Computers Are For All Ages

At the not-so-tender age of 35 I was jumping into new experiences on a daily basis. There were some days I was sure I could not go on. I had lived my life in a cocoon of sorts, and as great as desire was to escape, old habits died hard.

My source of torture was WTSU … for those of you who don’t know, in those day A&M had not yet been attached to WTSU, forever changing its name.

I had decided to go to college. As a freshman at WTSU, there were several classes I was required to take, one of which was a speech class.

The prospect of standing in front of my classmates simply terrified me. However, I quickly learned that speaking to a group was great fun.

One of my fellow students gave a speech on the $250.00 charge to her mother’s Niemann Marcus credit card. I could not understand how a recipe for chocolate chip cookies could possibly be worth $250.00, but I accepted that story as fact and vowed never to order cookies from Niemann Marcus. Now, of course, I know that story is nothing but myth and has the Internet to thank for its continued spread.

There was another class that I was terrified of, but, had no choice. The class was CIS 101. In layman’s terms, that is Computer Information Systems, the 101 simply meaning that it was basic.

My instructor was more concerned that her students learned the operating basic of the computer more than anything else. I was appreciative, because I was sure the computer was smarter than I, and learning the operating basics was all that I could possibly handle.

That was 13 years ago. In that span of time I have become so computer literate that I could confidently build my own computer, install upgrades, and learn just about any software. However, I would never consider myself a techie, and could not troubleshoot.

I love working on the computer and the expansive areas that are made available through the Internet. I would be content to work at the computer all day and night never running out of projects to do, software to get more familiar with, and games to play.

One of the things that I have greatly appreciated about the computer is my ability to transfer my graphic design skills to desktop publishing. In the old days, a graphic designer either used black and white clip art or drew their own. Since I needed a ruler to draw a straight line, graphic programs were a blessing.
There were other freshmen classes that I was required to take, but none made such an impact on me as the computer class. It taught me, among other things, that computers are still nothing but machines, and while their potential grows exponentially, the same machine could be well used by a gamer, a programmer, or someone who just wants to print up a grocery list.

Having said that, I’d like to share with a little bit about my son, Michael’s youth. At the tender age of three, he too, was introduced to computers. However, his success was a little different from mine. He has an accomplishment that I have not been able to claim, and hopefully never will.

My dear sweet son, quite innocently and using nothing but the keyboard, successfully crashed a computer.

Copyright, Debby Willett, All Rights, 2009-2010