The Evolution of a Computer Addiction

I've had a computer longer than most people I know.  I had one long before Windows appeared and used to go online by using the National Capital Freenet on a dial up system. There was no high speed internet back then. You clicked a button, and you waited.  

I found I liked to get into conversations with others, and joined several forums on Freenet. Then I discovered the Bulletin Board Systems, and found there were several BBSs within my dialing area. I joined many of them, so that if the line was busy trying to get into one, I could just dial into another one. To me, a BBS was more fun than Freenet, as often others were online at the same time as I was, and the conversations flowed much more quickly.

I still joined groups based on subjects of interest to me, and got online daily to read and respond to what was being said.  I made several wonderful online friends in those old days, and have kept in touch with many of them ever since.  They have helped me learn things, solve computer problems, and other problems and have occasionally even sent me interesting and valuable stuff by snail mail.

I spent time with these virtual friends every day, and if the conversation got really lively, I spent more time than I likely should have.  You have to remember, that without high speed internet, if I was online, nobody could reach me by phone.  At some point I did get a handy little application (before apps were even spoken of) that let me know if someone was trying to call in.  

Eventually a Windows based computer opened a whole new world to me. I still liked being social on the computer, but I found lots of other interesting things too.  I signed up for newsletters, and later contests, surveys, coupons and samples.  I opened separate e-mail addresses so that my requested "junk mail" didn't get mixed with my personal correspondence. In those days though, people did have a tendency to pass on a lot of jokes by way of e-mail, so there was still lots of junk in my regular inbox too.  Thankfully, most people have stopped doing that, now that we have Facebook.

Facebook used to be a simple thing, much like Twitter is today. You went on and made a statement, or a comment about your day. There were no pictures, no jokes or news items to pass on. There were also no companies using it as a way of interesting you in their products.  Now, of course, everything can be found on these social media sites, and others as well.  I don't really need my newsletters anymore, as most of that info gets posted on social media, but I've tended to hang onto them, anyway.  There is so much on social media that I might miss something, after all.

I was given a tablet for Christmas a few years ago, and can now get online as soon as my eyes are open in the morning, without even getting out of bed. I check the weather, the news, my e-mail and Facebook most days, before even having breakfast.  Are you getting the picture here?  That's the time when I used to read books or magazines.  I still do, but I've already proven that I accumulate reading material faster than I can read it.  Maybe that wouldn't be the case if I wasn't on the computer as much.

I've occasionally admitted to being a computer addict.  I feel disconnected when I'm on vacation, away from the internet (though that doesn't really happen anymore as the tablet goes with me).  I'm also overwhelmed by how much e-mail piles up when I can't get at it on a daily basis.  Mind you, I'm not talking about personal correspondence.  There's actually less of that now that most people I know share their lives on Facebook and such.  Somehow, just trying to keep up with what's coming in could take all day, so I have to turn the darn thing off and go do something.

I'm not saying I don't have a real life.  I do.  I have lots of social outings.  I spend time with Real People most days.  However, with the knee problems I've had this past year, I've spent even more time sitting in front of a screen than ever before.  Sitting, of course, is dangerous to our health.  I have scheduled regular walks, when the knee allows, and now, of course, it's gardening season, so I'll be outside doing that too.

I do need to find the time to weed not only the garden, but also what arrives in my e-mail.  I get entirely too much of it these days.  Even just going through what has come in and deleting things I don't have time for that day takes more time than I'm currently willing to spend.  I've got to step away from this machine.  I have so many other things to do, and I don't move as fast as I once did.  I need to recapture some of the time I spend online.

Excess screen time has snuck up on me.  At least I don't have a smart phone.  I don't want to be constantly connected online like so many people are today.  It was bad enough when I caught myself about to  check the tablet recently when I actually had real company.  The gadget dinged and while I'm rather hard of hearing, she heard it and asked what made that sound.  "Oh," I said "something has just arrived on the tablet."  A few minutes later it dinged again and once more she was curious as to what that little sound was. I flipped open the cover and showed her that new e-mail had arrived and mentioned that it would make a different sound if someone was actually trying to chat with me.  Once I had it in my hand I found it much harder to ignore.  That's when I understood the draw cell phones seem to have on people, even in the middle of a conversation.  No, I don't want to get that bad.

I've now chatted with you about this problem, and how it came to be.  I need to find ways to reclaim some time, but I'm not willing to go cold turkey.  Computer use may take up too much of my time but much of it is enjoyable, educational and even productive.  I would love to hear from any of you who have found ways to reduce your online time, or even just tame the influx of e-mail.  Give me a hand here.  Tell me your stories.  

Enhanced Reading

Reading has always been a passion of mine, but recently  I've discovered a way to really enhance the experience.

I was reading a book called Inferno by Dan Brown.  His main  character in his books, Robert Langdon, is a specialist in symbolism and the story took place in several European cities.  Mr. Brown often mentions such things as artwork, architecture, and city streets without boring you with long descriptive detail.  That's where my tablet came in handy.  I simply Googled whatever he was talking about and got to see the settings, or the art he was interpreting for myself.

 The next book I picked up was The Perseid Collapse, by Steven Konkoly.  This is a near future apocalyptic story, realistic enough to get you thinking about storing things to help you survive.  It's set on the east coast, and the characters travel around a lot, getting to safety.  While Mr. Konkoly is more prone to long winded descriptions than Mr. Brown, his references to towns and highways also had me opening up the tablet to check where he was taking his characters, and where rivers were, so I'd understand how far a wave of water might travel inland.  For this I used Google maps.

Actually, at the beginning of the digital version of The Perseid Collapse, there was a link to download the Report of the Commission to assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.  I did that, as it was free from within the book. I found it fascinating to discover all ways our lives would be affected by an EMP.  The way we live would be disrupted in so may ways, there would be complete chaos.

I always knew reading could take you to another world, but now I can get a good look at it, if I want to, and maybe even learn something about these places along the way. I have no idea why I've seldom thought to consult the computer about what I have been reading in the past.  Maybe it was just too much trouble to walk to another room and turn the darn thing on.  But a tablet is different.  You can pick it up along with your book, or maybe even download the book and read it on the machine in the first place.   It's now so easy to  take a moment to see what is in the author's mind that reading will never be the same for me ever again.  It might take me longer to read a book in the future, if I keep looking things up.  I don't see that as a problem with that, other than, as I've mentioned before, my stack of books grows faster than I work my way through them. 

It is said that in life we should stop and smell the roses.  While reading, I will now stop and at least take a look at some of them.

A Christmas Present With Added Benefits

I have wanted a tablet for a while now but was still in research mode. There are so many to choose from and I was finding it all very confusing. iPads are popular, but I felt I wanted something with a USB port.  As even I  didn't really know what I was looking for yet, I certainly didn't ask for a tablet for Christmas, so I was totally surprised when I opened the package containing it. What I found was an Asus Memo Pad.  At first I didn't know what I was looking at as I was unfamiliar with that brand.  It was only after I actually opened the box itself that I got excited.  I've had a few of days to play with it now and find that it does everything but wash the dishes.

It also does a few unexpected things if a finger happens to touch something unintended, and I don't always know how to undo what it does. Tablets don't tend to come with instructions, so you learn by doing.

The first day I was testing out the camera and after a few successful pictures, I somehow slipped into video mode and every time I tried to take a picture, I ended up with a video instead. Each time I thought I had it straightened out, it produced another video. At least I had already learned how to delete these unwanted files. Finally a call was made to my son, as his wife has one, and he uses it a lot too.  Mine is a newer model, so they didn't really understand what buttons I was seeing on the screen here, but some things they said clued me in, and I suddenly realized that the red button that I had been pushing was the record button, but the camera icon on the screen (which I simply thought indicated I was on the right screen to take pictures) was actually the camera's shutter release. Duh....

I had accumulated a few new icons on my desktop, as I had downloaded a couple of apps and a game. They also appear among the app library on another page, so I assume the ones on the desktop are shortcuts. I didn't know how to eliminate them from there, but hoped I'd learn how to thin them out if the desktop got too cluttered over time. Somehow I also accumulated a language translator button, that I may never need. I have no idea how to get rid of that, and sometimes it's a bit of a nuisance.  Then suddenly, last night, the screen I am normally faced with when I turn the tablet on changed completely, and so did the one next to it as I scrolled backwards. I don't know how that happened, or how to undo it.  I'm not sure yet, if it's a good or a bad change, but I figure, if I screw things up too badly before I learn to use the tablet properly, I can go visit my son's house and learn some tricks. Happily he lives only twelve miles away. My grandsons (ages 5 and 9) each have an iPad and I figure if they can learn to work a tablet, so can I.  If all else fails I can hit the reset button and return it to the way it was when it came from the factory.

I used to say I learned something new on the computer everyday, and that it was good for my mind. Well, maybe I had gotten a little too comfortable with the computer lately. This tablet has put me back in learning mode.  I'm enjoying it greatly, and loving the experience of exploring all the possibilities this little gadget presents.  Already I believe the Asus Memo Pad was the right choice for me.

Techological Orphan

I'm doing something wrong.

This afternoon, on Facebook, I mentioned several of the places where I knew the power was out. I got responses from people who I knew were within a blacked out area.  Even without power, they could still communicate with me on the computer. Well, I'm on the computer, but they are on laptops, notebooks, tablets and cell phones.  Everyone seems to have these wonderful gadgets except me!

In fact, here I sit, on an old Windows XP machine that is built out of bits and pieces by my hubby.  That's right. It's not even a name brand machine.  Now, that's fine by me, as I'm perfectly happy with it.....or at least I was until about a year ago when it picked up some nasty virus.  Hubby cleaned it out, fixed it up so it would run again, and I had to start over with an empty machine. It's been a little fussier about what it will and will not do since then, but for the most part, it still does it's job.

If my power went off though, I sure would be out of luck.  I saw messages online today about school buses (not that I need those) and road closures, etc, but if I didn't have power, I wouldn't see those.  And yet, they are posted on places like Facebook and Twitter for all to see....but where I would definitely need power to see them. 

A couple of people I know have shown me their tablets. I've never really been interested in a laptop, but I'd really love to have a tablet, for some reason.  I watched as one lady I know took a picture with one, in a church basement, without a flash, and it was perfectly clear. Now, that's impressive!  My actual camera couldn't do that!  I also find it much easier to flip through digital magazines on a tablet than to try to do that on a conventional computer. I'm not sure why, but they seem almost made for that kind of application.

I must also mention all the little kids that I see with much fancier phones than mine.  I've never quite understood why a kid needs a phone, but the kids I'm mentioning here are much younger than you may think. I've seen several kids that can't be older than 3 and may even be younger, actually playing with smart phones.  I'd be afraid a kid that age would get mad and throw the thing, but that does not seem to occur to the people who hand them over, for the amusement of little fingers. 

I did get a new cell phone recently, as my old one would no longer hold a charge and it was so antiquated that they don't even sell batteries for it anymore.  This new one is the first cell phone I've had that actually has a camera on it.  Now, I realize the photos you take with such things are not all that great, but at least now I'll have one with me more often without it weighing as much as either my regular camera or my old cell phone.  But even so, I'd never be able to upload pictures to some social network, or e-mail it to you, as I can't substantiate paying the extra price for that privilege.  Computer connections cost enough, and the necessity of a home phone is another expense. I get along fine paying $10 a month to keep my cell phone alive, as I never use all of that, since it gets used mainly so I can be located in the mall, or phone for help if a bear chases me in the woods, or some other such emergency.

Since everyone else seem so technologically connected, I put a request on Facebook to be adopted.  I am, after all, an orphan, since both my parents died of many years ago.  I'd like to become part of one of these families that can not only afford all these technological toys, but also afford to connect them. When I think how much some of them pay out each month, it just boggles my mind!

I started out having a computer long before most people I knew. It was a Commodore 64 and I could converse with people all over the country using forums on the old BBS system.  It was great, at the time.  Some people thought I was rather tech savvy so how I fell so far behind in this tech race is beyond me.  I've gone from the front of the pack to the back. Yep.  I'm definitely doing something wrong.