Sunday, February 28, 2021

The Social Butterfly is a Luddite



Today is a cold, gray, rainy, mushy, and boring day.  Cannot do anything outside!  I am working with my library of photographs and deleting a bunch and blogging.  Hubby is reading his emails on his tiny phone screen and listening to Irish music.  

How he can manage email on a phone is always something I question!  He does lose emails and forget to answer others and that is why I encourage him to use his laptop more.  He has become more and more unable to work with his computer.  His age is part of it and now he actually fears using the devices.  Unfortunately, in our world, if you do not use a computer (and this is horribly true with the restrictions from the Pandemic) you lose touch with the world.  I was the one who got us both registered (at different locations) for our Covid shots after he messed up the first appointment.  We will be getting the second ones this month.

He got notice in his email that his car needed to be re-registered.  He kept putting off the task.  So, yesterday I had to go in and re-register his car for him.  Fortunately and surprisingly since it is a local government site, their interface was very simple and I almost wondered if I had completed it correctly until I got the email that verified that I had.  Now we wait to see if I actually did it correctly when the registration comes in the mail.

Last month Hubby gave a small webinar on extending vegetable growing across the three seasons via Zoom.  It was done in PowerPoint software and I spent hours and hours helping him with it.  The problem is that I would get all the typos, incorrect formatting, etc. removed, and then he would go back in to add something or edit some bulleted list and it would end up looking like he had selected three different presentation backgrounds!  Maybe he had!  I also provided the photos needed and learned that PowerPoint now can compress the slides automatically to reduce the bytes which saved me time.  Anyway, the whole experience made him even warier of computers and totally drained me! 

This is not the world for him because he is a very social person.  He loves talking to people.  He calls old classmates on the phone just to chat.  He will 'talk the leg off ' of the man or women at the restaurant that is completing our take-out order.  When the man comes to help with our stuff around the yard, he is right behind him talking away.  He is looking forward to a class reunion this fall of those in their late 70's.  He and another mate are planning on driving down to Florida together, and I am now hoping I can get out of it since they will be able to assist each other along the trip!  Maybe they can combine it with a fishing trip, which he would love.  With the increase in vaccinations, this looks more promising.

I really like people and I even love some people, but I would also love some time alone just moving around on a free schedule while he would be gone.  No meals on time, no helping someone find something, etc.  I am a loner and while I have finally accepted that, I actually wish I was a bit more amenable to social activities.  


15 comments:

  1. This is so interesting. My husband insists on doing everything on the cellphone too. I keep telling him it's easier on the iPad or computer, especially long text messages but... oh well. What's funny is that he used to tell me he didn't need a cellphone and relied on me.
    It is nice to have alone time. It's certainly different to be home constantly with just my husband (and mother) when we used to have time separately with friends.

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  2. I am more of a computer guy. Right now I am on my ipad, which gives me more rel estate than a phone.And I have a Bluetooth keyboard with it so typing is much better although I can typo with the best of them, or worst of them. Maybe it would be a solution for him since it is otherwise so phone-like. I don’t thinkI’d want to do much typing and email etc on the phone, but I do often message form there.

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  3. Speaking of typos ....

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  4. As a loner myself, i get it. When the world opens back up a bit more, i do hope he gets more time with people besides you, it's good for both of you for that to happen.

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  5. It seems like it is a bit of a challenge dealing with your husband. I am not the most computer savvy guy in the world, and Miriam is more proficient, but if she helps me she generally only needs to do it once. She and I are both sociable people and one of the things we are looking forward to most is being able to get together with friends and family again. Maybe by the end of the year.......

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  6. I enjoy some time with people but I am perfectly content on my own. Don and I (like my late husband and I) have very different interests that we give each other space to pursue them and then we appreciate together time. I am on my computer in my office doing my crafts and writing or with friends on Zoom while he is downstairs on his computer. He makes my breakfast and lunch and runs the weekly errands. So far, so good.

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  7. I hate my cellphone because my eyes are too weak to see the tiny print, and my fingers are too stubby to work the tiny keyboard.

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  8. I am not a talker. It's emailing or texting for me. However, technology is getting away from me very quickly. There was a time I helped others overcome their hesitancy to use computers but no more.

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    1. Uhm, the "getting away" part may have nothing to do with your brain-power. (But that's what the two-legged reptiles want ya to think.) It's likely way more to do with the technology being intentionally made to be way over complicated - in order to keep people (of all ages) distracted. Yep there's been an agenda going on - and it smells like rotten eggs.

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  9. What I would give to have a few days alone. We are lucky to have someone with us through this pandemic but some time alone would be nice. I hope the trip to Florida without you comes to pass.

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  10. Have you read my friend Tehachap? You two sound alike.
    Would he be safe in Florida? What a question to ask.

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    1. I think he commmented on one ofm posts. I will keep my eyes more focused.

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  11. After living on my own for so long I'm becoming more and more reclusive, although I love having people around me.
    Sounds contradictory, even to me. I hope you get to have some "Me" time alone, I think it will do you good, just like it does
    me good to get out and mingle occasionally.

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  12. Tom spends a lot of time reading his cellphone. I need bigger print!
    He is a talker, and I just want to get going and do what I want to do. Sound familiar?

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    Replies
    1. You and I are cut from the same cloth.

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