The tyranny of cables

It will come to no surprise to anyone that I live in a house full of techy geeks. I’m usually pretty cool with that, leaving the room when the Xbox goes on for a big sesh, even finding it amusing (to a point) when the three of them get sucked in by an advertorial for a fairly basic Acer laptop for AN HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES.

But last night I cracked. I’m not a big TV person and usually when I do watch it’s because the boys want to watch something and I happen to be around. Last night I was alone and wanted to use the Wii Fit to see how much damage the Milan trip had inflicted on my body as Guy has noticed some changes(http://www.guycocker.com/2008/06/11/wii-fit-diary-day-21/).

Anyway, it turns out that we have a 5 by 4 matrix under the TV to tell you what has to be set where in order to use any of the different pieces of kit. I guess I would be described competent with gadgetry and tend to be able to manage with geek toys. But last night trying to figure out what I had to do in order to get the Wii to work I was nearly sent to madness. After fussing with buttons, trying to find controllers, discs etc for over 20 minutes, I managed to get it to work only to find that my exercise history wasn’t on there anymore. Needless to say I threw a hissyfit and gave up.

I thought that the point of technology was to make your life easier? I don’t even know what half of the components do or why I’m even changing them. Back in the day you had one remote and it did most of the work. Now we have two switches, three remotes and all of the assorted console paraphanalia.

I think it may be time for me to ditch the tech and head back towards the cave…