A little over 5 years ago, hubby & I lived in NW Ontario in a very small town. The only radio station we could get was CBC Radio (which is talk all day, classical or jazz at night) & only world or national news. They would break in for some local news every hour or so, but the “local” was a minimum of 4 – 6 hours away, so it wasn’t very local to us.
We had a PC, but mostly it was used by me to create a local newsletter for the town, by hubby to maintain the books for our store & by both of us occasionally to play computer games purchased when we were out of town shopping. I also created all the advertising for the store on the computer because I have a pretty good creative streak & I also created a yearly newsletter to send to the relatives in our Christmas cards.
We had a dial-up internet connection, so we very rarely used the internet except to track our banking for the business. A couple years before we left the small town, they did bring high speed internet to town, but the cost was something in the neighborhood of $70/month, so we just went without. Our PC got a real workout when we decided to leave town while we used the internet to search for jobs across the country.
When we first moved to Alberta we were homeless for about 3 weeks while we lived in a hotel, so if we wanted to use the internet to look for a job my husband would take his laptop & go sit in the parking lot of Future Shop to use their wifi (they gave him permission after he told them our sob story). Then we finally moved into a house & we set up our PC again. This time we signed up for high speed internet because my husband was still looking for work (& it was more reasonably priced).
I used the internet at work of course to do research when needed & hubby used it at home to look for work, manage our banking, etc. The laptop sat in our office & never got used. Our evenings were typically spent in front of the TV after dinner. We joined a bowling league to try to make friends, but that was only 1 night a week & we also went to Bingo one night a week.
Then I started working for the IT department of the corporation I am currently employed by. I learned about Twitter, Facebook, The Cloud, Googledocs & a whole lot more. I stated slowly by tweeting from time to time. Then my daughter convinced me to join Facebook so we could stay in touch better & they had games I could play for free. So I became a big Facebook fan & spent hours every evening seeing what friends & family were up to & playing games.
Then hubby started complaining I was spending too much time on the PC & not enough time with him, so I introduced him to Facebook & free games. Now he spends more time playing games than I ever did! Then I started to blog & it was a very slow process at the beginning. I followed a “few” other bloggers & wrote a post a couple times a week. Then I got laid off for about 6 weeks.
Suddenly I had oodles of time to blog & play free games. Hubby couldn’t get near the PC anymore because I was always on it & our old laptop was way too slow for playing games, so he got a brand new shiny laptop with more memory & speed than our PC.
Now if you were to look in our windows in the evening you would typically see my hubby & I on the couch, with the TV on, each of us with a laptop in front of us – hubby playing games & me trying to keep caught up with my bloggy buddies or playing a game. How times have changed, now we are back in civilization!
lizziecracked
Jun 10, 2012 @ 03:36:43
Hi 🙂
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benzeknees
Jun 10, 2012 @ 17:55:33
Hi Lizzie! How are you? Thanks for keeping track of me even though I’ve been a bit absent lately~
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lizziecracked
Jun 10, 2012 @ 18:08:56
oh I have been a lot absent… I am hanging in..how are you? I have been meaning to send a note.. I forget.. not you..whether I did or not.. been thinking about you. 🙂
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:30:09
You haven’t sent me a note lately, but you have my email address right? In case you need to talk or something? Missing you!
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lizziecracked
Jun 12, 2012 @ 22:16:19
I do still have your email and I am avoiding my inbox… I mean, I glance over the ones coming in to make sure I get the important ones but I have been terrible at correspondence… half the time I think I answered only to find out I didn’t.. missing you too.
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Beth Ann
Jun 10, 2012 @ 06:23:27
I, for one, am very glad you are back among civilization!!! It is amazing how technology changes us. As I lay in my bed with my laptop typing my comments……I am very seldom unconnected and it is kind of my way of life now, you know??? Glad you are along on the ride, too!
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benzeknees
Jun 10, 2012 @ 17:57:05
Me too! Although if I had told my former self this is where I would be seven years ago I would have laughed at myself. I loved living in a small town & didn’t even think about what I might be missing. I would have lived there a lot longer if the town had survived.
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writerwannabe763
Jun 10, 2012 @ 11:23:49
That’s about what our civilization is all about now …internet, facebook, blogging etc. Usually our tv is on …..I watch but usually read blogs at the same time while remembering to converse once in a while and watch whatever is on. I told my husband any time he feels neglected or wants my undivided attention to let me know…so that’s how it stands….Diane
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benzeknees
Jun 10, 2012 @ 17:57:52
I can tell when my hubby wants my attention – he closes his laptop. 🙂
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Roly
Jun 11, 2012 @ 01:09:21
My PC is my access to my world. Would be lost without it
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:31:20
I agree now, could have cared less when we lived in the small town.
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Tilly Bud
Jun 11, 2012 @ 04:03:08
This made me smile. What a different world it is than for our parents. But at least you are doing your separate activities together 🙂
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:32:54
Yes we are – he’s on one end of the couch & I’m on the other. The TV is turned on & we both half watch it, so no need for talking either!
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El Guapo
Jun 11, 2012 @ 09:29:28
Civilization is overrated.
I think the time spent online is increasing exponentially in first world countries…
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:34:25
I’m with you on this, I don’t think there are too many households any more without some electronic devices! I don’t even hold a book anymore since I got my reader in December!
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Pink Ninjabi
Jun 11, 2012 @ 10:13:44
Wow, your story is incredibly inspirational. Thank you for sharing. 😀
Pink.
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:35:30
Not sure inspirational is the direction I was going, but it’s nice if you see it that way! I was thinking more along the lines of how different life is for us than it was for our parents.
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Pink Ninjabi
Jun 12, 2012 @ 09:15:37
Great point! 😀 It inspired me to spend less time on electronics, and to make sure I spend enough face to face time. 😀
Pink.
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TheIdiotSpeaketh
Jun 11, 2012 @ 12:01:11
That would be my wife. If we were to get married again, right now, our wedding photo would have her standing at the alter, with me placing the ring on her finger, as her other hand is still gripping her laptop…… 🙂
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benzeknees
Jun 11, 2012 @ 18:36:51
You must spend some time on there too Mark, otherwise we wouldn’t get your wonderful posts! BTW, why did it have to be the purple pool noodle? Purple is my favorite color, couldn’t you have used yellow to kill the ant?
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Mark Petruska
Jun 12, 2012 @ 09:43:41
Sounds like a typical evening for me and Tara, too. Although we do occasionally mix it up with card games and records.
I remember Future Shop. Great store – but out local one was replaced by a Best Buy long ago.
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benzeknees
Jun 13, 2012 @ 19:21:59
And here I thought you 2 lovebirds would be whooping it up in other parts of the house! (blush:)
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Mark Petruska
Jun 14, 2012 @ 08:59:02
My prior comment applies to the post-whooping it up in other parts of the house part. Everybody’s gotta come up for air eventually! 😉
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benzeknees
Jun 14, 2012 @ 22:54:06
Who said that?
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