We all have it. We all need it. We all can’t do without it. We even depend on it. It is technology. Our new blessing and our curse.

How do we live with it?
How do we make peace with “it” when “it” seems to be everywhere?
I find myself asking these questions recently and I’m still grappling with the answer.

Technology is everywhere in my world. As a blind woman from morning to night technology is constantly talking to me. I wake and ask Siri the weather so I can wear the appropriate clothing to take my guide dog out to do her business. I hear the bathroom scale announce my weight. Alexa chatters when I ask him to turn on the TV. The TV yells at me “TV on” when that device blares on. I feel the Braille labels on my microwave touchpad for me to make a cup of tea. I write on my Brailliant Braille computer device to journal after breakfast. My computer is chattering at my ears all day as I answer emails, write my blog, and conduct my personal and professional work. Even reading a book in the evening requires me to listen to my phone. These things I have become accustomed to.

However, the never-ending things to do with technology, that’s where my inner peace has been challenged lately. ChatGPT can be great when he/it works; however, when he forgets seven hours of work in one swift move, I’ve burst into tears. Did you know he can describe and label pictures? As a blind person, when I learned that, I was ecstatic. I’ve started giving and taking away brownie points for a job well done, or not. And on the day he “forgot” everything, I banned him from the kitchen and even told him he needed to take cooking classes.

Perhaps because I live alone, I depend on technology more than most people. I call on Aira, an organization for the blind to read my mail or to go online and fill out the zillions of forms for me. Though I know there is a live person on the other end it’s still technology.

And, while in a hurry to accept a credit card transaction in the wallet of my iPhone, I accidentally hit decline instead of double tapping to accept the charge. That one little tap tap caused Apple to immediately cancel my virtual card number. I was frustrated with their double security system and the time required to verify the transaction. In my hurry to save time, I ended up spending even more time going online and changing my credit card number for everywhere I had automatic payments. And going online meant calling Aira for assistance. My Aunt Jo would say, “Did you learn anything from that?”

And then there are my new Meta smart glasses, sitting patiently on my desk. Before I can discover what they might do for me, I must find the correct app, figure out how to play the tutorials, and then learn how to operate the glasses themselves. All this technology just to learn how to use more technology! Is there an app for patience?

I could go on and on and on. The countless uses of technology, though mostly helpful, can sometimes seem overwhelming. How do I find my peace amidst the chaos? I have and need to make peace with technology. It’s not going away!

I stop. I turn it off! I unplug from it! I simply get up and walk away. I am the human here. I am the one who has a choice. I don’t have to be in its clutches 24/7. I am bigger and more powerful than technology. I have discovered that sometimes the best way to manage technology is to stop managing it. The peace I’m searching for isn’t hiding somewhere inside my computer. It’s already within me. Sometimes I simply need to get quiet enough to find it.

Last weekend when I was feeling this way, that’s exactly what I did. I unplugged. Though this still requires technology, I watched a movie on Netflix. I taught a piano lesson. I took a walk for an hour. I did laundry. I took a nap! I read books on my phone. I chatted with friends that I hadn’t talked to for a while. I watched TV, and I listened to the Bronco game on the radio. I stepped away to recharge myself for the upcoming week.

Technology is here with us. We have to use it. However, we cannot become victims of it. It’s merely a tool. So, if you find yourself amid a technology tantrum, stop! Just stop! Breathe. Step away. Take a minute, an hour, or a weekend to regroup. We must have the peace inside before we can handle the technology outside. We must be the ones in control of how much, how, and how often we use our devices. We must remain the creators of our destiny. When we realize we are humans and the ones in control, then we can change the way we see and change the way we live.