Here I sit at the Irish Rover waiting for my "Irish Breakfast." In the past my blogging was always rather spontaneous. I would get an idea; log onto the computer; and type away with minimal editing. Now I have to plan.
Well, now that my breakfast/lunch is tucked snugly into my gut...eggs, deep fried bread, bangers and champ, ham, beans...YUM.
OK, so here we go. The obvious topic at hand would be the recent tragedy in Tucson. However, I've already said plenty on Facebook--most of it angry.
I think I would rather discuss what I heard on NPR the other night. I was driving home and they were discussing smart phones, apps, etc. The one guy actually said that he preferred "the old fashioned internet." Wow. I nearly had a mild panic attack.
I was only beginning to wrap my poor old brain around the idea that e-mail will soon be going the way of typewriters. I can grasp that we are witnessing the death throes of commercial scheduled television as we know it. However, "old fashioned" is not a term I would think to apply to the net.
It would seem I have purchased my smart phone just in the nick of time. My rationale for that was the complete lack of internet connection at home in the woods. After calling up my mom and asking her to look something up for me, I realized I had to do something.
My smartphone, a Galaxy S by Samsung with Droid technology, is wonderful. I am actually reading blogs more via Google Reader. I am able to check mail and comment regularly on Facebook. The speed is acceptable and the cost is half what I was paying for my wireless card.
I am happy with how I am keeping up with technology. I never used to fancy myself a "computer geek" and maybe by geek standards I am fooling myself. However, I look around me and see many many folks who are slowly being left in the dust.
Ironically, though, one of the innovations I am not interested in is the Readers. I commented just yesterday on a status update in which my friend was wishing for a Kindle. My response was that I would never give up real books, and magazines and journals printed on paper.
Perhaps it's because the printed word is more a part of my physical environment. One of the best compliments I have received regarding my house is that "the whole house is like a library." I have stacks of back issues of the Nation and Harpers in the basement. There is a permanence with the tangible items that seems so lacking in digital form. If I lose power for 24 hours, I can still read my book by oil burning lamp. They cannot take them away from me except by the extreme - as in Nazi Germany or Fahrenheit 451.
Yes, I realize I am drifting a bit into my paranoid delusions of total collapse of society. I also realize that my books are not permanent - they are only permanent for me. They will eventually disappear - either tossed into the trash after I am gone or allowed to slowly crumble to dust if my siblings' offspring continue to pass them on from generation to generation.
Much as I think I want to loosen my grip on things, books will always be things that will be hard to relinquish. I can't believe I am thinking of Charlton Heston and "prying my cold dead hands" from my books. OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away.
In any case, my life is a strange combination of near off grid living in the woods and current technology. Folks from either side would likely scoff at the combination, but it works for me.
Well, now that my breakfast/lunch is tucked snugly into my gut...eggs, deep fried bread, bangers and champ, ham, beans...YUM.
OK, so here we go. The obvious topic at hand would be the recent tragedy in Tucson. However, I've already said plenty on Facebook--most of it angry.
I think I would rather discuss what I heard on NPR the other night. I was driving home and they were discussing smart phones, apps, etc. The one guy actually said that he preferred "the old fashioned internet." Wow. I nearly had a mild panic attack.
I was only beginning to wrap my poor old brain around the idea that e-mail will soon be going the way of typewriters. I can grasp that we are witnessing the death throes of commercial scheduled television as we know it. However, "old fashioned" is not a term I would think to apply to the net.
It would seem I have purchased my smart phone just in the nick of time. My rationale for that was the complete lack of internet connection at home in the woods. After calling up my mom and asking her to look something up for me, I realized I had to do something.
My smartphone, a Galaxy S by Samsung with Droid technology, is wonderful. I am actually reading blogs more via Google Reader. I am able to check mail and comment regularly on Facebook. The speed is acceptable and the cost is half what I was paying for my wireless card.
I am happy with how I am keeping up with technology. I never used to fancy myself a "computer geek" and maybe by geek standards I am fooling myself. However, I look around me and see many many folks who are slowly being left in the dust.
Ironically, though, one of the innovations I am not interested in is the Readers. I commented just yesterday on a status update in which my friend was wishing for a Kindle. My response was that I would never give up real books, and magazines and journals printed on paper.
Perhaps it's because the printed word is more a part of my physical environment. One of the best compliments I have received regarding my house is that "the whole house is like a library." I have stacks of back issues of the Nation and Harpers in the basement. There is a permanence with the tangible items that seems so lacking in digital form. If I lose power for 24 hours, I can still read my book by oil burning lamp. They cannot take them away from me except by the extreme - as in Nazi Germany or Fahrenheit 451.
Yes, I realize I am drifting a bit into my paranoid delusions of total collapse of society. I also realize that my books are not permanent - they are only permanent for me. They will eventually disappear - either tossed into the trash after I am gone or allowed to slowly crumble to dust if my siblings' offspring continue to pass them on from generation to generation.
Much as I think I want to loosen my grip on things, books will always be things that will be hard to relinquish. I can't believe I am thinking of Charlton Heston and "prying my cold dead hands" from my books. OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away.
In any case, my life is a strange combination of near off grid living in the woods and current technology. Folks from either side would likely scoff at the combination, but it works for me.
3 comments:
I agree! I do not want a Kindle or ebook anything else!! I like knowing I can read a book and not worry about a battery!
I only want a Kindle for reading in Spanish (which I do quite frequently to keep up my skills for work). Currently I have to juggle a book (usually a novel) and a pocket translator, which can be tricky while reading in bed. I've been watching what's available for the Kindle and I've finally found a translator software I think I'd be happy with along with an increasing availability of Spanish novels for Kindle, so it could be worth while.
I will continue to treasure the feel of a book in my hands for all of my other reading.
However, Santa did not agree with me that the time is right for me to have a Kindle. So for now, I will continue to juggle (hacer juegos malabares).
Tu amiga,
Carolyn Beckman Mason
I'll admit I want a Kindle and nearly bought one last month. However, I will never give up purchasing and reading printed books. There's too much comfort associated with printed books that you will never find with a cold, plastic piece of some electronic gizmo.
The Kindle appeals to me only because I can haul around an assortment of reading material (books, magazines). There are times when, as I sit in the doctor's office waiting room, that I don't know what I want to read. I flip around between the assortment of magazines, only half focusing until someone calls my name for an appointment.
The Kindle also appeals to me because I still enjoy reading simpler works of fiction. There are some books that I simply don't care to own, but would like to read. The Divinci Code would be an example of this. Ok, Hollywood sorta book. Entertaining, but I read it only because nearly everyone on the plant did. However, this type of book holds no literary value for me and isn't something I would want on my book shelf.
I too am happy to keep up with technology, even though I strongly feel that most of it is contributing to the "collapse of our society". I see the utility in some of it (Kindle), but not in some other things (Facebook).
However, technology does serve as a source of thought and humor for me. I'm constantly amazed, as I walk through the pedistrian subway in this overgrown medical clinic where I work. Every single last person has a smartphone in their hand, in their ear, exercising their fingers. When I walk through one of the waiting areas for blood draw, nearly every single patient has a laptop or tablet. What we have all become is quite amazing.
Lisa in MN
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