WONDERS

Working on the new writing project, I needed information on a particular house located on Highway 99 as it passed through Ashland. I e-mailed a local historian on where I might locate the details I wanted. It sounds so normal, to e mail rather than call or write a letter. The truth is, an e mail allows the recipient to answer when they are ready and it is much faster than a letter.

Within a day, I had my answer and the names of two reference books where I might find more information. They weren’t books I had on my shelf so I used the internet to search for the information before I went looking for the books. I found all I needed and more. I think my friend, the historian doesn’t have grandchildren around who look up everything and anything on the computer. I’ve learned a lot from mine.

When I pay my bills, on line, in less than five minutes, I wonder how I ever found the time to sit down and write out checks. Once in awhile I even wonder what I do now with all that time I’m saving but I can only assume I’m doing more of something else.

Now I use the computer for so many things, research, communication, banking, reading the news, even occasionally listening to music, it’s a major tool in my life. When I’m going someplace new, I print off a map. When I want to know how my grandchildren are doing, I look them up on facebook. I can even print off a picture one of them sent me.

It’s not the only tool I depend on without thinking about it. The cell phone is another. I began using it only for emergencies but now I use it to call my husband about dinner, out of town friends for any reason, my mother in Vancouver, if I’m away from home. I even call the bank to move money. Sometimes I use it just because I’m expecting a call on the land line.

I did form some early prejudices about the cell phone when I found I was suddenly forced to listen to other people’s conversations in a grocery store line, or in a restaurant, even occasionally in a concert. I don’t find that happening as often now but I don’t know whether people are better about it, I’m better at avoiding the situation, or maybe I’ve just learned to be better at blanking it out. I do find myself startled when someone next to me, without any visible device, says "Hello" and then begins conversing with someone else who is apparently on her shoulder, chest or inside her shirt collar. It happens quickly enough that I can usually swallow my return "hello" before I say it out loud. I much prefer the blue tooth or some other gadget I can see easily.

I have been accumulating more of the technical wonders, often as gifts from younger family members, but I haven’t learned to use them efficiently yet. Mostly not at all. They require quick, sure touches or they stutter and misbehave entirely. One of my favorites is a sleek red Nano, but I haven’t learned to use it yet. It was a Mother’s Day gift from a son and his wife after I listened to the audible edition of Wind and The Willows on his. I thought it was wonderful but so far I haven’t made it through one book on mine. I did enlist a clerk in the Apple store to help me set it up and a grandson to help me put a book on it. I can even turn it on but I can’t find the right place to touch to get the book to play–but I will.

My printer needed replacing so I bought one that scans, copies and prints. It was quite reasonable so I brought it home and set it up feeling good about my choice. That lasted until I discovered it decides what action to perform by touch. Touch it too slowly and you get twenty four copies instead of one. If your finger slips just a little, you get the wrong action entirely. Furthermore, once you’ve entered the wrong touch, there is no way to correct the error. Not so bad if you’ve asked for color copies of your black and white material but a real pain if you’ve asked for black and white copies of your color photographs. Particularly if you’ve accidently asked for nine copies.

Going back to the subject of facebook which I’m using to make announcements as well as keep in touch with friends and family, I find I’m growing in ways I didn’t expect. A friend of a grandchild will post a comment that is obviously a text message. Plagued by curiosity, I get out a handy dandy decoder I clipped out of the paper and read it. If it’s not in my decoder, I decide it’s not something I should read and click the remove button. I think I’m getting better at reading the text messages, my youngest son sent me one on the cell phone last week and then was shocked I could read it. I’m very sure I’ll never send text messages myself, my thumbs don’t move fast enough. In fact, it only takes the experience with the Nano to discover none of my fingers move fast enough to keep up with technology. Maybe it’s because my brain needs to pause and reread the directions before it sends the message on to my fingers. There are some of the wonderful new technologies I’m sure I’ll never get to make use of but those I do have made my life a lot more interesting.

 

Copyright Jo-Brew
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