Dear LPG

There is something that I have noticed and that I think is worthy of a mention in your pages.  I have been trying to teach my mother about the basics of getting on to the internet and while I think that I am doing a reasonably good job there is something that she has trouble remembering no matter how many times I tell her.

I am not sure if other readers are the same as her, but she often wants to know the answers to many different questions and so will Google one subject and then want to move onto another.  I have pointed out that she can do one of two things at this point; open another ‘tab’ (webpage) while she still keeps the information that she has already found, or she can just go back to Google using the tab that she has already opened which will automatically remove the information she has found previously and take her to the place where she wants to be in order to start searching again.

I think that so many virtual actions (things that we do when using a computer) reflect exactly what we need to do in real life.  We often find some reason for not moving forward because of all sorts of consequences and possible outcomes that may result.  When it comes to moving from one thing to another, whether that thing be a crisis, a goal, the next step we need to take to achieve an ambition, how we are going to deal with an argument we recently had with someone who is important to us, leaving this life for the next or anything else, we have the same choices; we can either hold onto what has happened in the past or focus on what we are going to do next.

Perhaps it is an easier choice for me because I am a Christian but I think that the latter is nearly always the way to go. Although because of my faith I would always throw in a few prayers.

AB, Lewisham.