To Keep Up or Not to Keep Up?

A crashing downpour replaced the patches of sunlight in the time it took me to trade my pajamas for my gardening clothes this morning. The poppy transplants will have to wait for another day.

I've been thinking about technology more than usual since Steve Jobs died. I began using computers at the same time the American mainstream did, I think. We didn't use a television or video games in our household, but we did get a word processor in the early or mid-nineties. I remember learning how to type properly, and I remember setting up an email account at least a year or two before starting high school. I got a cell phone shortly after I started driving. I passed my cell phone on to my younger brother when I started college, and didn't have a cell phone again until around the time I got my car, about half a year after graduating from college. I didn't register on facebook or begin my blog until 2008; both were preparations for my long distance horseback trip.

I feel like I kept up with internet technology for a little while, at least on the dragging tail of the curve. By the time I was in college, however, I was beginning to resist the speed of developments. I learned how to use some basic programs I needed to use to get through college, like Excel and PowerPoint. When I arrived in Oregon and began working in a bookstore in 2008, I had to use a computer again. We used Constant Contact for our store emails, maintained a webpage, and started blogspot, facebook, and youtube accounts during my employment. By the spring of 2010, I was back on the road again.

Now I have a very plain pre-paid cell phone which doesn't work very well and is usually powered off. I can't take, send, or receive photos, but I can and do send several texts every month for ten cents each. My computer is the same as I took to school -- a 2003 mac laptop. It hasn't been able to connect to the internet for years, so I use it solely for photos, music, and word processing. All of the writing I've done over the years is stored on this computer, but I haven't backed up my documents or photos very consistently. Mostly I use Andy's computer; I don't know how to describe it. We still don't have a television, and I have trouble controlling them when I do encounter them.

I listen to NPR several mornings and several afternoons during the week. Because I listen pretty consistently, I feel fairly caught up on the current major global news events. Every several days, however, I hear stories focusing on specific information technologies. This week there's been considerable discussion about Blackberries. Apparently, they weren't working this week. I'm not exactly sure what a blackberry is or what it's best at doing. I understand that they are preferred by many business people for security issues. I don't know if it makes phone calls or if it's just a data storage device. I think it uses the internet, because I think the recent problem had to do with the devices not being able to access the internet.

Andy had an android phone for a few months last winter until I accidentally broke it and we couldn't afford to replace it. I don't know what "android" signifies. I know that it wasn't an iPhone, because Apple makes iPhones. I also don't know what a "smartphone" is. I would assume "smart phone" could refer to any phone that has a big screen and can do "smart" things like use "apps," but I think I must be wrong. A few days ago, during a meeting, I surreptitiously asked Andy if there was a difference between a smart phone and an iPhone, and he gave me a long look and whispered "we'll talk about that later." We haven't talked about it, yet.

I've also harbored a longstanding confusion about the relationship between the terms "mac" "Apple" and "i---." I think I finally have it figured out. Apple is the company name. Its computers are called macintoshes, which I think is kind of funny, since macintoshes really are a kind of apple, usually used for pies. I think that Apple now names its products with names beginning with a lowercase "i," including its laptops. Does Apple still make desktop computers, and are those still called "macintosh computers?" I can think of iBooks, iPods, iPads, iMacs, and iPhones. I have not owned an iPod, but have used them. Programs also have lowercase "i" prefixes, like iPhoto and iPhone. Does the "i" stand for "internet?"

I understand the concept of twitter but haven't used it and don't really know how it works. I'm barely able to use facebook.

My concern is that I'm already behind and that I'll be hopelessly behind in a few short years if I don't make an effort to keep up. Furthermore, my children will dismally behind unless I expose them to this technology. As a prospective business owner and parent, I wonder what elements of IT (information technology) I need to keep a handle on. At the same time, I don't want to expose my children to cell phones or computers until they're approaching school age. I don't really even want to expose myself. I believe that filling a home with electronic devices is unhealthy in tangible and intangible ways.

Last week, Andy, my father, and I rode a shuttle to the airport. The bus was pretty full of people, and most of use were sitting elbow to elbow along the sides. I was sitting across from Dad and Andy. I looked around at the other passengers and noticed that most of them had their heads down and their hands on their laps holding various miniature communication devices -- their thumbs and fingers were all jabbing away. I thought this was pretty funny, so I pulled out my own cell phone, which is quite small and old-fashioned looking, and held it out in front of me like everybody else was, and began pushing buttons very quickly with my thumbs as if I were perhaps sending text messages or surfing the internet. My phone was, off, of course, like usual. When I looked up to wink at Dad and Andy, they both pretended not to know me.

The rain has passed and I see patches of sunlight again. I'm heading out to plant the poppies.