging?!?

Five or six years ago I swore I would never get a cell phone.  Well, guess what?  Don and I both have cell phones and we no longer have a land line.  Yes, I do enjoy all these techie things and most of the improvements are good, but in many cases the replacements and repairs are a little hard to understand or/and afford.  I would say something about people on a fixed income but son, Mark, would roll his eyes and sigh.

More and more seniors are taking free computer classes at the public library here in Olathe, and that's a very good thing.  Computers help us to keep our minds sharp and active, and can help us stay in touch with eachother.  I google something everyday and I hope everyone does.  We have to keep learning!