The Internet is rife with anecdotes, pictures, and stories for all seniors to relive their past memories of products, ads, penny candies, radio programs, games, songs, and all the activities we participated in before the computer, Internet, and email came to be in my home. I used to be busy; now I am busier. I always hated writing letters (even typed) and hung back on phone use because of the high cost of long distance telephoning.
Today I so rarely feel out of touch with my world. I can email my children and all the other people with whom I want to be in touch, in a non-intrusive way. They can read the email at their leisure. They don't have to answer until they have time and choose to do so.
When I want to buy something, I do not have to get dressed in winter clothes and boots. In fact, I don't have to be dressed at all! I simply check the best buy after finding a few sites on everyone's great administrative assistant, Google, and in a few more clicks, type in my credit card info, and my product is on its way...no cold weather to face, no gasoline used, no urge to buy something that is eye-catching but useless, no parking meter to feed, no need to walk for yards and yards to a parking spot as far as possible away from the Mall. In a few days, whatever was ordered will be delivered to the warmth of my home. I will open it as I would a Christmas present even though I know what is in the box. Somehow it is always a surprise and more like a gift than a purchase since no money changes hands at that moment.
When I don't understand exactly what my doctor has prescribed, I look it up. When friends tell me of their ills and medical problems, I look them up. When I am reading and don't know a word, I look it up. Looking for a movie; I look it up, see where it is playing, the times, and a brief description to indicate whether I might like it or not. I subscribe to a Word A Day, to the Urban Dictionary, tech sites, a couple of forums, and visit places and museums all over the world.
I get news locally and from every continent. I watch YouTube and get more entertainment than people a generation or two ago saw in their entire lifetime. Weather prediction is always a few clicks away. My computer doesn't require me to cook meals, go on errands, participate in conversation, physical caresses, ego support, or be awake before I am ready to be. Nor do I go to bed on someone else's schedule. I don't have to pick up after it nor listen to its problems. It never scolds me. The worst that it can do is frustrate me by not doing what I cannot properly instruct it to do and it costs money. It never calls me names or insults me. If I am good to myself and back up data, even if it gets sick, I don't lose anything that money and time won't cure.
Since I get terribly anxious about losing my comforts and not being able to do with out backups (I even back up appliances), I can't be without spare keys, have a single camera (good grief I may run out of battery with only one). I have a TV in any room in which I might be spending time and have four working computers. Unless there is a mammoth disaster, one of them should work to get me on the Internet or the world will be subjected to the ghastly sounds and sight of an old lady screaming out the suffering of Internet withdrawal.
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