The internet is becoming a place again
The internet is increasingly becoming a physical place for me in the form of a desktop PC that is at least 13 years old, which I found in our basement when we moved. It is connected to an old 22-inch monitor, a Logitech 2.1 sound system, a keyboard, and a mouse, all via cables. Bluetooth is foreign to this device. At first, I wanted to dispose of the old computer, but I'm glad I didn't. Instead, I set everything up in my new office and was surprised at how quickly the machine started up. Significantly faster than my $2,500 work laptop running Windows 11.
I surfed the net a bit, listened to old MP3s, and chatted with friends. When I was done, I shut down the computer and everything was quiet. Even while using it, I didn't get any notifications I didn't want. For two weeks now, I've been using my PC almost every day, and my smartphone usage has decreased day by day. Last week, I wanted to watch a movie on it and noticed that new codecs don't play smoothly. So I bought an old NVIDIA graphics card on eBay for €12.50, installed it, and solved the problem. The graphics card is “so fast” that you can now even play many indie games and old classics.
Yes, the box is loud and the fan roars, but it doesn't bother me, it is a different kind of noise which I descriped above. It's fun to have a classic family PC again. I'm looking forward to the kids being able to use this wonderful device soon and I'm excited to see what they'll do with it. I'm still amazed at what's possible with this hardware and, above all, at how it's unconsciously causing a drastic shift in my internet usage from smartphone to PC. Basically, it's the better device. It doesn't demand attention, none of the programs I use tempt me to keep scrolling, and everything has a natural end.
Yes, that makes everything fun again. Just dive in and then pop back up again, turn off the computer, and I know it will wait patiently until I decide to turn it back on.