The amusing and confusing technology era<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"I don't want to be a dinosaur,\" announced Mia
\none day. \"I want to be ready for the new millennium, I want to be
\ncomputer literate and I am going to be on the Internet. Very
\nsoon, we won't have to call each other anymore, we will e-mail
\neach other.\"<\/p>\n
These words sent me into a state of panic. There had always
\nbeen rivalry between us, and I felt that this too was part of the
\ncompetition. I have been using computers for years and have
\nalways felt a one-upmanship toward my friends. In organizations I
\nam always made secretary, because I can make reports faster and
\nneater than others. And I was proud to show I had learned my
\nlessons well.<\/p>\n
When the Internet was invented, I felt like I lived in a
\ndifferent world. I was in cyberspace and surfed the net. Instead
\nof watching the news, I logged in to www.cnn.com and
\nwww.kompas.com. I still subscribe to newspapers because I can't
\nget the death announcements through the Internet. At my age, many
\nof my contemporaries die and I want to be informed about it in
\ncase I want to pay them my last respects.<\/p>\n
Mia kept me informed of her progress by e-mail. She learned
\nword-processing and did data bases, which I already knew. But
\nwhen she learned to do a spreadsheet I quickly looked it up in
\nthe books, because I had forgotten how to do it.<\/p>\n
And so it went on until one day I received a fax from her
\nasking me to do our organization's newsletter with her. This fax
\nwas followed by another, then another, until 10 faxes had
\narrived, all with the same content.<\/p>\n
When I called her to ask for an explanation, she seemed
\nsurprised. \"Did you get them all?\" she asked. \"I tried once and
\nnothing happened, so I tried again and again until suddenly there
\nwas a message saying the fax was going to transmit the message.
\nThen there was another and another one and another..., I couldn't
\nstop them.\"<\/p>\n
Thus I had some explaining to do and felt the big sister
\nagain. We agreed on a time to do the newsletter, but when I
\narrived she was playing a game. \"Quiet,\" she said, \"this is going
\nto be a good score\". And she continued, frantically, as if all
\nher life depended on that good score. When it was finally over
\nshe started lecturing me about that game and other games.<\/p>\n
\"These computer games are really exciting. Just imagine, I
\nhave this patience game for two sets of cards. If you want to
\nmove a card, you just click with your mouse. Just like that. When
\nyou play it normally, you will have to arrange two sets of cards
\nand then move them every time.\" She gave me a demonstration. But
\nI was not impressed.<\/p>\n
\"You can't cheat with a computer, so it will always win,\" I
\nsaid. So we stopped playing and started to work.<\/p>\n
For the next session she decided to come to my house. When she
\narrived I knew why. She drove her brand new silver colored BMW.
\nIt was automatic and so easy to drive! Needless to say I was
\nbaffled. This time she was the boss. I could never afford to buy
\nsuch a nice car and neither could my husband. But I was happy for
\nher and suggested we go for a ride. After we finished work, we
\nwent to the car and again she showed me how to open it by aiming
\nthe key to a sensor inside the car. The smell of the leather
\nseats was so nice and the seats so comfortable, I could fall
\nasleep right away. But no, I did not get the opportunity. Mia
\nwanted to start the car, but the key would not budge. She tried
\nto adjust the gear shift, but it did not work. She pushed the
\nbrake pedal and tried again, nothing helped. Again she tried and
\ntried and became desperate.<\/p>\n
I suggested she called BMW's 24 hour service. We looked up the
\nnumber and within half an hour a man arrived. He went inside,
\nshook the steering wheel twice and like magic..., the car could
\nbe started!<\/p>\n
Mia herself was so happy she did not know whether to laugh or
\ncry. And I just got in the car quickly so as not to miss my free
\nride. We took off, and when I heard Mia saying: \"Promise me not
\nto tell anybody about it, OK?\", I did not answer and pretended to
\nhave fallen asleep.<\/p>\n
-- Myra Sidharta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-amusing-and-confusing-technology-era-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }