#76 Facebook and technology misadventures

After all the heaviness of the last few columns, here is a lighthearted glimpse of the long running sitcom of my life which my dear husband lovingly refers to as “Life with Lucy.” 
One of my responsibilities as the AmeriCorps United Against Opioid Abuse local coordinator is to update the United Council on Opioids (UCO) Facebook page. During CoVid, our goal has been to maintain a daily dose of positive, encouraging messages to lift the spirits of everyone who LIKES the UCO page as well as keep them aware of events that promote recovery, treatment and prevention of substance use in our region. 
During this process, I have been reminded why the longsuffering technology support staff at Twin Lakes referred to me as the “Black Hands of Technology Death.”  At one point, as I recall, all four of the technology staff had rotated through my office shaking their heads in wonderment and dismay at whatever my current technology foible happened to be.   God bless them!  They never said a disparaging word (to me), and valiantly persevered until whatever chaos I had inadvertently created this time, was resolved.
With this in mind, I warned my boss of my past technology failures when she gave me this new assignment. She naively waved away my lack of success and gave me a five-minute training on scheduling posts on Facebook.  And off I went.
Part of the challenge for my current task is finding appropriate, non-offensive, family friendly memes to share.  Being a middle-aged cultural dinosaur, did not help this process.  My very kind, more hip than me, boss, gently instructed me on some current slang, people and situations that might be offensive to many, even if the picture was hilarious.  Along the way, I learned that any acronym using the letter F is most likely NOT acceptable.  Even now, I marvel at the combinations!  
Another misstep involved scheduling and ensuring a new post appeared every day on the correct page. There are important details involved in not posting a week’s worth of posts in one day.
A side benefit was that scrolling through the endless Facebook posts of others, looking for materials to share, was considered a good use of my shelter at home CoVid quarantine schedule.
And then came Zoom!  After co-hosting a Zoom call with Indiana Youth Institute earlier this spring, the hosts graciously showed me some Zoom tips on break out rooms, screen sharing, polls, assigning someone to man the chat box in the background, etc.  Through the school of hard knocks, I quickly learned that most embarrassing technological snafus* could be solved with a thirty second Google search AFTER the meeting was over. I am happy to report that I am currently able to appear fairly Zoom competent.   Happily, I can utilize a virtual background to hide my incredibly messy home office and use the mute button at appropriate times to avoid embarrassment for myself and family members.  As a colleague bemoaned at a recent Zoom meeting, “Once we get good at this, we won’t be Zooming anymore.”  Here is hoping that is true!
*OOPS!  There’s that F again!
To join the fun, please LIKE the UCO Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/UCOwhitecounty or join one of our United Council on Opioids task force groups.  It is good clean fun and worth your time.