Not Keeping Up Well With Innovations

For a birthday present this year, I received a new Dell laptop computer. This is actually the first laptop I have ever owned, although my wife Melissa has had one for several years and won a notebook in a raffle drawing a couple of years ago. For many years, I have been writing blog articles out on my relatively much-more-primitive AlphaSmart portable work processor (which runs for months on end on three AA batteries, so maybe being primitive has its advantages). But I can only see four short lines of writing at a time on it, and I wanted to write with a full page in front of me. Plus, I wanted more ready access to the Internet. Hence, the new laptop. Still, in a world of notebooks, tablet computers, Kindles/Nooks/Etc., iPhones and Androids, I am far, far behind in "keeping up". Shoot, I still use a Blackberry phone, for crying out loud, although my patience with it has worn quite thin.

No, the simple fact of the matter is that, when it comes to technological innovations of the kind currently sweeping our society, I am far behind others. Still, I manage to keep some contact with the trends. It's important to always keep in mind, though, that many people have NO personal computers or Internet access at their disposal and are completely cut off from this now-pervasive aspect of our society. Among them is my 85-year old father, who has bitterly complained to me on a number of occasions how he will be watching a news story on an interesting topic, only to be cut off when the announcer says to go their website for further information. Or how about all those commercials that presume the viewers have computers readily at their disposal..