#a dehydrated mobile phone rant

[alwaysalreadyangry]

saw a post the other day full of people complaining about helping older people use computers, about how clueless they can be, how frustrating it is to have to tell them basics like where to click, exactly what to type, how some people just never seem to get it. then an addition was someone who works in a library sharing a story of a ninety-something woman who picked it up instantly. it’s not difficult, this elderly woman said! wow heartwarming.

i’m here to say that plenty of older and disabled and otherwise marginalised people do not know how to use computers and in some cases will find it very difficult if not impossible to learn to use them. for many people it is difficult. it can be insurmountable. we should be fighting for a world where vulnerable people who are not computer literate can use computers with assistance when they want to, but where they do not need to use computers, ever. this is a serious access issue as so much government paperwork is moving to being online only. your frustration at working a job that likely overworks and underpays you to help people use these computers - please think before turning it on the disenfranchised and vulnerable people who rely on you for assistance and resources.

it’s an annoyance for you? then think about why is it that governments habitually move the resources that vulnerable people need to live to online-only when they know as well as you and i do that the digital divide is real. think about how intentionally difficult governments and agencies make it to access forms and paperwork and everything else that is needed to claim such a small amount of money as people currently get when they are out of work and trying to claim benefits, or on allowances for refugees, etc. how much are governments dedicated to taking away people’s dignity and autonomy by swapping to a system that millions of people do not have access to without going into a public library and asking for help, if there’s even anyone there who is able to or allowed to help? i can get people set up with email and find websites for them but im not even allowed to help with sensitive forms - i can only do what i can, you know. i wish it was more.

before i started this job i thought of myself as impatient. i’m not going to tell you any stories in detail because my library patrons didn’t consent to being A Teaching Moment. but i have requests from “difficult” patrons every day. i take a deep breath and if i don’t have a queue, i try to help. i smile and say “don’t worry” when someone is apologising over and over because they were never taught this and they are stressed out and it doesn’t make sense to them. not everyone grew up with neopets and Hotmail. it makes you no better than them if you did.

i’m not perfect but i’m trying. just… think about it, next time you roll your eyes because another old lady doesn’t know how to use gmail, even though you’ve already shown her what to click. ask if your library has thought about seeing up dedicated sessions for helping people use computers if they need assistance (maybe it’ll take some of the work away from you and give you more breathing space). make leaflets telling people where they can go nearby for help with computers - maybe some local charities or non-profits have drop-in sessions. join campaigns for easier access, for letting people who can’t use computers do what they need to without needing to find some way to get online. all of these are more useful in holding solidarity than in just being frustrated that another person in their seventies, eighties, nineties, struggles to use a computer.

a couple more notes of things that i think about a lot when it comes to computer access at the library that might not occur to people who don’t routinely help people out with basic computer stuff:

2-factor authentication is the devil. i understand the intention behind it and cyber security is important and difficult! but 2-factor authentication in practice locks out and disenfranchises vulnerable people every day, makes them unable to access their emails and everything else on the web that depends on their email, makes them unable to access their data and government portals, and makes them even more vulnerable than governments already conspire to make them. plenty of people just do not understand how 2FA works. it doesn’t matter how many times the google website says : look at your phone and click on this number. or whatever. if somebody else is not there to tell them what to do — if they haven’t recently had to change their phone number, as many vulnerable people might have had to do — they will not be able to do it.

google have recently been selling chromeboxes to public libraries (and schools) cheap. chromeboxes in public libraries are also the devil. on a windows PC loaded with word, lots of people are happy and able to do what they need to do. the problem comes when they have to log in to a google account just to access a fucking word processor. it’s a scandal how many people are locked out of access to something as simple as a word processor unless they have a google or Microsoft account. we are talking people who don’t want email accounts, who just want to type up a letter to send in the post. Every time I ask online for a good alternative I get something extremely tech-y or like fucking online textpad. we just need a good accessible word clone that runs in a web browser like Word XP. It would make a lot much easier. And yet!

#public libraries #a dehydrated mobile phone rant #digital access

[dorothygale]

😓😓😓 sorry mobile users i gotta rant and it’s gonna be long I am so… fucking SICK of this I’m sick of the constant dehydration unless I drink a shitton of water which is so counterproductive I can’t be running to the bathroom every five seconds at work For those who have only just tuned in I have inter.stitial cys.titis aka pai.nful blad.der synd.rome (i think people use those tags/searches? whatever I’m paranoid) and I’m literally crying rn I’m so frustrated Originally the urologist NP gave me a month’s sample of this medication. It was a GODSEND. Like any chronic condition I have good days and bad days, and on the good days it was like nothing was wrong. I then found out that medication costs $300 a month without insurance. I don’t know what it would be under my parents’ insurance that I’m on but I just had her put me on the cheapest one in that sort of… medication class? I have to take this new one three times a day and it’s about half as effective. On the expensive med I didn’t need to take anything for pain except on the worst days, which is generally a couple days about every 2 weeks. On this med I take something for pain every day. That pain med is also three times a day and you have to drink a ton of water with it. I have a huge pill container with 4 compartments for each day. Admittedly it’s fun to fill it up but not so fun since it’s not all that effective. I take 10 pills a day. My parents are currently paying for my medical expenses and will continue to do so for about two more years… or more. I’m not entirely sure, but at least two more years. They say they’ll pay whatever they have to for the right medication. I just can’t justify making them do that. They’re both self-employed/freelance so they have kinda shitty insurance plus I’m afraid of how much I’ll have to pay to keep up with it when I’m on my own. I’m so lucky to be in a position that my parents can afford to be so generous to pay for my school and my food and my phone bill and GOD I can’t make them pay hundreds of dollars for 30 pills! I’m gonna ask the NP to prescribe it to me just so I can see how much it would be and I can only hope that it’s under $100. If it’s just a ridiculous amount I’m gonna have to talk about other options because I can’t take this. I’m not gonna be able to sleep for quite a while tonight

#blabs #medical adventures