Coffee heat rising

Joys of the Computer Age

ARGHA! WordPress — the platform that hosts Funny about Money — wants me to diddle away some time and energy updating this and dorking with that.

Like I have nothin’ else to do, right?

Now I have to pester our honored Web Guru — who also has nothin’ else to do, right? — to get him to do whatever the heck WordPress wants.

Am I the only troglodyte who resents the constant electronic intrusions on one’s time and attention?

grrrrrrrrrr…. Welp, I can’t complain about the Computer Life. F’r hevvinsake, I grew up in the 1950s. Beyond school, a kid had three avenues of access to the Outside World — television, movies, and print journalism. Most of these had to be politically correct — or else. And you had to pay for all of them, one way or another.

{and sigh…} I don’t recall that there were SO MANY demands on one’s time, back in the Dark Ages.

The evening news occupied half an hour — an hour or so if you watched the local news, too.

Of course, you weren’t killing time with blogging. 😀

By and large, you didn’t drive to nearly as many local sites: the grocery store, pharmacy, and local soda shop were within easy walking distance; the grade school was around the corner from our apartment and, a year or so later, my junior high school was a 15-minute bus ride from the pickup point outside our apartment.

The time I would have wasted in front of a computer — mostly cruising the Web and writing blog posts — was killed in front of the television. My mother and I had the TV going almost every moment we were conscious.

These days, I don’t even own a television. Instead, I kill FAR more time loafing with a laptop computer. But…at least a computer is interactive: better than sitting there going duuuuhhhhh in front of a TV all day.

“Don’t even own a television” strikes me as the most interesting part of this matter. Back in the Day, I would’ve been bereft without a TV to fill up the silent hours with pointless noise. I couldn’t begin to focus on my homework without the comforting babble of electronic blah blah blah going on in the background.

Today, silence is golden.

I find the background babble of a TV station — even one that’s running in some public place, such as a department store — to be extremely annoying. Yappa yappa yappa is aggravating, even when you’re not listening to it.

Times change. And people change with the times. I guess…

How about you? Do you let your TV drone on all the time, whether or not you’re actually watching it?

4 thoughts on “Joys of the Computer Age”

  1. I only use the reception capabilities of my TV to watch broadcasts of American football games! Otherwise, I may connect it via HDMI to my laptop for videos from YouTube, or watch DVDs on the player.

    I wish you would retrieve your automobile, as that would be a safer way to procure groceries than perambulation especially in the heat.

    • Unless I’m ABSOLUTELY certain that my driver’s license is valid, there’s no way in He!! I’m gonna use it to cruise around the city. lt works as ID…but why tempt a cop to look it up if you bash someone at a stoplight or get caught indulging in some shenanigan?

      I suspect it’s better and safer to use the driver’s license as ID (as long as it lasts) and use public transit or Uber to navigate the streets. It’s a PITA of the first water, but nothing like the PITA that would result from getting into trouble with the authorities.

  2. I don’t watch much tv anymore, but if it’s on, I’m watching it. When the show or movie is done, I’m done. I’d much rather listen to music than a droning tv.

    • Yeah. My parents and I used to have the TV blathering on through every waking moment. But here in my olde age, I just don’t need that racket! In fact, I don’t even own a TV set anymore. If there’s something I want to watch, I’ll download it from the Internet; if that’s unworkable, I just don’t watch it.

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