These days, technology is a staple of day to day life, not to mention the ever-competitive business arena. Tech skills are becoming more and more essential for pretty much everyone, which is bad news if you’re afflicted with technophobia. A fear, or more commonly just a natural aversion to technology, can certainly be a big stumbling block these days, but there are ways of getting around it. Here are a few tips for getting over your technophobia…
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Jump In!
A wise man once said that if you want to learn to swim, you have to jump in the water at some point. By the same token, if you want to make yourself more tech savvy, you’re going to have to get out of your tech comfort zone sooner or later. Don’t be afraid to simply play around with different bits of technology, and find out through experience what they do. Explore every little function on a program or device, as long as it’s not going to affect anyone else. If and when something goes awry, there’ll usually be a forum thread you can find where someone’s worked through the exact same issue. Start off slow, but don’t be afraid of stretching yourself. This will allow you to build up to much more complex tasks.
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Live to Learn
You may not use it all that much thanks to your technophobia, but you’re living in an age where information and education is more readily accessible than at any other point in history, all thanks to the internet. If you really want to get over your technophobia, and learn a great deal about browsing the web in the process, then it’s time to start using all that information! The internet is full of blogs like Secure Thoughts that cover all facets of modern day tech, and filter all that frustrating jargon into plain, accessible English. Aside from these, there are also countless video tutorials on YouTube that will guide you through various functions step-by-step, including videos of what your screen or gadget should look like at every stage. If you get into the habit of having a scroll through popular tech blogs and journals, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you become more tech-savvy.
Get Support
If you’re lucky enough to know someone who works in a heavily IT-based role, then don’t hesitate to call them up and ask any questions you have that are causing you to struggle with tech. You may not want to bother people, but you won’t as long as you’re not calling them every few minutes! In fact, us geeks don’t get asked to share our expertise all that often, and a lot of techy people will be glad to show off their skills! If you don’t have anyone in your personal network who you can rely on for tech advice, then there are many social media groups and open forums where you’ll find people trading notes on common technical issues. If things go well, you might be the one dishing out advice in a little while!
