I struggle for a while with new technology, especially if I don’t have someone to help me get started.
I relied a lot on my older siblings for advice and help, especially when I got new toys like model trains for Christmas or birthdays and had no idea how to read the directions properly to set them up.
As I got older, my siblings moved out of the state, one by one, and now they’re scattered around the country. It was hard, but this forced me to become more self-sufficient compared to my childhood. Eventually I went to college and studied literature, but I barely managed to find a career working as a librarian at the campus library. Despite having the instruction manuals in front of me, I still struggle with a lot of newer technology. When I changed out the filter in my air purifier, I thought that it would last for the four to six months that the manual claimed. But when the check filter light came on just a few weeks after I installed the new filter, I was alarmed. These filters are $30 because they’re HEPA filters with a charcoal layer on the outside. Thankfully the solution to my problem was fairly straightforward. After looking through the instruction manual several times for the air purifier, I realized that I never reset the check filter button when I put in the new filter. Instead of automatically sensing when a new filter is added, you have to manually tell the machine that a new one is inside. Otherwise the timer won’t reset and you’ll think that the filter is already clogged after just a few weeks or months of use. Thankfully I found the information that I needed on a helpful online forum.