A virtual tightrope walk while wearing blinders. That characterizes my experience using software much of the time. It’s like I’m standing up on a platform high in the air, and I can see another platform I want to cross over to, but I need software to help me bridge the gap. So often, the connection turns out to be a thin wire, hastily strung, less than fully taut, without a safety net underneath, and no way to even see that I’m staying on the narrow path to success.

• Google Meet drops the connection to my USB-connected camera in the middle of a meeting and my outbound video goes blank.
• Google Meet locks because Google Calendar raised a notification telling me my next meeting is starting in ten minutes.
• AirDrop can see my MacBook Pro from my iPhone sometimes, but then can’t other times.
• Notes and Contacts sometimes (and stubbornly) fails to sync between my iOS devices.

These failings seem so obvious. They’re core to the basic experiences the software purports to offer. Often, there’s no workaround either, and I just have to try again, and hope that the next time, I don’t slip off the wire.