Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/98836
Sarasota News Leader December 14, 2012 OPINION Page 58 JUST CALL ME ���DIGITALLY DENIED��� By Harriet Cuthbert Contributing Writer COMMENTARY There are so many ���d��� words I could use to describe how digitally impaired I am: deprived; demented; desperate; dumb. Well, you get the picture. Now we magically slide our sweaty fingers across a panel and ���touch��� the screen to make a phone call. Texting seems to be addictive (I would not know), because anyone I see with a smartphone has his/her fingers in constant motion. I am totally lacking in today���s digital technol- And what is an app? What does it do and why ogy, and I am not ashamed to admit it. is it on a phone? I do not know the answer I thought I was so cool when I learned how to to that, either. All of this talk of sliding and be an expert at using my digital camera. And tapping sounds more like references to dance steps to me, not words I would use about a then I impressed myself when I ���uploaded��� all phone. my photos to Picasa and tormented friends and family with a constant barrage of emailed Shall we now move on to Tweeting? Is this tophotos with stupid comments. day���s idea of blogging, only with much shorter messages (less chance to bore people)? Now, when I wander around the world, I notice that I am practically a minority of one, Here I go again, being denied, not having a still taking pictures with an actual camera. clue about setting up a Twitter account. Everyone else is clicking away on their slick, How do dogs and cats and turtles get Twittershiny, smooth phones, saving their pics and ized and why does anyone care? Who reads emailing them to their own BFFs. all this stuff? Who has all this free time? And, Only a couple of short years ago, I thought I was rather up-to-date with my well-designed, multi-use clamshell cellphone. It was relatively easy to make calls, send texts and use voicemail. And it even told the time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared a new species called an iPhone/Droid/smartphone. Punching in phone numbers was gone. Where did I go wrong? what is a hashtag? I think I used to call it the ���pound sign.��� That was in the days when landlines ruled and handheld phones were connected by jacks in the wall. I am thinking of putting my well-used and user-friendly handheld phone up for sale on eBay, filed under ���Antiques.��� (And, in our next class, we will discuss Facebook and iPads.). %