Modern life is hard work.
So many things to negotiate. So much you need to know. So much you need to remember. Sometimes, I'm not sure how I manage to cope from day to day.
I'll tell you one of the things I find hardest to deal with. Passwords.
There was a time when passwords were kind of cool. Passwords could get you into secret clubs. In stories, characters would use passwords to join gangs, or gain access to hidden treasure. But these days, passwords are everywhere, and you don't use them to gain access to anything cool and secret. You need them to pretty much do everything.
At work, you can't do anything without a password. You need a password to access your files. You need a password to access your mail. You need a password for admin stuff, like putting in leave. Sometimes, you even need a password just to access the internet.
And outside work, it's just as bad. All those social networks each need a password. One for Facebook and one for Twitter. One for Goodreads and one for Google. Not to mention the ones that anyone foolhardy enough to be a writer has to have, like Amazon and Smashwords.
Then there are the essentials. Banking. Home networks. Hey, I even have a password so I can pay for public transport.
It's driving me bonkers and I can't take it anymore.
Part of me wants to be done with the lot of them, and just use one password for everything. But then people tell me that's a really bad idea. Something to do with security, apparently. I suppose I can see their point.
So I guess I don't have a choice. All that brain power I'd really love to use for creative stuff, for making things up and solving problems, is just going to have to be roped off for the absolutely uncreative but utterly necessary task of remembering my passwords.
Modern life really is hard work.
So many things to negotiate. So much you need to know. So much you need to remember. Sometimes, I'm not sure how I manage to cope from day to day.
I'll tell you one of the things I find hardest to deal with. Passwords.
There was a time when passwords were kind of cool. Passwords could get you into secret clubs. In stories, characters would use passwords to join gangs, or gain access to hidden treasure. But these days, passwords are everywhere, and you don't use them to gain access to anything cool and secret. You need them to pretty much do everything.
At work, you can't do anything without a password. You need a password to access your files. You need a password to access your mail. You need a password for admin stuff, like putting in leave. Sometimes, you even need a password just to access the internet.
And outside work, it's just as bad. All those social networks each need a password. One for Facebook and one for Twitter. One for Goodreads and one for Google. Not to mention the ones that anyone foolhardy enough to be a writer has to have, like Amazon and Smashwords.
Then there are the essentials. Banking. Home networks. Hey, I even have a password so I can pay for public transport.
It's driving me bonkers and I can't take it anymore.
Part of me wants to be done with the lot of them, and just use one password for everything. But then people tell me that's a really bad idea. Something to do with security, apparently. I suppose I can see their point.
So I guess I don't have a choice. All that brain power I'd really love to use for creative stuff, for making things up and solving problems, is just going to have to be roped off for the absolutely uncreative but utterly necessary task of remembering my passwords.
Modern life really is hard work.
Now wait until your memory starts to go. I have a small bank of passwords and variations on passwords. If one doesn’t work then I try one of the other ones and work my way down the list. The only important ones are my bank, Amazon and probably PayPal to be honest. Hack away at my Facebook account all you like. Everything’s out in the open anyway. I really don’t do a whole lot of shopping online and most of the time, love it or loathe it, it’s through Amazon. I can’t pretend I don’t worry about Internet security but I don’t obsess over it. I’m just pretty good at keeping what I think ought to be private away from prying eyes. I never mention any one of my family’s names for example apart from my wife who’s very much a part of my online life. You do have to be careful. And I watch who I pass my address onto as well but reviewing books from all over there’s really not much I can do about that other than rent a P.O. box and I’m not ready for that yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim. At least I still have my memory...um...what were we talking about again?
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