my battle with technophobia

I know that probably sounds weird, coming from someone who owns a Crackberry and posts fairly frequently on a blog, but it's really the truth.  I own a laptop that I haven't turned on in almost a year, and I don't use iTunes or have a real iPod -- I opt to have my sister Kiwi send me mixed CDs that I play on the boombox I used to lifeguard with, and she updates my 2nd generation iPod Shuffle at the holidays when I'm home.  I hate Kindles and I only like books.

My technological skills pretty much stopped progressing senior year of high school when I took Media Tech with our creepster "media specialist" Mr. Cupid.  Basically, it was an independent study where you learn to use Macs, Photoshop, video cameras, Final Cut Pro, Powerpoint, etc.  while occasionally being solicited to have a pizza party at your teacher's house.  I can't say that I remember much Final Cut Pro or Photoshop, but it seems easy enough to pick up when I need to.  But currently?  My skills involve word processing, surfing the world wide web, gchat, Excel, and Facebook.  And I'm happy with it staying that way.

And now... Google + happened.  I joined yesterday, but all I felt was annoyed, confused, and overwhelmed.  It looks just like Facebook to me, and has all the same functions/features with new names (+1 vs. "like", "circles" vs friend lists).  I've spent 6 years developing my Facebook page and photo albums, getting to know the system very closely, and making/blocking 1200+ facebook acquaintances friends.  Why would I want to start from scratch?  I don't.

Well, taking a step back, I'm realizing that it's not technology I don't like, it's change.  Learning how to use a new computer, a new operating system, a new phone, or a new social networking site?  Ugh.  Sign me up for a support group, this 22-year-old girl is officially a stubborn 94-year-old woman who hand writes letters and uses a land line and an ice box.  I'm still not sold on Google+ or Kindles, but I hereby vow to give new technology a chance.  Who knows? I might even do something crazy and boot up my laptop.

L