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A thread about computers.
I am… the type of person you might say is predisposed to loving computers. I’m not a programmer, I didn’t fiddle with electronics as a kid, I didn’t hack, but I was fascinated by computers and what they could do.
I was born along with the Macintosh. I was psychologically “coming online” as the general public was connecting to the internet. I am among that generation that remembers life both before and after the Internet.
In school, we had library days when we got to sit in this thing called a “computer lab” and learn how to type on an Apple II. The greatest joy was finishing you lesson early so that you could play Oregon Trail in the original green and black.
Come to think of it, I think we had sessions where playing Oregon Trail was the whole point!
I grew up watching Star Trek and Star Trek TNG with my dad (back-to-back on Sundays) and the ubiquitous background character, “Computer” captured my imagination. Not to mention Padds and Tricorders.
Computers were tools and characters. They moved the story along, providing information, plot devices, and excuses for the main characters to think out loud.
I read a ton as a kid, almost exclusively Star Wars novels. Computers were giant, sometimes planet-wide mainframes where you could stop off and gather information or send a message before continuing on your adventure.
But in my life, computers weren’t a waypoint, they were a station. I spent hours playing games and later, screwing around in chat rooms and on messages boards.
…Usually at a friend’s or grandparent’s house because we didn’t actually have a computer or an internet connection until maybe middle school.
I wasn’t so much interested in what computers could do, but what they could let *me* do, if that makes sense.
But what computers could let me do were things that required me to be very stationary. Sore eyes, sore seat.
Computers weren’t the action-oriented companions I saw in novels and TV shows.
Computers weren’t the action-oriented companions I saw in novels and TV shows.
It seemed computers could be everything: telephones, books, encyclopedias, bulletin boards, a postal service, a game system… you could do everything on them… so why did I spend so much time doing nothing?
It didn’t feel like nothing. I was reading and learning and forming relationships. But a very specific type of those things. Reading the web wasn’t like reading a book. (Gosh, did someone ACTUALLY figure out how to make a light saber? Wait, how is that even possible?)
The main limitation with computers is that they kept you in your seat. Computers took time. They took attention. And they were fun, so it was often pretty hard to get up and go do something else.
Though let’s be real, I didn’t really want to do something else. Doing things IRL involved bullies and expectations and failure and discomfort. Computers (and books) gave me a world that was more forgiving.
Fast forward 20 years, and computer technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, but for me, and I know for many others, it mostly means that we can do more engrossing stuff in comfier chairs.
And look, I’m not trying to moralize about how computers are rotting our brains or making us all sedentary slobs. I’m usually the first to fight those people. I’m just trying to work through my reality vs my vision.
I guess what I’m trying to reconcile is why I have incredible computer power and unprecedented access to information in my pocket and on my wrist, but I mostly use it to sit at home and waste time.
I have the world’s knowledge at my fingertips, I guess… but it’s more like I have the world’s opinions at my fingertips. I’m not looking up facts about the pufferfish to solve a mystery, I’m reading (and writing) hot takes on a website that’s literally a never ending stream…
And again, I know that small talk is actually pretty important and sharing mundane thoughts is about the connection, not the content, but… am i building any relationships here?
I’m skipping a bit because I got tired, but the point is that I feel this desire to get to a place where computers are fulfilling the potential I see for power, thought, connection, and creativity rather than being a thing I feel vaguely guilty about staring at all night.
