The simple things are less simple

If you don’t know how to work a computer, you soon will.

The simple things in life, are quickly going digital. Even technophobic grandma may have to face her fears or face a life without simple pleasures like television and bingo.

Charity bingo parlors across the state are beginning to utilize video bingo machines. Over 1,200 machines have been installed at 48 bingo halls in 21 parishes.

Although they haven’t yet appeared in the Tri-Parish area, it is just a matter of time.

If you want to mail a letter, you’ll notice that the cost of a first-class stamp went up Monday. In 1970, it cost 6 cents to mail a letter. Today, that same letter costs 44 cents to mail. The price to send a letter through e-mail … free.

Prices are also rising in the film industry, with 35mm film taking the biggest hit. The rising cost of silver and decreasing sales of film are driving prices higher – a trend likely to continue and likely to convince more people to purchase digital cameras.

If the thought of digital pictures scares you, get ready for digital television. In exactly 30 days, television stations will turn off their old transmitters and begin digital-only broadcasting.

Cable subscribers will still be able to catch standard television – for now – but viewers using aerial antennas and standard television sets are out of luck without digital converters.

For some, the simple things in life are increasingly becoming less simple. The bingo ink blotters don’t work well on video bingo machines. You have a drawer full of 42-cent stamps and there isn’t a single 2-cent stamp to be found. There are rolls of undeveloped film in the same drawer and not even K-Mart wants to develop it. TV dinners will soon become DTV dinners, and the boob-tube will be replaced with the boob-flatscreen.

Technology is making life much easier, but a lot less simple.