New Year’s Resolutions. Some people make life-changing goals that are really hard to achieve. Others reject the concept entirely as guilt-inducing hype. This year, I fall somewhere in the middle — I’m making a few tech-related resolutions that will actually be fun to keep.

1. Expand My Musical Tastes

I’ve become a victim of the algorithms. You know — the ones that decide what ads I see, what posts appear in my feed, and what recommendations come up on my Spotify and Netflix accounts. But people are more diverse than algorithms can predict. So I’ve committed to expanding my musical tastes. I want to discover new artists and explore whole genres that I haven’t delved into. Here’s where I’m starting.

• Review sites. Traditional reviews feel old school, and they often reject the appeal of things that are just fun. But these people are literally paid to listen to darn near everything, so I’m actually going to check out the reviews on some major sites. Pitchfork is top of my list, because it covers a wide range of genres, hosts festivals, and has a wide range of editorial staff.
• Social media. I’ve pulled back on social media for my own mental health — the rage, bots, and disinformation campaigns can be a lot. But I still love it for fun content and to chat with people from all over the world with vastly different experiences and exposure than me. So I’ll be searching Reddit and X for recommendations, as well as asking my friends and coworkers.

2. Explore AI

When many people think about Chat GPT and other AI programs, plagiarism, stealing, and cheating come to mind. But there are many ethical and handy ways to use it. It’s a great tool for getting explanations, suggestions, or image modifications. Here are some ways I plan to use it:

• Explain a mathematical or scientific process/concept or to answer a problem showing the steps. I like to ask it to explain something to me “like I’m 10 years old”.
• Ask it for advice. Relationship advice. Job searching advice. Cooking advice. The key is to provide details, ask specific questions, and provide follow-up info and queries.
• Edit an image. You can take a picture, and then change something about it or add something to it. “Change the wording in the billboard to XYZ” to make my own funny image, or “Remove the guy in the jeans and blue sweatshirt” to get rid of my unintentional photobomber.
• Help write a customized resume or cover letter. Your application for a job or company should be customized, but rewriting it for each one is a pain. AI can do it.
• Write social media captions. Being fun and engaging in limited characters isn’t my strong suit. So I’m happy to let AI do it for me.

3. Learn Basic Photo Editing

My phone has a more advanced camera than most film cameras. Turns out, that didn’t instantly turn me into a great photographer. I have tons of almost great pics. A glare here, a blurry section there. Something distracting in the background. Not to mention some old family pics that I’d love to restore with greater clarity or brighter colors. My buddies who work with digital art tell me it’s pretty easy to do in Adobe Creative Cloud.

So this is the year I actually figure out how to use those apps! I’ll start by taking a few LinkedIn Learning classes to learn the basics and some usefull features. Then I will play around in the apps until I can actually edit my photos to create really amazing digital albums.

4. Find a Little Zen

If I’m being honest, I generally use tech in ways that increase my stress level. Work, classes, finances, shopping … playing games too late and distracting me when I should be paying attention to the important people in my life. So I’m hoping to try to transform my tech into a tool for relaxation and connection this year.

• Journaling. The benefits of journaling and practicing gratitude are well documented. I’ll be using my iPad to journal at least week. I plan to use my Apple Pen, since I am more authentic and expressive when I write by hand, but I still want to save it electronically.
• Finding beauty. I’ve found some wonderful artists online that I’ll be following more closely. For example, Dave DiCello takes amazing photos around Pittsburgh. There’s something very relaxing about seeing the beauty all around me, in my own city, that I often fail to see.
• Scheduling me time. An Outlook alarm doesn’t just have to be for meetings or waking up. I can also set alerts to let me know that it’s time to stop working, or create a weekly reminder to email or call a friend or family member just to touch base.

5. Ease My Password Headaches

OK, this isn’t exactly fun. But it prevents the frustrations that gets in the way of having fun. I have planned a few strategies for keeping all my passwords straight.

• Cancel unused accounts. The number of accounts I create and then never use is astounding. Here are some tips for finding forgotten accounts linked to an email address or social media account. It’s much safer to delete them and helps reduce spam.
• Switch to biometrics. Remembering a complex, unique password is a lot less annoying when I don’t have to use it! I’ll switch to biometrics (my fingerprint) wherever I can.
• Use a password manager. Remembering passwords is so 2023, so I’ll let Pitt Password Manager (LastPass) do it for me. It can autofill them with just a fingerprint (see above) or via the browser extension. It can also generate random passwords or launch a site. All you have to do is remember the master password to open a vault of convenience.

Have Fun in 2024 with Tech!

-- By Karen Beaudway, Pitt IT Blogger