Could you live without your computer????

[DainBramaged]

I grew up in the era of AM radio and Black and White TV. We went OUTSIDE to play. Lots of athletic stuff. Or we worked on cars A LOT. 8-tracks and FM got us into music and dope (man, weed was GOOD back in the day, and CHEAP). We used paper and pencil for everything, and work was a jumble of file cabinets and file card cabinets. Inventory was done by hand, there were no bar codes, and YOU had to be able to give change, not rely on the cash register to tell you how much to give back. And the only computer in high school was an abacus.

So as I sit at one of my many computers this morning, I wonder, in this day and age, could you live without your computer? And why not?

[hlthe2b]

1. You mean if the world turns all "Mad Max" on us?

:evilgrin:

You do what ya gotta do, I guess. I'd sure miss it... The tv, not so much...

[DainBramaged]

6. Well, with a power source you could watch DVDs and play games?

Maybe not communicate with the rest of the world......

[ellie]

2. I, too grew up

in the era you described, at the tail end of it. We made our own fun and we used our imaginations. Our thing was to put on plays that we wrote or musicals and we published a newspaper for our street. In the summer, our dad used to come home and yell at us if we were watching TV; that was a good deterrent. I feel bad for kids today because I think their options are limited.

We also had a pool! And we lived in a suburb where you could walk everywhere and it was safe but you weren't too far away from the city and the mall. There were also good paying jobs there. My dad worked in a glass factory for 38 years; he had a 10-minute drive to work. My mom worked in a sugar packing plant and her commute was 7-minutes. I think about my childhood and my god, I was lucky. I tell my mom that all the time.

[DainBramaged]

4. Memories...........

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[zanne]

16. I feel the same way.

On days when I didn't have school, I'd eat breakfast and go to a friend's house. There's a cliff-y area in the neighborhood with plenty of woods and we'd go there practically every day and play things like "Indians and Indians" or "wolf", etc. We'd go home for lunch and start over again in the afternoon. When the lights went on at night, we'd go home.

[AndrewP]

3. Computer? I'd rather not. TV? No big deal.

[Breeze54]

5. I could survive without one but Live? No way!!!

I communicate almost exclusively with family and friends on my computer now.

I went without one for about 2 months in September and October this year and it made my life
very difficult, to say the least. I was able to check e-mail at the library but that has it's limitations
not to mention that you have to drive there and time is limited. Plus, if I need copies I can make
them at home with my computer but without, I have to find a copy center which again uses more
gas and time and money. And I miss a LOT of news without a computer and I pay my rent and utilities
online and I do not want to do that on a library computer. A computer has become a necessity in my life.

[DainBramaged]

7. It has become our lifeline no doubt about it.

Email replaced mail. Printing replaced Kinkos. On-line bill paying replaced paper bills. Shopping on line replaced the mall (almost). MY GOD we're all hermits. :evilgrin: :hi:

[Breeze54]

10. LOL! Well; I'm not a 'hermit' and I still go out but

it is just soooo much easier to pay online and all that other stuff.
It really is a time saver for me and it actually reduces stress, knowing
that bills are paid automatically and on time! I don't do to much online
shopping though. Last thing I bought online was a computer, 3 years ago!!
And about to do it again! ;)

[bunnies]

8. no computer = no income. So, no. Unless I want to starve. nt

[HereSince1628]

9. It would be a burden to turn interactive computer lessons back into hand graded homework

If I didn't have CAI I'd drop every homework assignment from my college courses, because it would be impossible to meet the other demands the college and career place on me.

I'm not sure whether students would prefer that or not, but I sure wouldn't be running 40 homework activity sets to be hand-graded per semester.

[newfie11]

11. OH HELLLLLLL no!!!!!

[ThomWV]

12. The computer has just two purposes for me, communications and storage

And I still have a phone and a file cabinet, so in fact if the computer vaporized right this moment I'd be OK.

[Tracer]

13. Absolutely not!

I make my living sitting in front of a computer.

Take it away and I'm dead in the water.

[DainBramaged]

14. Me toos.

And how else would I publish my kitteh photos???



:hi:

[IDemo]

15. 11010010 10100011 11101110 !!!

[Frustratedlady]

17. You're joshin', right?

I scream at the sun and moon when the cable is down for repair. You've gotta be out of your mind to even suggest living without a computer. I'd have a hole in my hip, as we're forever connected.

Go without my computer? Shuddddddddddddddder!

[pipi_k]

18. Fifteen or twenty years ago

I wouldn't have cared one way or the other.

Now it's a virtual necessity, just like my ATM card and iPod and some other things I would have scoffed at in 1988.

[DainBramaged]

19. We used to cash a check on Friday at the bank to have enough money for the weekend

and you didn't need a lot. And then ATMs grew like weeds. I STILL have the first Walkman (cassette) I bought as a keepsake. And my first Gameboy. Now my phone is more powerful than my first computer in 1991.

[recoveringrepublican]

20. lol, second time this week I mention I am deaf on DU, but yes I guess I COULD

live without my computer, but my world would be much much much smaller!!! I mainly use the computer for easy communication with strangers (I can lip read good with family, friends, and co-workers). I've met too many amazing people all over the world (or so they say I guess), to want to live without the computer.

[DainBramaged]

21. Ahhh, ya made the big guy cry

:hug: Ain't technology grand?

[Justpat]

22. I have lived without TV since '87. No problem.

But I love my computer. I like being able to watch what I want when I want
and I like the diversity of news sources I can access with the computer.

The big MSN so called news channels are a joke. At home I can read DU, truthout,
buzzflash, bartcop, salon.com, mother jones, harpers, etc. I like it.

[BlooInBloo]

23. I guess I'm half-man half-amazing, since I was able to play all the sports in the world....

right thru college football and basketball, and STILL ALSO spend hours on my computer.

People who think it's either-or are fools.

[OhioChick]

24. No...

Without my computer, I wouldn't have a job.

[ncgrits]

27. me too. no mac--no job. nt

[KillCapitalism]

25. No

I use it a lot for my job.

When not using it for work, I'm game a lot and use it for audio/video editing, etc. I'd be like an addict in withdrawal.

[bikebloke]

26. I'd quickly adapt.

When I went on holiday recently, I wondered how it would be without Internet access. No problem. But then I was socializing with fellow travellers.

[DainBramaged]

28. Imagine being in a windowless room, no phone, no computer

black & white TV turned to the WB 24 hours a day. Could you adapt?

[bikebloke]

30. Sounds like a prison cell.

I'd have no choice but to adapt.

[deaniac21]

29. Since I'm a systems engineer, it would really cut back on my

income.

[mentalsolstice]

31. I could live without my computer, per se, except...

I need it to download my ebooks, Itunes, and pictures from my digital camera. :silly:

[footinmouth]

32. I would be lost without mine

I grew up in the same era you did and I do not want to go back. I love my laptops & my iPod. Technology is great and I hope I'm still saying the same thing when I'm 80.

[DainBramaged]

33. You bet, I would not want to go back either.

:hi:

[Blue Diadem]

34. I'm hooked on the convenience.

This morning, I had problems connecting for about an hour and I felt lost without my routine of reading the newspapers online and then reading DU.

We use it for so many things; bill paying, our granddaughter's homework(her school requires certain homework to be done through an educational website), job hunting, finding recipes, solving problems, comparing prices and products, reading reviews and making purchases, or looking for parts and getting information on how to make repairs. In the long run, it has saved us money and time and allowed us to become more aware of what's going on in the world and in our own country/state.

I'm like you, growing up in those days of less technology, doing things by hand and in our head. My first job required that I count and track our stock of an area for a children's department so we could order what we needed as stock became low. It was fasinating to watch the new technology evolve over time, when our register could track sales and orders became automatic.

[DainBramaged]

35. "it has saved us money and time and allowed us to become more aware of what's going on in the world

That is the gist of the argument, the computer has made the world a smaller more acessable and friendly place.


:hi: