I am writing this post on my new computer. I love it. Definitely a PC is much more user-friendly than a Mac if you are not too tech-savvy. My mother-in-law would say the opposite, but oh well. I’m just glad I got to sell her my Macbook.
Today, when I read on another blog about someone having to do without a laptop for a few days, I was reminded of the month I spent without a computer. Of course, people older than me will remember the years they spent without a computer and, in fact, I didn’t get my first computer till I was eleven and didn’t have access to the Internet till nearly sixteen. I quickly became addicted though, so when my laptop broke down in 2009, I was lost.
I had at the time just transferred from the locked psych unit to the open resocialization unit. The locked unit didn’t have a patient computer. This got me to consider getting a wireless cellphone-like modem for my laptop. However, at the time, I was too scared of getting Alzheimer’s from electromagnetic radiation. This meant that, in the early months of my hospitalization, before I was allowed on leave, I didn’t have access to the Internet. I had a computer though.
The resocialization unit did have a patient computer that was connected to the Internet. It didn’t have a screen reader on it, of course, but I just removed the network cable from the computer and plugged it into my laptop. And then one day my laptop crashed. This was, obviously, before accessible smartphones. In fact, though I had a phone that could connect to the Internet, I could only use it to make phone calls.
I was frustrated, but not as frustrated as I’d be now if I lost access to the Internet. For an entire month, I typed up my diary in Braille and listened to audio books and magazines on my digital talking book player. I do still have my Braille typerwriter and my digital talking book player, but both are pretty much useless.
Since having no computer for an entire month, I usually make sure I have at least two devices that connect to the Internet. Currently these are my PC and my iPhone. My old PC could probably be revived if need be too.
I also did finally get myself a wireless modem. I just threw it away yesterday, as I’ve not paid f or the data that goes with it in years.
I guess I could technically (no pun intended) deal without going online for a while now. However, I am always very happy to discover that a potential new living faciltiy has WiFi. I guess some people take this for granted, but the psych hospital didn’t have WiFi till 2015 and even then it was very limited.
A Multitude of Musings 
It really is hard to believe that we can’t get by without our connected devices, but it sure does seem that way! I’m glad your new computer is working out for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely know how it feels, haha. I was suddenly left without my laptop for a month last year, in September, I had to send it away to a company specialised in technologies for the blind as others IT specialists didn’t know what to do with it, and that company was on the other end of the country, so it took a while. I still had some access to the Internet with my other devices, but it was limited and so it was a really boring month, and I had to take a forced hiatus from blogging and other things. I also used to live in a house on a hill in the countryside when I was younger, and we’d often lose the Internet connection there, sometimes for weeks. It’s horrible when that happens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Although I haven’t gone a month without Internet, last year I learned that I probably could. The hospital I was sent to didn’t have computers at all. Another psych ward I was hospitalized in had 3 computers we could use.
LikeLiked by 1 person