Dr. Michael R. MacDonald
Let me tell you a little story about frustration, relief and ultimately success.
I am a guy who has finally retired (I thought I never would) who does not have any training in computer science. I had a little exposure to Fortran back in my graduate class on statistics, but this was in the day of inputing with punch cards into a large main frame computer. Ages ago really.
But over the last few years I have been learning how to design and create websites and blogs, both for our psychology practice and for personal interest. I have enjoyed doing this, although it has not come without its frustrations. As you will see below.
Designing a Website Can Really Make Your Brain Work
That is when you’re not banging your head against the wall.
Which is how I felt many times over the past few weeks as I tried to create a new focus and design for A Warm Heart website and a related newsletter.
Sometimes I felt in the groove when my brain was cooking and all my ideas were working out. Or even when I was experimenting and trying new ways and looks.
Then one day I tried two simple additions to a template for single posts on my Word Press website. The additions worked and even looked good. But then all my previous posts disappeared. Just like that – almost 100 posts gone.
This mini-crisis led to many hours trying to get my posts back.
I used the AI program, Gemini, from Google to help me. Interestedly, I didn’t have to access Gemini directly, sign-in or create an account. I just typed a long paragraph directly into Google and it’s AI program automatically came to my assistance. In my long paragraph, I described what I had done, what had happened and described all the steps I had already tried.
Gemini gave me five fixes to try and described why each one should work. When that didn’t work, Gemini gave me five more. Then five more, on and on for days. The potential fixes all seemed reasonable, but none seemed to work.
One of the overriding problems was the complexity of the software programs involved and their need to work together.
To illustrate, Word Press is the core software program used for millions of websites and blogs all over the world. Then with Word Press, it is necessary to use a theme, which creates the look you want. The theme I have been using is OceanWP and it has been running without a hitch. Then I use a program called Elementor, which is an editing program to work with Word Press and OceanWP. This too usually works well and I like all the extra design options it provides.
But for some reason, on this particular day, these programs were fighting with each other instead of getting along – and taking away all my blog posts in the meantime.
I kept plugging away with what seemed like the endless suggestions coming from Gemini. Then I tried deleting the extra sections I had added. My posts were still no where to be found. I explained this last step to Gemini and this led to many more potential fixes, all of which came from credible sources.
Hours went by and still no solution.
Then as I was trying yet another fix, I noticed something worth looking at. I changed one setting and tested to see what would happen. And just like magic, everything worked again.
Such relief and I am now back on track.
And I am calm enough to look back and see if I have learned anything from this experience.
Did All This Frustration Make Me any Smarter?
Well yes and no.
While experimenting with all the fixes Gemini suggested, I sure learned a lot. I learned more about how all the software programs work and usually work together. I learned more about all the settings within each program.
I learned about how useful AI programs can be – even for a retired newsletter writer. But if AI did all the heavy lifting how could that make me any smarter?
It is true that Gemini did all the work of generating ideas and potential fixes. Gemini saved me hours of reading from numerous blogging and software sites. It did all the research for me and summarized it into actionable advice. None of the many suggestions were unreasonable. And none created more problems for my website.
I had to implement each suggestion and learned a lot in the process. Ultimately, I was the one who found the fix that worked. I like to think of an AI program as a very smart assistant that can make me more efficient. And Gemini did make the whole process less frustrating – although it didn’t always feel like that at the time.
Now I do know one thing for sure.
Problem Solving and Mental Challenges Can Help Your Brain
Or, at the very least, it can help you ward off dementia, which is especially important for us aging folk. This is why crossword puzzles and games are so popular. And I think that anytime you challenge your mind and body you strengthen them. Problem solving is like gym exercise for your brain.
A good friend of mine has taken on a huge mental and creative challenge in his retirement. He writes award-winning books of speculative fiction. And I mean books and books. So far he has written five, I think, as well as an award-winning short story. If you want to be wowed, checked out his books here.
Very few of would up to this kind of challenge no matter how smart and creative we wanted to become. For now, just reading such stimulating books may be enough.
Until next time, let our warm hearts soar!
Michael
michael@aWarmHeart.ca
And thank you for caring that little bit extra – it really makes a big difference.
