The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 57

-A nr 0 k' Those gadgets you got for the holidays can turn life into technological torture How can you avoid the hazards? By Ernie Slone and Dawn Chmielewski Knight-Ridder Newspapers Technology (at)Work (at)Home Here is how to make smarter use of technology say Rosen and Weil and how to avoid the hazards: The impulse The first mistake consumers make with new technology is to try to master everything at once says Weil A typical scene: Your new wide-screen TV has picture-inpicture but no matter how you connect the cables it simply work Meanwhile the kids are yelling that there is no sound coming from the computer when they run their game And your spouse is cursing the new microwave which just scorched work and home because portable computers cell phones and faxes can erase the boundaries And most of us even the savvy elite at times feel intimidated incompetent and overwhelmed by the demands of the Information Age says psychologist Michelle Weil commercials and ads make technology look easy to use that it will seamlessly integrate into our lives and it is just not said Weil For 15 years Weil and her husband and fellow psychologist Larry Rosen have researched the effects of technology on people The Orange Calif residents have taken their findings and written a book of advice for consumers Techno-Stress: Coping With tT hanks to Santa you finally have that beeper and digital cellular phone to instantly connect to almost any place from anywhere at any time Your spouse got a new laptop computer with a built-in fax and the kids are joining the online generation with Internet access These wondrous tools will surely revolutionize your life But maybe not all the changes will be for the better according to two psychologists who say many consumers come to feel more like the slaves than the masters of their fax machines VCRs and voice mail Some of us resist technology while others are becoming obsessed with it We know how to draw the line between are hesitant or resistant to working with technology it is a great idea to learn with someone else When things work or we simply master all the functions we feel inadequate and stressed The impulse Weil points out that researchers have found that most people use only 35 percent of any capability a VCR most people use it to play rental movies and only a small subset want to learn Please see GADGETS page F5 the turkey leftovers Time out each new gadget we purchase we need to be aware that we will experience frustration intimidation or stress just learning how to use says Weil Things happen that we Learning to use technology is just like learning math for the first time she says takes repetition and practice trial and She recommends trying to learn how to use one device at a time And especially if you LjIllU Van Gordon Sauter is leaving KVIE Story of a lifetime brims with WWII gritty tales THEATER REVIEW Reality writes F2 What role do computers play with regard to the words you write? To the stories you tell? one point of view Great dates in F3 The Folsom Historical Society reveals a golden past in its new exhibit Staking Our Claim Gloria Glyer has the details P' i i i package of all is my marriage and we can no longer conduct a commuter Hired in 1995 when public TV faced an uncertain future because of cutbacks in government funding Sauter initially planned to put in only two years at Channel 6 But at the urging of the board of directors he stayed on for another nine months and has committed to staying on the job three or four more months while a search committee looks for his successor not looking for a job so not running out of town on the next Continental Trailways said Sauter going to stay Please see SAUTER page F5 By DanVierria Bee TV Writer Van Gordon Sauter citing a need to spend more time with his wife Kathleen Brown in Los Angeles resigned Wednesday as president and general manager of Sacramento public TV station Channel 6 (KVIE) Sauter 62 said he plans to move to Los Angeles and rejoin Brown who is an executive vice president of the Bank of America it turns out I really grew to enjoy the station and respect the staff and I particularly relished living in the Central said Sauter was a marvelous package but the best By Karen Bee Theater Critic Fred Rochlin is no actor But since his monologue Man in a Baseball is a purely autobiographical account of his own lifetime that hardly matters Onstage the 70ish Rochlin reflects on the heavy burden of his generation coming of age while the world was at war His disarming lack of artifice makes this tale of death and sex during World War II all the more touching The solo show runs through Sunday at the Street Theatre Before Rochlin saunters onstage a clunky machine projects film reels of the war onto a screen Black and white photographs of bombers and men in uniform flash on and off A tattered flight jacket hangs on a coat rack and a decanter of plum brandy sits on a small end table as if stepped into house and sat us down for home movies and tall tales about the war With candor r- INDEX Columns F2 F4 Television Bee photograph Bryan Patrick Van Gordon Sauter came Jo Channel 6 101995 Please see page F5.