Not too long ago, I was privy to a conversation which consisted primarily of lamenting how much better life was before we entered the great age of electronics. And yes, I do agree that cell phones could be tucked away more often and of course, playing outdoors in good weather is a much grander idea than staying in the house playing video games.
But I am of the pre-microwave era, one of those who grew up with a party line phone and the assignment of walking out to the field to call my dad to supper since there was no other way to tell him.
I am quite happy living in my house with all its electronic doodads and gizmos. I am not ashamed to admit that I own a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a cell phone and a partridge in a pear tree. Okay, no partridge, but I own and use the rest.
The desktop computer is my workhorse. It sits on the desk in my dining room that no one uses but me and communicates wirelessly with the printer beside it. This computer houses my completed books, books I’m working on and notes for books I intend to write someday.
Its memory holds images for book covers, outlines of my Sunday sermons and various and sundry other important stuff.
The laptop is my portable newspaper office. It is fast and efficient, allowing me to process photos, create pages and keep records in a fast and furious way.
The tablet … okay, that’s mostly for fun. Sitting around and just watching TV isn’t something I do well. In the winter, I knit a lot, which means, dear loved ones, that you can expect a scarf or dish scrubbies in your stocking this Christmas.
Few TV shows demand my full attention, I have discovered. So the table fills in the void by letting me surf social media or play spider solitaire, my very favorite time-wasting game.
That TV I’m watching brings me shows courtesy of the Internet, something else we didn’t have in my youthful days. I am a veteran of serving as the remote, having served my turn as the person to trudge across the living room and flip the channel dial by hand. That didn’t take long, since we only got three channels, but still …
In my bedroom you will find an alarm clock that also lets me charge my phone and a window air conditioner with a remote control. The spare bedroom, now more of a sitting room, holds a second TV that also brings in a zillion channels thanks to the Internet, something my visiting greatgirls take for granted.
The kitchen, however, is where my greatest gratitude for new and improved lies. I have a stove, a gas one that requires electricity for the burners to come on. It also has an oven that doesn’t work and which I’m not having repaired because, really, I don’t need it.
Open my cabinet and you will find all sorts of magnificent devices that keep me from having to use the stove. The air fryer, actually a cool-shaped convection oven, stays on the counter top. It is my cook on a hurried evening, my friend that keeps me from having to keep an eye on my meal, a magic genie that gives me a perfectly-cooked pork chop every time.
I used to own a tea kettle. I’d set water to boiling on the stove I never use now and wait until I had steaming hot water for tea. Now I stick a cup of water in the microwave, push a button and am sitting down to enjoy that tea in five minutes.
Leftovers are lovely reheated in the microwave. The addition of a little cheese, some sour cream or veggies can result in a brand-new delight with a minimum of effort.
What’s even better is that the wonders of the electronic era spill over to my car. There I am, driving down the road, and a message flashes on the dash screen to tell me I have a text. All I have to do is push a button and the car reads it aloud to be and even offers a one-push reply option like “Yes,” “What time?” and “Can’t talk, now I’m driving.”
Best of all,I can choose when to revert to the old ways and when to stay in the current age. You know, like shutting off the computer, muting the phone and sitting in solitude on the front porch, sipping tea and watching traffic go by with the dog by my side. Ah, the good new days.
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