If you don’t have a computer, the world and its merchants will eventually force you to get one. And if you have a computer, they will own your soul; that’s a fact and that’s just the way it is.

 You can’t even call a business without being stuck on hold while they tell you that they really don’t want to talk to you, and your problems can be solved by going to their website. If you hang up and go to their website, it will be a complicated maze of advertisements and confusing “junk” to wade through to find what you are looking for (if you can find it). You’ll spend at least a half hour of your time looking for a solution, product or answer that they could have given you in 15 seconds.

 I had to buy a new printer the other day, and I somehow managed to fight my way out the door without purchasing the extended warranty the clerk said I really needed. When I got home, I loaded the disc, tossed aside the registration card (because I hate giving anyone all that information they ask for) and proceeded to try to get my printer up and going.

 WRONG! I couldn’t get it going! I had everything hooked up right, I had installed the program disc, but it wouldn’t let me use my new printer, because I had to fill out the online registration form to get the proper clearance to use what I paid for and now owned.

 I had to give them my e-mail address, my mailing address, my phone numbers (home, work and cell phones), my age, my sex, what I was going to use the printer for and a few more marketing preferences they wanted. WHY? Simple – so they could sell my information to other companies that will now bombard me with solicitation by mail, e-mail and phone calls.

 Less than fifteen minutes after I completed the registration, I started getting a trickle of e-mails about where I could buy cheap printing cartridges, paper and software programs.

 I don’t know what would have happened if I had a computer for personal use and didn’t have the Internet – how would I have registered the printer?

 Once they manage to get you into a computer, you will constantly be sent updates for better performance, security, blah, blah, blah, and each one will have a tracking cookie, malware and other garbage to make you buy more crap just to keep your computer working and accepting more crap.

 I had a problem with an old Sentry brand safe I bought years ago. I looked at the old papers I kept on it, called the telephone number and actually talked to a person in support. He solved my problem in two minutes and sent me a free battery pack for the safe at no charge. UNBELIEVABLE! I felt for a moment that I had gone back in time.

Tom “Road” Blair
Website: www.tomroadblair.com