I can’t keep up! Really I find it difficult in this day and age of technology where a computer is concerned.
It is not just the computer it is all the advertising I see for a telephone that will call your friends as well as show you a movie, play games with you or allow you to sent short terse, poorly spelled text message to the person next to you or far away.
So, you know my confusion when this very week I received a message that someone named Phyllis wanted to Skype me. If I had known her well maybe I would have ventured into the world of Skype and let her have at me.
It is almost like people who send me a note telling me they would be delighted to have me as a friend on Facebook. If it is all the same to anyone listening I will pick my own friends. I do have to admit I have one friend I know only through the computer. For years we have sent messages every week. I call her my good friend.
Back to this Skype stuff — it is a system where a person can make voice calls over the internet. If a little camera is there you can watch the person as they mouth their well wishes to you. There is no way I will talk to someone if I have to put on my bra, clean clothes and add a dab of make-up. I would prefer people let their imagination run wild.
Last night my brother Skyped me all the way from California. I talked on the handheld telephone. He sat in front of the computer and talked back to me. My sister-in-law who was in the background could hear as well. Sort of like a speaker phone.
Here’s how I have it figured. If the other person is on a computer as well the calls are free. My brother said the call to me was really cheap. I am sure he meant that in the nicest way.
If I got myself all technical and modern we could Skype each other computer-to-computer . As many of you know I dislike talking on a phone. Nice as it was to talk to my family the thought that I would spend more time in front this machine leaves me cold and probably ill informed.
I know very few people who are able to Skype others. One friend keeps in touch with her daughter back east. She does not look at her on the screen but has a couple pictures of her nearby.
We do that when talking to family from Ontario. The family photo is by the phone so we can get the visual.
Are you shaking your head and rolling your eyes because this old thing will not get with the program? Keep shaking and rolling since I am almost as sure as the day is long that I will be stuck in the past as I see it, sending columns for you to read as I listen to classical music.
You could push those buttons on your phone and calls the old way to 250-846-5095 or just e-mail a note to mallory@bulkley.net.