Remember the days when the the Internet was new and when we were all spellbound at the idea of having our own desktop computer? Learning the workings of the computer was of prime importance. You had this piece of powerful equipment on your desk and you wanted to explore all the possibilities it presented.

Fast forward to today. Things have most certainly changed. My question is: has everybody realized that it has indeed changed?

Last week, I posted an article about Twitter. I had a couple of commenters give me a hard time about writing about Twitter again. I turned around and blogged about it on my personal blog. And the headline there is completely true. Twitter, and the technology it represents, truly does mark a divide between the old guard of technology and the new guard.

The “Old Guard”

PCMech.com has been around a long time. Back when this site began, the personal computer was the center of the tech universe. Building a PC was very popular because of the higher costs of pre-built. More and more people were using computers and were constantly trying to figure it out. The computer was a bit mysterious. They don’t know how it works, and they’re constantly trying to figure it out. The old guard is primarily concerned with tweaking the computer, fixing it, optimizing it, building it, etc.

This old guard still exists and many of them are readers of PCMech. God bless you guys, too. When I call any of these guys “the old guard”, it isn’t meant out of any disrespect. It is, however, intended to put some things into perspective as I aim to do in this article.

Why Did You Buy Your Computer?

Over the last several weeks, both on this site and in the weekly newsletter, I have opined about the changing nature of technology. I have talked more about social media and sites like Twitter. Some of PCMech’s old time readers have gotten upset with me for this, as the commenter I referenced above did. I include the comment here for easy reference:

Although I’ve been a user of this site for many years, I’m at the point of hitting the delete key over this Twitter hustle. I’m subscribe to the newsletter and use the site because I want computer knowledge,period.Not to be harsh, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about your or anyone else’s musings. Bloggers are under the misconception that they have something important to say, and everyone else wants to hear it. I’m convinced the only people who read these inane blogs, are people who have inane blogs of their own. I’m afraid it’s not your audience who doesn’t “get” Twitter, but you are losing touch with your base.

On my personal blog post, I openly disagreed with this comment and said I was not losing touch with my base, but am simply extending the subject matter while some want to be technology laggards.

When you bought your car, you didn’t buy it so that you could have it in the garage, hood open, constantly working on it and fixing it. No, most likely, you bought it so that you could drive it.

The computer is no different. You bought your computer so that you could USE it to improve your life. So, when I get feedback from people I would call “old guard” who want me to talk about nothing but fixing and repairing PCs, I shrug.

There is a VERY definite reason this site is not called “pc mechanic” anymore. Because that is NOT where technology is heading. In fact, technology is heading AWAY from the idea of a “pc mechanic”.

The New Reality

The computer is now essentially an appliance. You buy it, use it until it breaks, possibly do a few upgrades on your own, then trash it and buy a new one. The desktop PC is now waning and we’re seeing increasing usage of mobile systems and even smartphones. Mobile devices are now used every bit as much, if not more, overall than desktop computers.

Computers are a dime-a-dozen. Nobody really cares any more. The only thing they care about is what they can do with the computer.

More proof of this: more and more of our computer lives are on the Internet. Today, many of the applications we use are on the Internet. So, more and more, the desktop is merely becoming a terminal to get you on the Internet. This is often called “cloud computing”, with the Internet being the cloud. We use the cloud to communicate with people, to learn things, to store our documents and files, to work – EVERYTHING.

So, where does this leave the personal computer? It leaves it in a pivotal, but much less important role. We use it every day. But, we also use our television and our refrigerator every day. You don’t see people surfing the Internet looking for information on how to tweak their TV or their fridge.

Reality Check

The reason some get upset when I talk about things like Twitter is because we begin to shake the foundation again. The desktop computer and everything focusing on that is familiar territory. It is understood. And there is a certain security to being in control of your own computer. Once you enter the realm of the Internet, you lose some of that control. Things are spread out and seemingly more confusing.

This is, however, the new reality.

PCMech will continue to cater to people who wish to tweak their computers. But, PCMech is not going to doom itself to a future of looking inward at the circuitry and pathways of the desktop computer. The technology world is much bigger than the desktop computer, and things are most definitely evolving away from the desktop.

When I speak about Twitter, it isn’t for Twitter’s sake. Twitter is simply representative of the tidal wave of new technology today. Social media, web 2.0, and web-based software and services are the current forefront of technology. And, again, it all boils down to what you can do with your computer to improve your life.

As Lisa commented on my other blog:

The medium ain’t the message, not even the holy PC. It’s what we do with it. Mine facilitates work, social interaction, family closeness, and information gathering. Coverage of anything which adds to that is welcome.

People whining like your correspondent sound like the old man on his front porch saying “Hmmph! Kids today!” Stenosis of the brain, my friend.

I couldn’t agree more.

So, you can either be resistant to change, or you can accept it and put yourself at the forefront. You can either have a knee jerk reaction and dismiss new things that come down the pike as “somebody else’s musings”, or you can embrace it and learn from it. My job, as a blogger, is to introduce my readers to new technology and new ways to use technology. My job is not to focus my reader’s attention on something that is dwindling in importance level in the new tech world.

I hope my little editorial here has been interesting.