Computers have helped millions, if not billions of us to communicate with family members, co-workers, teachers, just to name a few instantaneously without having to use 411 directory service or a phone company. This is just one aspect that I depend on and will personally miss the most if a solar flare or some other electro-magnetic disturbance knocks out electricity globally.
I'm as old-school as you can get especially on this site. I've seen and experienced first hand what it's like to go "low tech" because that was the '80's. One machine I had to use at work was so loud I seriously considered using ear plugs just to operate it. It was a teletype machine that would spit out a paper tape with holes punched into it. This is the machine that the telex made obsolete, eh?, I mean yea. Lol.
Other work I did for this company all had to be done by hand, with an ink pen or by typing it on a typewriter. I used an IBM selectric III which was also loud.
The day we plugged in our computers the office, of more than 100 people went from sounding like a school cafeteria at noon to a public library for the whole day. The noise difference alone was so very welcome to all of us that had no idea how noisy our lives had been. It was like literally walking out of the stone age.
Now, I still remember how to read books, write by pen and type though my spelling suffers because I no longer have my trusty Webster's Dictionary on my desk. Spell check alone would be sorely missed. Please, don't make me have to use the White and Yellow Pages books that weigh tons, been there, done... Oh, and please don't make me stand in line(s) again:
Driver's license, tag, title
at the bank (just to cash a check because if there are no computers there won't be any atm's)
to have someone to do my taxes for me because there won't be any more EZ tax forms anymore nor electronic filing.
to Vote, remember the paper chads in Florida with the Bush-Gore election?
I'll stop my rant because I could go on for the rest of the day.
