Enablers and Computer Illiteracy

In a recent survey of livestock and forage operators in the Lost Rivers Valley, I found only one respondent that read their email everyday.  Most indicated that they read it "occassionally", and it was all down-hill from there in terms of using there computers....

The Enablers –
by Kit Pharo and Reprinted with Permission from PCC Update 2/10/10.


I have been led to believe that several enablers receive our weekly emails. What is an enabler? The term “enabler” is most often used to describe people who allow loved ones to behave in ways that are destructive. For example, an enabler wife of an alcoholic will make it possible for her husband to continue hurting himself with excessive use of alcohol. A person might be an enabler of a gambler or compulsive spender by lending him or her money to get out of debt.

The enablers that I am referring to, however, are wives who enable their husbands to remain computer illiterate.
Instead of showing their husbands how to read and send emails, they print the emails off for their husbands to read. Not only is this a waste of paper, it does not allow the husband to see any of the information that can be accessed by opening the various links provided in our weekly emails. Believe it or not, most so-called “computer illiterate” husbands can quickly and easily learn how to use email. Once they catch on, they will discover that the whole world is at their fingertips.

Dave Pratt, from Ranch Management Consultants, once said, “If you are in the ranching business and can’t get email, you may not be in the business very long.” That is a pretty strong statement – but I agree. Cattlemen who have and use email (and the internet) have a distinct advantage over those who don’t have email and/or don’t use it.
I can vividly remember saying that I would NEVER own a computer. Why would I ever want to have a computer? I was allowing the fear of change and the fear of the unknown to control me. I got over it – but not completely. After having a computer for several years, I can vividly remember saying that I did not want or need email or access to the internet. It took a while – but I got over that too. The computer and email have since become two of my most valuable tools.