Re: [at-l] Computers and courtesy

["Kenneth R. Knight" <krk@home.msen.com>]

Must everyone agrees that improper use of anything, in this case 
computers, is rude.

Jack, has brought out something that has been said several times before 
and I want to follow it up a bit. 

jack said, "An awful lot of folks view computers, and other high-tech 
links to the outside world in the exact same light." If I read what you 
wrote correctly you are worrying that people will use them improperly AND 
that they use them to bring the "outside world" into the "hiking world." 
If someone is listening to a radio with the volume so high everyone can 
hear it clearly that is an intrusion of the "outside world". But, if 
someone is quietly recording their thoughts on a computer why is that an 
intrusion? Is it the fact that they're using the computer at all to 
record their thoughts, their exploration, the issue; or is it the method 
which they choose to employ the issue? 

It sounds like you're griping about the method. 

From many of the commetns on the list it sounds like most people agree 
with Jack's points. Do you get equally irritated by a person who goes out 
to a scenic vista with a camera and tripod and takes a series of 
potentially gorgeous photos? A serious ameteur photographer, to say 
nothing of a professional, could have quite a lot of stuff laying around. 
What about the person writing/drawing at that viewpoint? Or the ones 
having conversations? If you don't gripe about the last one in particular 
then how can you rreally complain if someone quietly speaks some thoughts 
into an audio recorder (analog or digital)?

Jack claims that the mere pressence of electronic items detracts from the 
experience of being on the Trail because it reminds people of things they 
left at home. Maybe so. But, this raises an interesting question: do you 
hike to escape or to learn more aobut the world as a whole? They're 
different things.

  ** Ken **

**  Kenneth Knight    Web Design, IT Consultant, Software Engineer  **
**        krk@home.msen.com           http://home.msen.com/~krk     **


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