Cyber

A combining form meaning “computer,” “computer network,” or “virtual reality,” used in the formation of compound words (cybertalk; cyberart; cyberspace) and by extension meaning “expressing visions of the future”.

I remember the days when there wasn’t ‘cyber’.

Yes, that right, back in the Stone Age with paper and pencils communication required talking instead of texting. Words to be read were printed on paper instead of glowing on a flat screen.

I depend as much on today’s technology as anyone. I get my news from the computer screen. I listen to music on an iPad. I communicate to others through a variety of emails and comments then wait for the reply. Sometimes it is slower than snail mail.

The phone that was used for hours calling high school friends to see what they were doing and how they wanted to spend the weekend is rarely turned on anymore. Limited ‘social media’ seems easier to monitor and quickly scan.

Trimming down ‘online usage’ or cyber, is becoming easier to maintain. Just like refusing to turn on the television or waste time on soap operas, bad movies or cooking shows, there has been nothing missed. Even football games can be viewed in a few minutes instead of hours with lots of chatter and commercials for things I don’t want.

Yet the politics are filling the airwaves and I can’t turn away. I’ve heard it before with Nixon and Clinton but avoided most of it. This time NPR is following every word and NPR is my go-to radio. It is fascinating at this age but glad I don’t care what the outcome is.

The next election is coming up this year and I’ve already heard talk about states finding new upgrade systems for their voting machines trying not to be hacked by a foreign (or local) terrorist.

The last vote I cast (yes, I vote every election but not primaries) was a ‘fill-in the box’ paper, then takes it to a scanner (either side up) and gets a sticker that says, “I Voted”. I walk away hoping the state can count my single vote correctly and that machine was not a shredder.

Now the caucus season begins with America’s Most Talented going from state-to-state, promising miracles, but who is listening. Millions spent on airwaves repeating over and over again a waste of airtime and cash that could have been spent on addictions, homeless folks or children?

What if, this year of the election, the entire network we so depend on for our consciences, crashes. Just like fires in California stopping electricity or the virus in China quarantining transportation or all the cell service stops.

How will you print enough paper for people to line up and check off their selection for the next CEO of America? Who will count all the paper? Does no one remember the hanging chads?

Technology is wonderful creating a lackadaisical behavior in all of us until the remote control doesn’t work. 

Point of reference: I have a printer. An Epson printer/scanner purchased a few years ago because my present printer didn’t work with the latest system download. It has been working fine for years but I print less than a few pages a year.

Well, I downloaded my tax forms and wanted to print them out for a paper record (note above) and only got a blue image. So I printed out a color photo and only got a blue image. So I checked the printer preferences and cleaned the ink heads and printed out a test page and only got a blue image. Checked the ink indicators but only got a blue image.

Copied the files to another computer and checked but everything seemed fine.

Could copy the files via a flash drive to another computer and wake up an antique printer to see if it would print correctly or go to Staples to buy more ink and waste some more paper.

I could just file online but what about the security? I could go to the library and try and find the correct forms to fill out by hand then take to the post office to mail? I could just avoid the whole mess and wait for Uncle Sam to come and ask for his compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to fund various public expenditures.