life in the digital age pt. deux

okay, i've been an active, even heavy, internet user for close to 14 years now. i use computers in my day job and in my writing life as well. geof huth recently posted a lovely essay on how social media, the 'net even, is so woven in our creative, in the writing, reading and living, lives. i whole-heartedly agree with geof. i'm puzzled why some writers might resist digital life. all the good stuff is published online. blogs have connected me with writers all over the world. i am an american, a californian, but also profoundly a world citizen poet.

i'm still astonished by technology. so much so i'm like a giddy little kid. not by the devices of our digital age, but by their applications. e.g. i've been having difficulty with my anti-virus software. it started last night. so i went to the tech support and began an online chat with a technician. my first of its kind. then the technician asked to remotely control my computer to speed up the fix. i was apprehensive but then agreed. it was amazing. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. the problem was fixed in no time.

yeah, sure, ho hum. after it was done i nearly skipped into the next room and told anna. she laughed. she uses the technology all the time. me, i'm sorta like a neo-luddite who loves the digital life. i need books. i need to be surrounded by books. i need to read books. i need to hold them and smell them. i also need my laptop. but i don't have a mobile phone or an ipod. i don't want any of those things. when i walk thru my beloved city i want to hear the sounds of the city. i need to be integrated into the whole of life. we are witnessing a change in our culture[s], i think, when our fleshly lives merge with our digital lives. that merging is not a wave of the future. that merging is happening right now.