I have a confession to make.

I don’t trust computers any more.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m typing on one right now and I really appreciate many of the functions for writing and storing information.

But I think we’ve gone too far.

When I first started writing, I used a typewriter. An old fashioned, black, typewriter, probably an Underwood. It was the one my dad used for typing competitions in high school, back in the 1930s.

You had to push hard, and change the ribbon. If you made a mistake you started over, or used a special eraser, but there was nothing more comforting than to see those black words on a page that were all my own.

The augment of the typewriters with correcting tape, and later the early word processors were amazing. I fell in love with the IBM Selectric typewriters. When I moved into a job where we had a computer, I was impressed.

My first bad experience with that computer was keeping track of reservations for a major dinner. We had two governors speaking. We were getting reservations in, and we were giddy. We had a sold-out event.

It was more than that. It was oversold.

It seemed that we had reached the capacity of the computer or floppy disk and every time my assistant typed in a name, one dropped off the list. How could that even happen?

Maybe that’s not what really happened, but that was my first experience with not trusting the computer. We had over 500 people show up for a dinner where we had room for 450. We put people in the hallway, on a patio, the kitchen scrambled to make more food.

It was embarrassing to me, the mayor, the hotel. I nearly lost my job. So I had to do something about it.

Home computers were just starting to come out, so I spent all of my paycheck to buy my first computer. I read the books that came with it, because even though I took a computer class in college, the computer world had changed a lot.

And I started understanding more about how they worked, I helped create a magazine using that computer, and wrote stories that I could easily modify and correct. I got a dial up internet connection and joined AOL. Some of the first computer companies were talking to me about websites and telling me how this internet thing was going to change everything.

Boy were they right.

Today, I’m working on Mac’s — the Apple version of the PC’s that I taught myself how to use.

I’m dependent on it doing what I expect and working correctly.

Today’s computers and smart phones can change spelling automatically, and sometimes change the whole context of a sentence. We have apps and social media sites, blogs, Instagram and Facebook pages, in addition to websites and too many other sources to even name.

And I’m skeptical all the time now.

Because I’m fairly savvy about research, that’s always been part of my nature, I’m seeing too much that is obviously not true.

When I set up my first Facebook page nearly 20 years ago, I never dreamed that half the stuff on it would eventually be advertising and false information. I’m bewildered now how to confirm what is true and what I suspect is not true. I just don’t have the time.

It’s part of the reason I am back at a newspaper, after being in private industry and non-profit work for most of my life.

I know where this news is coming from. I can take photos that are real, and I can write stories about the people and things around me that I know are true. Our community can be buffered from all the false information by keeping tabs on things that are published in the local newspaper.

For a long time, the computer was a time saver. And there are many aspects of the computer and the Internet that still does that.

But it’s use in some places has taxed users to the limit. There is frustration in offices and homes. Tasks that were done on paper and finished in a few minutes now take days and weeks to authenticate.

We have so many scams, even I am worried. Things are changed so regularly to keep us safe, that it’s a full-time job trying to figure out what is true, what is not, keeping track of passwords, and hoping that eventually someone will notify us in a way we can trust.

The local newspapers and local media are more important today than ever. We are all being bombarded with false information from every direction.

I trust that when we talk to our city manager, our school superintendent, our community leaders, and the business owners on the street, that it is real news that I understand and will pass along.

There are many communities who have lost their source of good, trustworthy information. When all that is left is their smart phones with their social media and “chosen” media source, they begin to lose connection with their neighbors, their businesses, their friends. They all become something you “like” or paste an emoji on to show you saw it.

To keep our local connections, your newspaper and radio station here in Webster City need you. We need you to read the paper, either online or with paper between your hands.

We need our advertisers, and we need our residents to support the local businesses, who you can look square in the eye, and say “This is what it costs, but I’ll work with you, so how is your family?”

The studies are coming out now with the way all this has rewired our brains. It’s rewired our children’s brains. It’s rewired our communities.

We need to take the wire out, and refresh ourselves.

And start trusting again.

Kolleen Taylor is the Community Editor for the Daily Freeman Journal.