Computers

As I run back and forth between the student's computer, where I am busy doing make-work and posting to my blog, and my laptop, which has just been restored to factory defaults in an effort to get rid of persistent adware nastiness, it occurs to me how dependent we've become on computers. I am doing make-work (granted, it needs to be done, but it's still make-work) until I'm done updating my laptop, reinstalling all the software, sure that the adware is completely gone, and have restored all my files from the external hard drive we just got for the association. This is a written-off day, and possibly two, depending on how long Windows update takes. Soon, I will be knitting in between the make-work, just to pass the time as my primary machine does its Windows updating, software installing, and the like. I can't get to the things I should be doing, but considering that I restarted my machine about seven times in half an hour this morning, and the adware still kept multiplying and couldn't be removed each time without a restart, I suppose it's a better use of my time than fighting with it.

I consider, then, the dependence. I have scrapped a lot of paper in the office over the last year in favour of scanned files. Was I wise to do that? The files take up a heck of a lot less physical room, but have I put the history at risk of being lost for good? On the other hand, paper is just as vulnerable to destruction. And at home. So much of my social life revolves around the computer. Email, instant messaging, websites, WoW... I really should do a back-up of all my files at home as well, for the day that something in my computer explodes (and it probably will). A purge of emails and files is probably in order first, since I'm in that mood, and the closets are done.

I remember being shocked that my uncle, when he was CEO of the family business in Denmark, didn't have a computer on his desk. Yet somehow, he made the paper work. As I sit here twiddling my thumbs, I wonder if he wasn't smarter than the rest of us to not get so dependent on a little machine.