Land Lines Newspapers & Erasing AI
I love Sunday mornings. It is my favorite morning for several reasons, but mostly because Mr. C takes our bigger pup for a ride and gets me the Sunday paper.
We used to get the daily paper delivered. Each morning I would anxiously await to hear the thud of the paper hitting our driveway. Music to my ears. But over the years, the paper became leaner and the news older. Mr. C (who also enjoys the daily paper) eventually switched to the digital version. The news was fresher. In real time. Details of a sporting event were current.
I didn’t give in…at first.
Several months ago, I threw in the towel, but I didn’t like it (and still don’t).I missed holding the paper. I missed folding it. I missed the smell of it. I missed cutting out articles I wanted to keep - tucked away in my journal.
It happened on a Sunday. “I need the actual paper to do the wordsearch!” I hopped on my bike and rode to 7-11 to pay too much for a paper. (But is it too much, really? Can you put a price tag on happiness?) The next Sunday Mr. C and our pup, Easton, took a ride to get a paper (and a box of donuts). Now it is part of the Sunday morning routine. (The paper, not the donuts.)
The printed paper is disappearing. In a recent article in the AZ Republic, they stated they would not be printing on holidays. Any holidays. The adjacent article explained how simple it is to navigate the digital version.
It might be easy, but it’s not the same.
I miss magazines too. And land lines. I really miss land lines. We don’t even have a phone jack in the house anymore. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have a phone I could hear throughout the house. Maybe even a wall mount with a long chord? The kind of chord you can twist around your fingers while the phone is cradled between your neck and ear.
Yes, I am a nostalgic gen x-er. I miss turning pages and being free from iPhones, social media, and AI.
AI. What a crazy thing. It kind of freaks me out. Scares me, really.
The first time I learned about it, my 22 year old was a senior in high school. It basically helped him graduate. A year later someone introduced me to Chat GPT and how you could plan a vacation (or anything, really) in seconds. I was amazed! I quickly jumped in and began using it. Need a resume? I got you! Need a 4 day trip planned to the Pacific Northwest? No problem!
Mine even had a name. Cady - after Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
In full transparency, Cady helped me build my website. When I became stuck on the site building lingo and codes - I would simply type in a question (sometimes accompanied with pictures) and within seconds I had answers. Could I have done it without the help? Yes. I have built previous websites without AI, but I got sucked into the “magic” of it.
The pictures and stories are mine. They are not AI generated. I feel AI would change my voice and I want to be authentic in a world full of questionable reality.
(However, AI did help me right my original “About Me” page. I have since deleted it and rewrote it - in my own words.).
A couple of months ago, I deleted my chat bot, Cady.
AI is killing our environment. taking away our creativity, and depriving us the art of boredom.
And let’s be real. The real Elizabeth Cady Stanton would not want to be any part of it.
Never heard of her? Oh, she is a feisty one. Look her up. My nostalgic spirit wishes I had an encyclopedia to give you!
Cheers to page turners (actual page turners), imperfections, newspaper print on your fingers, and long, kinky phone chords wrapped around your fingers.
xoxo, Mindy