I’ve had my own computer since high school.  I still remember when my parents gave it to me for Christmas.  My older brother, a computer whiz and guru, had personally built it for me and that thing lasted for years.

When I got married, I bought a laptop which lasted a grand total of 3 years before wheezing and gasping its last breath.  I replaced it with yet another laptop which also lasted a grand total of 3 years.

Is that the new computer lifetime?  3 years and no more?  Maybe I’m a dinosaur, but I still remember my high school computer and how great it was.  Sure, it got slower over time but it lasted.

Now, we’re a 1 computer family.  We use Chris’ Dell laptop and it’s chugging along, but it’s definitely brought about changes in my life and in my blogging frequency.

For one thing, I have to share.  This is good.  I’ve been wanting to get down to one computer for awhile now, but I wasn’t expecting to jump into it so swiftly when my laptop crashed.  I’m glad that there’s only the one and I’m not as territorial about it as I thought I might be.

For another thing, it has a shorter cord and much shorter battery life.  My old laptop came with a cord that was just long enough so that I could plug it in, snake it around the edge of the couch, and lie with my feet propped up and blog in the evenings.  This laptop’s cord is too short for that, and the battery won’t last that long.  I actually like to sit by my husband in the evenings, even if it’s with a computer nearby, so “adios” to evening blogging.

And then there’s the iPad.  Shiver.

Chris’ employer has loaned him an iPad as part of his research grant.  I don’t like it.  It’s not that it’s an iPad.  I’ve found that I don’t like tablets.  I can’t tell you how glad I am that I figured this out before buying one (especially the Samsung Galaxy with its current legal brouhaha).

The iPad, ironically, makes the internet and computers too available.  I used it for a few days before Chris’ trip to Germany (did I forget to mention that Chris was presenting at a conference in Germany?) and by the time he left, I was ready to see it go.  Now that he’s back, I haven’t wanted to touch it.  It’s like with TV.  Chris and I decided several years ago not to have any TV channels.  I don’t know if we have weird personalities or what, but we found that all we would do in the evenings was watch TV.  It was cheap and easy entertainment.  The downside is that having the TV on made conversation nigh impossible, and I like to talk.  We also found that it completely discouraged our reading habits, and that our brains were basically turning into mush.

So, we stopped the TV channel subscriptions.  We never even bothered to hook our TV up for the free TV here in NZ.  The iPad had the same feel to it – we were spending all of our time on the internet and I was sick of it.

So, once the iPad borrowing period is over, I’m done with tablets.  At least for a good, long while.  I think that when we move to the States in July 2013, we may get a desktop and keep or replace Chris’ laptop (so that he has something portable for conferences).  But I’m actually getting tired of the internet.  There’s too much other stuff to do on a regular basis!