Before the Personal Computer - 11/12/08

What did we do before the personal computer?

I think about this as my children get on the bus to school and I mentally review my daily "to do" list. Computers make our lives so much easier. We are able to pay bills, renew library books and order groceries, all with the click of a mouse. A phone conversation with a friend or teacher, which might ordinarily stretch to 20 minutes, can be accomplished with an instant message or an e-mail reply.

If computers are such timesavers, then why is there never enough time in my day to get everything done?

My laptop, which was purchased for business reasons, now sits at the edge of my kitchen counter. This way I can stay connected with the world while making lunches and emptying the dishwasher. When I actually pack up my laptop to take to a job (yes, that's the reason for the laptop, it's portable!) there's an empty space next to the fruit bowl that somehow makes me feel incomplete. That should be my first warning sign.

First order of business each day is checking my e-mail. This lets me stay in touch with family, teachers, work acquaintances and a whole host of others. In theory, it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to reply to my emails, delete my spam and log off. Right. Except I need to participate in that recipe exchange. If I don't forward this chain e-mail, something bad will happen within ten hours. And I just have to let me friends know whether I prefer diamonds or pearls, champagne or beer, and what color crayon I would be (I never know what to pick for that, but my friend Donna always chooses black.)

Once those pressing issues are complete, it's time to check Craig’s List. Why, oh why did I discover Craig’s List? Because a friend of mine got a free flat screen television there, that's why. To be fair, I check the job listings under "writing jobs" for myself and “TV/video/radio jobs” for my husband. The latter category seems to have evolved into a nationwide casting service, with daily postings such as,” National TV Show looking for men who cheated because of failing economy" and "Did Jealousy Cause You To Do Something Crazy?" Once I'm done with job searching, it's time to check out the "Free" category. No flat screen televisions today, only a pommel horse, a breadbox, hemp shoes (?) and a Dora the Explorer foldable toilet seat (tempting... no thanks).

From Craig's List I move on to my new Facebook page. A few college friends begged me to join Facebook in order to stay in touch. Within a day I had dozens of new friends who were sending me cyber-drinks and pieces of flair for my “wall” (my Facebook home page). This morning a friend "K'dnapped me with the giant sticky flypaper to Geneva". Huh? Perhaps Facebook is best left to the teen set after all.

I won't even get into the other websites I tend to stray to, thanks in large part to my friends who thoughtfully include links in their e-mails (however the link to the flatulence-filtering carbon underpants was certainly entertaining.) Before I know it, it's 2:45 and here comes my middle schooler off the bus. Instead of sucking up dirt with my vacuum, the vacuum of cyberspace has been sucking up my time.

So, to answer my own question: what did we do before personal computers? Everything else we were supposed to do, that's what!