Question: I’ve really enjoyed reading your columns over the years and still use a number of the free programs you recommend. As to your reader’s problem converting Microsoft Works files. I faced the same issue last year when I changed from Windows XP to Windows 7. I had been using Works for many years for my word processing and spreadsheet files. I bought Microsoft Office 2013 with my new computers and it converts those files to Word and Excel files. (I didn’t know that Works didn’t work with Windows 7.)
I couldn’t find any way to convert all the files at once so had to open each file with the appropriate Office program, then save in new format. I muddled through. I converted files as I needed them rather than sitting down for a long time and converting everything. I’ve found that many files are no longer relevant, but if they are, I figure out how to convert them.
Perhaps you can convert my thoughts into language your reader can understand. — Henry Absher
Answer: I sure will pass it on, and I think you did a pretty good job of explaining, so no real translation needed.
If I were king of the world, I’d declare an extra holiday each year. On that holiday everyone would turn off their various high-tech devices. There would be no email that day, no Web browsing, and nary a Twitter would be found, not even from the biggest twits.
The high-tech world is a rich one and I enjoy it. But too many of us spend our waking hours tied to our gadgets. By doing that we are living virtual lives instead of real ones. There’s a richer world away from our gadgets and outside our doors, but too many fail to visit it.
If that sounds like the rant of an old fogey, that’s perfectly fine. I am one. But I also literally grew up with the explosion of home computing and then with the online world. And I love it. It’s been a marvelous experience for me and has opened doors into all sorts of places I could have never gone. So I’m not suggesting we all move to some isolated mountain cabin and give up what the computer and the Internet have brought to us. I’m talking moderation, not doing away with the wonders of technology.
I am saying that it would be interesting and profitable for most people to spend more time in the world where friends meet face-to-face for coffee instead of messaging each other, in a world where we share thoughts in person rather than on some website.
Here’s how this particular rant started taking shape and finally reached a boiling point. I was with a group of people the other day and started asking each person how much time they spend online both at home and using their smartphones. The estimates ranged from three hours to eight hours. Maybe those figures are extreme and I just happened to be with a bunch of folks who live on the ragged edge of the tech world. Maybe you can set me straight in an email and tell me about your more moderate usage.
But – no matter what the real numbers are – most of us are almost forced to conduct much of our lives online, even if we would prefer not to do it. A lot of our workday involves computers and email. And smartphones have become as much a part of how we get dressed as a belt. And it’s so handy. I know that even when I’m at the grocery store I often handle a couple of telephone calls, and sometimes I end up going online standing among the frozen pizzas to find some bit of information that seems critical.
I realize all this is like Pandora’s box. Once opened, it can’t really be closed. And I’d be against closing this box even if we could. But I also think that scheduling some serious amount of time when we literally pull the plug is a good idea.
Forget arguments — although I think I made good ones — of the joy of experiencing things firsthand. These break times when you turn off the phone and avoid the Internet can have a practical benefit. There’s something about being online or available by cell that forces us to skip the thinking process and make instant decisions. That could be as trivial as ordering something online that you really don’t need, or something as important as making a hasty decision involving your job or your family.
Think about what I’ve said. Maybe you’ll decide it’s a crazy idea and doesn’t fit how you must live. That’s fine. Thank you for thinking about it. It’s your decision to make, not mine.
But I make this strong contention for your consideration that spending less time basking in the light of a computer screen and more in the light of the sun is worth a few moments’ consideration.
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