> I don't get the coots, either. My mom, who is by no means and old coot (and I don't consider the Great and Honorable Howard an old coot, either, so there, but anyway), and who has been working on computers for twenty-some years because she's a travel agent, and who is easily the single smartest woman I know, acts like her computer will reach out and bite her if she presses the wrong key. She can figure out how to fly someone from LAX to DFW to ZBL to PRQ to AZZ and back four times, but she is stymied by e-mail. It's very frustrating to see this amazingly intelligent woman cringing in terror because the eBay police might be after her because she's not sure if she paid for something or not. Where does this fear of technology come from?????

It's very strange. I know people like that, too. Several very weird perceptions seem to be tied up with it:

Weird idea #1: A computer is not like a TV, a toaster, or any other appliance. You need to know everything about how and why it works before you can use it. Right down to the subatomic level, probably.

Weird idea #2: You only get one chance with a computer. Press the wrong button and something terrible will happen. Something so terrible it may, in fact, result in the HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE.

Weird idea #3: The six year old next door saw her first computer today and she already worked out how to play a game! It's because You Have To Be A Kid These Days to know about computers. It's not because she just tried everything to see what happened. Nuh huh.

Weird idea #4: The Internet contains many rude and nasty things which you might not want to see, just like books do. Unlike books, however, the rude and nasty parts negate the entire potential usefulness and value of the rest of the Internet, which should be banned outright.

Weird idea #5: Things are different online. You have to know all these completely different concepts of social interaction because when people are online they aren't real anymore.

Brunnen-"spot the number fives in Rinkchat ... usually very briefly"G