I often wonder, and I’ve heard others express the same sentiment, what did I ever do without computers?! I can’t imagine my life without them. My grandchildren have never known what life was like without all this technology. Thomas loves computer games. Vimmy loves music videos and recently discovered Google, which led to an interesting discussion with her mother after a typical 7-year-old meltdown: Visiby upset, she shouted with all the venom she had in her, You’re not my mother! Her mother of course, who for the record really is her mother, wanted to know how she came up with that idea?  I know because I googled it! And it said you weren’t my real mother! Interesting. As I said, you can find just about anything by Googling, whether it’s in support of or against your argument.

When you see the lips of the person in the cars beside you in traffic are moving, in the old days you would have assumed they were singing along with the radio. These days, they’re more likely talking on their cell phones, sometimes dialing before they’ve left their parking spots.

We acquired our first computer in 1985, while our two daughters were still in the middle and high school. We still relied on the networks for TV entertainment, and we didn’t have internet service until years later after the girls were both in college. It was the antiquated dial-up and we were thrilled. Without web service, that first computer really amounted only to a glorified word processor, but it was handy for typing legible homework assignments without developing writer’s cramp, and it was faster. I was taking University courses myself at the time, trying to learn how to write my own stories, so that first computer got a fair amount of workout. All this without constant erasing and applying whiteout paint.

Nowadays I feel  as though I’m glued to the chair in front of my PC monitor too much of the time. I seem to need it for so many things that interest me these days. If I want to know side effects of my prescribed meds or need to nudge the old noodle to remember who won the Oscar for that movie, what was it called? I Google or Bing it, it’s there somewhere. I want to know how to make a Tomatilla sauce. That one, indeed several versions, plus millions more recipes pop up quickly. As my interest in shopping declines, I depend on online shopping. If it’s not found locally, order online where it’s often cheaper. You save not just fuel and wear and tear on your car and your feet, you may not pay taxes on it either, and it will be delivered to your front door in a week or 10 days time, often for free! One day, after a long bout in that chair, I decided I’d take the time to organize my travel photos, and it suddenly hit me. I’m tired of sitting in front of a monitor most of day. So I decided to put the brakes on, hence my general slowdown in regular blogging. I needed to spend more time getting back to things I used to be interested in–art, music, reading books, sewing, etc., reconnecting with the me that I was before personal computers.

I’m startled to realize I was one of the pioneers of my age-group to jump into this new technology in my early 50s. Most of my friends refused to bother with it.  Not for long. After 2012 I read somewhere, half of all retired persons (or senior citizens for lack of a better word) create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. (I wonder what’s wrong with the other half). I still process words, I organize my digital photos, I blog in- between necessary old-fashioned household tasks, though my washer, dryer, and even the sewing machine, are computerized. When I can fit it in, not with any degree of regularity, I still blog as you can see, because–let’s face it–I’m addicted!