Thank you for inviting me to your blog today, Chris, to talk about one of my favorite topics: What I learn from my computer. It’s where I spend the preponderance of each day so no surprise it impacts me in ways I didn’t expect.

As a teacher-author who relies on technology to bring my dreams to life, even I am surprised by how often technology can be applied to life. I share these humorous gems with efriends, post them on forums, and incorporate them into conversations with colleagues. My goal is to demystify technology, a topic that remains for many confusing and intimidating. If fellow writers learn to approach it light-heartedly, they’ll be more likely to accept it.

Here are eight tech tips I find myself applying daily to many of life’s quirks:

#1: You Can‘t Go Faster Than Your Processor Speed

Everyone wants a computer with the fastest possible processor speed. That means it will perform tasks at lightening speed and we as the owner get more done in less time. The computer seems to understand what pace is best and maintains that, no matter if we yell, scream, or kick its tires. Why? Because it can only work as fast as its parts allow it to.

This is also true of your personal processing speed. It is what it is. Your ability to think through problems and consider issues is determined by your mental and physical framework. Revel in what you are. Own it. Enjoy your strong points and work around the weak ones.

#2: I don’t have enough bandwidth

“Bandwidth“ refers to your computer’s capacity for handling the volume of activity thrown at it. I learned how this geeky term applies to life from my millennial daughter. She says “yes” to everything people ask to the point that she can’t possibly complete what she promised. When she falls short, she explains that she no longer has enough bandwidth.

You might be familiar with the more pedestrian term “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” “Bandwidth” is a better way of saying it because no animals are harmed in its execution.

#3: Garbage in garbage out

“Garbage in garbage out” is an old computer term to express the idea that poor quality input results in a poor quality output. It means exactly the same in life. If your due diligence is flawed, you don’t find out the real foundations for your decisions and then you don’t get the result you hope for. Ipso facto, “garbage in garbage out”.

#4: Know when your RAM is full

RAM is Random Access Memory. In the computer world, it controls how much you can work on at any given moment. If you exceed your computer‘s RAM, it won’t be able to remember anything else (computer programs stall or stop). Humans have a mental workspace–like a desktop–that controls how much we keep in our short-term memory before it is shuffled off to long-term.

I know my limits and I don‘t feel bad about asking someone to slow the h*** down. You shouldn‘t either. Figure out the limits of your RAM and accept it. Don‘t be afraid to say, My RAM is full!

#5: Accept 404s

In technology, this means something unexpected shut down the website you want to visit. I wouldn’t call them common, but they are ever-present.

These happen in life too. That road you were following that’s a dead end, despite the mapping app, the document you were building right before the electricity shut off, the person you were supposed to meet who didn’t show up–life doesn’t go as planned. Accept that with equanimity. Devise an alternate path and move on. Revel in your flexibility that circumstances don’t dictate your happiness.

#6: I’m in beta

You’ve probably used beta apps. It is the developer’s way of saying it isn’t fully vetted, may have problems, but you are welcome to test it out while they work through the problems.

The truth is: Everyone lives life in beta. It’s rare we are fully prepared. In fact, we love the wild data points that add variety to our lives. When we experience the same predictable event over and over (and over), it bores us and we force a change. Jobs come with vacations. Family life includes alone time. Humans traipse over the horizon just to see what’s there. Only when something goes wrong do we get the adrenaline rush that comes with problem solving.

#7: Most problems are solved by unplugging and replugging

In my fifteen years of running a computer lab for K-8, the first solution to every problem was “reboot”, “turn it off, turn it on”. Turns out, that’s not just computers. That’s life. Reboot your TV, turn your car off and then on; go back to basics. According to Grok, Anecdotal evidence from posts on X suggests this method works 80% to 95% of the time for tech-related issues. Grok didn’t have data on how that compared to real life.

In my life, it is my go-to solution and works about half the time. Try it yourself. Let me know what you find.

#8: My brain is like a browser

This one is from my Facebook efriend, Women After 50. It so fits:

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Book promo time

Savage Land is the third prehistoric man trilogy in the series, Man. Vs. Nature. Written in the spirit of Jean Auel, Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth’s history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Each tribe starring in the story considered themselves apex predators. Neither was. That crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the blight of man from her face.

Book two (New Release)

In Badlands, Book Two, the tribes must split up, each independently crossing what Nature has turned into a wasteland. They struggle against starvation, thirst, and desperate enemies more feral than human. If they quit or worse, lose, they will never reunite with their groups or escapethe most deadly natural disaster ever faced by our kind.

Book One

In Endangered Species, Book One of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe must join with Fierce’s Tall Ones—a Homo sapiens tribe–on a cross-continent journey that starts in the Siberian Mountains. The goal: a new homeland far from the devastation caused by the worst volcanic eruption ever experienced by Man. How they collaborate despite their instinctive distrust could end the journey before it starts or forge new relationships that will serve both well in the future.

Join me in this three-book fictional exploration of Neanderthals. Be ready for a world nothing like what you thought it would be, filled with clever minds, brilliant acts, and innovative solutions to potentially life-ending problems, all based on real events. At the end of this trilogy, you’ll be proud to call Neanderthals family.