In the past, you my reader have come to know me as a political op-ed writer or where I write of social issues. I guess this piece can be a social issue, but not really. That is for you to judge.
While I am an Internet writer, you would think I am computer savvy, but you would be wrong. I use this computer as an appliance. I turn it on and turn it off and in between, I use the various programs in order to answer emails, write pieces on ‘Word’, which almost sounds like ‘The Word’ on the “Colbert Report” and go from site-to-site to gather information. I am also a huge fan of YouTube.com.
It still amazes me how sites embed various videos onto their pages or how writers embed them within their pieces. I have never done so because frankly, I do not know how. However, I have linked my reader to a relevant feed. When I found out how to do a hyperlink, I felt as if I joined the club of the techno-geek. Do, I really want to learn how to embed a video in any piece? No, not really.
I have now fallen into the trap as have many others in tweeting on Twitter.com and I do have my own Facebook.com page. Ah, status in one’s life, but not really. They are just new ways of communicating. As I peruse both, if see a message, “I’m now htp”, my response back will be “TMI” You figure out what ‘htp’ is. I have been on the Net since the early nineties and at times still get confused when it comes to the lingo. But, warning to any teenager, I do know what ‘POS’ is. It means parent over shoulder.
Being a boomer, I refuse to be tied down to this technology. Nope, you will not see me walking around incessantly typing on a Black Berry. One because, I cannot afford it, second, I love talking to real flesh and blood people when I am out and third, I am still not used to tiny keys. Which is why I do not like lap-tops and prefer desk top computers. I was taught to type on a full-size keyboard and will stick to it thank you very much: unless some brainiac out there decides these are now obsolete. To that brainiac, “I am now fifty years-old, please do not do away with my full-sized key board. Can’t I at least have the latter years to my liking?”
Yes, I do have a cell phone, but use it mainly to make calls to my kids who are anything but or to call a cab. I have text them and others, but still those tiny keys are a hindrance in sending these messages at lightening speed. My kids can do so faster than me. The gift of youth. But, is it a gift being tied to technology? Again, that is for you to decide.
One more thing about cell phones and Black Berrys’, the law says you may not use these devices when driving. Then why do you? That is something to think about should you in your use of them cause another person’s death. Even after this law was passed, I have still seen people do so. How about for all of our safety, you pull over to the side of the road? Thank you!
I have seen folks walking around with those Blue Tooth devices and still think them weird. When I first saw these devices, the sixties TV show, “Star Trek” instantly popped into my head. Yes, I still refer back to the original show instead of latter shows.
Do not ask me what a giga-bite or mega-bite is because I do not know and as Rhett Butler cited in “Gone with the Wind”, “Frankly, my dear, I do not give a damn” as to what they are. All I know it has something to do with memory. As I get older, it will be my own memory of where I left something which will be more important to me.
Computer technology can either be looked at as a gift or a curse, but before I get to the gift part, the curse comes from the brainiac who programmed the way in which calls are made. In growing up, when making a doctor’s appointment or to call customer service, one would actually speak with a human being. Now we are told to press this number or that number to direct our calls in an efficient manner. I still think those on the other side of the call do not want to hear from us. It is like they are the ‘Wizard’ in the “Wizard of Oz” hiding behind a curtain. As a sign of protest, I just hit the zero key, since I like speaking with humans.
The calls I most despise are incoming and they are called robo-calls. One only has to look at the last presidential election to see why. Oh do not get me started. As a boomer, all I will say is that they are rude and I crave the politeness that I grew up with. Must you hit us with these robo-calls around dinner? I think at dinner time, I will just unplug my phone. HAH!
The gift part took place in my local Stop and Shop yesterday and it may be a curse down the road replacing actual human beings to check out your purchases. They now have this hand-held-device for their customers to use. Before taking one, you must scan your Stop and Shop card to activate it and take the amount of shopping bags you think you will need. Better yet, for the environment’s sake get into the habit of purchasing bags that can be reused over and over.
As you go from aisle-to-aisle, you run this hand-held device over the bar codes and ring up your own purchases and put them into the bags within your shopping cart. Neat! At the completion of your shopping, you then hand the scanner to the check-out-clerk or scan it yourself should you wish to use the self-check-out aisle. By following the instructions, voila, your shopping trip is over with. To those who think they can put items in their bags without scanning them, they do audits and yesterday one clerk relayed to me how a mother and daughter were caught in one of these audits. They were trying to steal an entire bag full of make-up.
It serves as a warning similar to the warning often cited on Candid Camera, “Don’t be surprised if sometime, somewhere, someplace when you least expect it, someone steps up to you and says, ‘Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!’” But, in this case, you will not be smiling. Point made?!
As a boomer, I must say that this is one hand-held device I can get into using as opposed to a Black Berry and no tiny keys, only one medium sized button to scan your grocery items. In this case, I am hooked on this new technology and love the brainiac who thought of it. You just made my life a little bit easier. This technology is one that I can embrace. To sound as if I am a tech-savvy person, it is time to upload this piece on my blog.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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