Dateline : Friday, 27 February 2004
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Hi there, Your term paper topic sounds kewl -- when I worked as a FORTRAN programmer trainee for the NJ DOT many years ago, the computer part of the job was way easier and more exciting than having to interact with some of the dorky supervisors! And at that time we didn't have the Internet available yet for widespread use -- it was just a local network, and the gals used to send recipes and personal messages to their friends on the network! State workers for you! Why not think more along the lines of the computer as a stress reducer/enhancer in the home environment and/or after one retires? So called stress is basically something we cause ourselves to be burdened with -- always blaming outside factors for how we think we feel and react is the easy way out -- what they call stress is constantly with us, and depending on our outlook on life and how we deal with it, stress can be more of a positive stimulus than a negative one -- it can cause us to be more alert and mentally/physically active, solving problems rather than creating them, which in itself doesn't leave much time to be tearing one's hair out -- each of us has our own personal programming based on education (or lack thereof), home and social environment, circle of friends, interests and hobbies, level of general activity or inactivity, and many other parameters -- when one retires, lives alone, doesn't get out much, lives in a town which offers little in the way of something to do and in a similar neighborhood, the hypothetical stress factors could be lethal, and frequently are -- if an individual's life programming includes having and working with a computer, the toy may be their only escape from the droll, dreary exterior (and perhaps home) surroundings, they may have more virtual pals than real ones, can communicate their ideas and activities with them, tell stories of significant events in the lives and their views and feelings on social and political events in their area and/or the world -- maybe they don't keep their living space as neat and tidy as they used to, but that's simply because they have few visitors to impress and don't even worry about constantly cleaning and wouldn't have the time anyway because they spend soooooo much time online and/or updating their web site/s or blogs or emailing pals and commenting on news group list posts -- and if they happen to be trying to make ends meet selling stuff on eBay, forget about a normal life style in most respects -- even their sleep/wake/eating/personal hygiene, and interaction with their kids and spouse can take on entirely new schedules -- unfortunately, the kid emailing his mom in the next room asking about dinner is not my idea of a positive family/social structure -- on the other hand, the Internet is interesting for some positive reasons -- from this cyber medium I have had several new entries for my WWW family genealogy from distant relatives around the world -- former students in Spain have somehow found me on the Internet and they now have grandkids and email me about their activities -- I myself started out with a personal domain/web site and started blogging way before it became popular (in my YES) -- I now have 5 primary domains and several minor ones that I play with frequently -- even in my early retirement I guess I still love teaching, even at a distance -- I still HATE the Internet due to its impersonal/generally anonymous nature -- it is breeding a generation of weird screen names and even stranger personal profiles (when they even make one public), leading to an abundance of virtual relationships which far outnumber the real ones, a herd of mindless sheep who believe everything they read on the WWW, instant, usually skewed polls for all kinds of things which seem to influence even the person who is just going out to vote for some political candidate, see a movie, plan a vacation or buy a book or CD! They simply do NOT think for themselves, not that many would be able to anyway, since education, in general, teaches stuff, not how to arrive at the stuff ones self -- it's usually called capitalism and vested interests -- it makes a mockery of innate free will, limits personal choice and changes the spelling of democracy to demoCRAZY! yuppers, it's a very interesting phenomenon these dang puters -- not even mentioning cell phones, PDAs, iPods, CDs/DVDs and all the rest of what we call advances in technology -- and they all are having a significant impact on society, all societies everywhere, and at all levels -- although much too slowly in the impoverished nations, those who really need it the most -- sort of on the same level as the IMF, which hasn't changed things very much in poor developing nations in all the years it has been functioning -- it is always big business which seems to reap the benefits, and unfortunately these financial benefits are NOT passed on to their peon workers -- their main focus is on their stock earnings and fatassed bottom line, NOT the common good. The problem might be in how programmed or educated the individual might be to make reasoned and positive use of these artifacts of the 21st century -- just seeing how easily computer viri are able to propagate due to stupidly opening of attached files doesn't show that the majority of the users of techy toys have the foggiest clue about how they should be used. Driving while talking on cell phones is another example, and others abound -- technology has way outpaced the individuals' understanding of them, their level of education (or lack thereof), and any moral values, if such fossils of yesteryear even exist today -- "values" sure as hell aren't taught in the public school system, unless it might have to do with the price of something -- and cheaper is seemingly always the way to go! Curiously, before I got my first primitive computer many many years ago I consciously told myself I didn't want one -- I was happy being able to do my own square roots, file keeping, address book and everything else by hand, having it in a desk drawer or file cabinet (which I have MANY of!) -- but I thought the games were cute -- PacMan and Frogger come immediately to mind, and I was even able to program my own simple question and answer game -- and when my next computer had a modem, it opened up the Internet, chat rooms, news, being able to do research online, etc., ad infinitum -- and that started it all! Chat rooms were way kewler then, and it was always the same dozen peeps talking about whatever, and conversations could go on over days about the same thing -- we knew each other, almost on a personal level -- over the years chats became a hodgepodge of much increased number of individuals in the same old chatroom, peeps who would pop in and never be heard from again, and no logical strings of thought over more than 3 minutes! I haven't been to a chat room in at least 5-6 years, still keep all my addresses/phone #s/birthdays in a small book that I got in Germany in the 60s, keep a pocket-sized yearly pocket planner, still file things in my steel filing cabinets, stopped using Quicken years ago because I found that it takes me far less time to drop bills and tax stuff in file folders according to subject and take them out at tax time, hand writing all the needed expenses and stuff and giving it to my accountant -- in the BC era (Before Computers) I was an amazingly prolific letter writer, by hand and/or by typewriter -- and have files full of the things dating from when I was a teenager! Now basically all my writing is via email and/or a computer app, then having to activate the printer to print the thangs -- with many computer centered things, what happens when the lights go out, the computer starts acting weird or crashes, you run out of printer ink and don't have a replacement cartridge at hand, you get an entirely new computer -- then you either cannot access all the stuff or have to find a way to transfer needed apps and virtual files to the new toy, which sometimes is not the easiest task (ex: when your original apps are on floppies and your puter only has a CD slot -- there are more examples, of course), and a hell of a lot MORE time consuming than having them in a filing cabinet, the prehistoric, ancient kind! I constantly hear about pals who switch puters or even upgrade an OS or printer and they discover that what they did before is incompatible with the new whatever! All of the above doesn't even take into account the buzz-word security, personal or otherwise -- the Internet and/or networking, at home or in the business, is NOT a secure environment for any kind of data transfer -- it is a lot less trustworthy than even the sometimes ratty postal service! I have always used a Mac, so I am NOT plagued with all the problems that Windex (Microflacid) users seem to delight in -- sometimes I think they are all masochists! With the advent of wireless communication, the risks of being inadvertently (or NOT) monitored by a third party has increased a zillion times -- and of course, those who are able to spend so much money for a fast connection, via cable or whatever, are constantly connected with the Internet, just inviting hackers to do their thing -- but they want the latest bells and whistles, they MUST have that fast connection -- they say, WHAT WOULD THEY DO WITHOUT IT! IT'S FASTER! My answer to them is that even my first Mac, as slow as it was, did things a lot faster than I could, whatever it was -- curiously at that time I could get web pages to show up with FEWER problems than I have right now -- simply because there was less Java, fewer pop ups, the need for special plug ins to view certain pages, ad infinitum -- I don't want or need them, but apparently the providers want them, no matter how their nerdy programmers want to show off their prowess at the latest/newest. eBay does it -- AOL does it -- msft does it -- but it totally negates the reason for starting the Internet in the first place -- it should be accessible to anyone, in exactly the same format, anywhere, having a computer, no matter what the connection speed or computer OS! And it shouldn't cost an arm and a hoof! It should all be in the box, ready to connect, innately cross compatible with any OS/maker/app. Whether one enjoys paying through the nose for Windozeoff license fees and constant bug fixes and crashes, the intuitive ease of a Mac or the free Linux, they should all do exactly the same thing, with the ability to use any app for specialized activities. Maybe some day, hopefully. Sorry (slightly) for the rambling attempt at a somewhat broad painting of my canvas -- perhaps snippets of the above might be useful for your work. Good luck. Prof. Sigmund J. Kardas, Jr. aka Sonny |
God Bless !
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