Familiarity with technology after 25 years in prison

Technologies are developing so fast that it is easy to fall behind them - but imagine the position of a person who comes out of prison after 25 years in prison, writes The Verge. Answering a question on the Quora website, former prisoner Michael Santos tried to explain what it was like to see and use for the first time modern devices. According to him, he read about technology while in prison, but this did not particularly prepare him for their direct use.

Even common terminology has proven difficult to understand. “I asked my wife what a browser is?”, He writes, “And when she described it as a program for accessing the Internet, I gave her an empty look.” Nevertheless, since his release in August, Santos managed to get Twitter and even his own website , where he sells a book about his experiences in prison. Under the cut translation of his story on Quora.

When I went to prison, in 1987, Motorola produced large gray mobile phones — I had one. People called it a brick. It was possible to make and receive calls from him, but there were no SMS yet.
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I also had a pager, but he could only transmit numbers, as I recall. I had an IBM computer with a DOS operating system with 40 megabytes of memory, but I didn't really understand it. I was told that it is very cool.



I connected the computer to an Epson matrix printer, and I remember how the perforated paper was fed through a system with which there were always problems. It was a lot of trouble.



Technology has changed a lot over the 25 years of my term. I read a lot during the conclusion, but reading about technology is like reading about typing. No matter how much I read, I could not understand the power of modern technology until I started using them. What a power, I did not even understand the language of technology. For example, I never understood what people mean when they talk about “browser”. I asked my wife what a browser is, and when she described it as a program to access the Internet, I gave her an empty look.

"But I thought that the browser is a small text box at the top of the screen where I type what I want to find on Google."

“No, honey,” she replied. "This is the address bar."

I spent over 25 years in prison and was not free for another full five months, so maybe others can understand my ignorance in technology. I can accept that I can not comprehend the amount of basic information right now, but considering all that I have to learn, I’m not sure that I will ever understand everything I need to know. I don’t have any idea what a “server” is, and I don’t know very much about how to make my content accessible to those who need it. Honestly, technology is not the only area that makes me feel that I live in a warped time, but I will write about those areas of my ignorance separately.

As for technology, this is a real problem, because I see technology as a central component of a business that I want to create. I believe that I have the responsibility or duty to help others understand prisons, the people they contain, and the strategies for growth in detention in such a way as to help people gain the values, skills and resources that lead to success. Technology can really help me succeed, but since I don’t understand how to use them effectively, I’m a little lost in this world.



Before my release from prison, I was thinking a lot about technology strategy. My wife used Microsoft products, but everything I read indicated that the learning curve for Apple products was much faster. On the day she took me, she handed me an iPhone 4S. During my first week at liberty, we bought a MacBook Pro and iMac. I hoped that all of them would be easy to work with each other. But since my wife was not familiar with Apple products, she insisted that I upload Microsoft products to them so she can help me when I have problems. I immediately had many problems with simple tasks, such as email and synchronization of all my computers. I also found it difficult to remember all the passwords that she created for me. I argued to her that we should use only one password, but she spoke about the danger of identity theft. Since I met many people in prison who were serving sentences for identity theft, I believe my wife is right.

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