I’ve always thought I was pretty savvy when it comes to technology.

I can remember paying more than $400 for one of the first CD players almost 30 years ago. Computers have played a major role in my job for the last 20 years. I have watched and evolved as the influence of the internet has made the world smaller. Emails and Skype make global communications instantaneous and cheap.

When my brother-in-law was stationed in Germany in the mid-80s, I called my sister once a month. The 30-minute call cost $30. We used snail mail and recorded audio cassettes for longer, less timely discussions.

I have embraced cell phones, text messaging, digital photography (a massive time-saver compared to film), Facebook and other social media. Then comes the online side of newspapers, which is forcing me and others in this business to rethink the way we report and disseminate the news.

I mention all this for a reason. Two editors and I travelled to Columbus, Ga., last week for a seminar on “Futurizing the News.” It was an interesting and informative day. We hope to start implementing some of the ideas in the five Gulf Coast Newspapers and on GulfCoastNewsToday.com in the coming weeks.

We were asked to take a simple quiz to see just how tech-savvy we were. Could I create a web page? Ummm, “No.” Ever written a blog? “No.” Are you an avid consumer of digital content? “Sort of.” Then we reached the biggie. Can you create content with your smartphone or tablet?

“Everyone has a smartphone, right?” the instructor asked. Apparently, I was the only person in the room of four-dozen who shook their head. I was quickly singled out. “You know you’re going to have to break down and get one,” he chided me. I agreed and tried to get the seminar rolling again.

You were supposed to get 2 points for each yes on the 10-question survey. Sports editor Eric Man scored 16. People editor Jill Gentry was close behind with a 14. My score of 6 was barely enough to get me out of the bottom points category – 0-5 points “Ever feel like the world is passing you by?”

In my notebook, I wrote “I’m the dinosaur in the room.”

Home again, home again

Following the seminar, Eric and I had a four-hour or so ride home. He texted his wife as we approached Fairhope and his two small children, Savannah and Cade, were waiting outside. But they were looking for him to be in his car. As he got his stuff out of the trunk, one asked “Where’s my Daddy?” They didn’t believe me when I said he was behind the car, they had to go find him themselves.

I then drove to Daphne and saw a fuzzy white head looking out the front door window. Marcus was looking for me. The only problem, we drove to Georgia in Kathy’s car. He was looking for me in my blue Honda and was a little confused.

Friday evening, Kathy was reading my column and came across the part where I said I wanted to turn off the computer and listen to the birds all weekend. I was on Facebook, but did turn it off.

In fact, I never touched a computer last Saturday, working most of the day in the yard. And I got to hear plenty of birds. Our backyard has become a haven for birds. They are used to seeing us watch them eat through the windows. The physical presence of humans in the backyard led to lots of squawking from birds wanting us to go back inside so they could feed.

The wrens started to get brave by the end of the day. They started eating out of the feeder when they couldn’t see me. At least until the drill sounded as I put another screw in the new trellis.

Sunday morning, I did go online briefly to see when the second church service was. We normally go to early church but working in the yard all day meant a certain dinosaur needed to sleep a little longer. The only time I touched a computer for any length of time was late Sunday afternoon when I needed to start back working on Tuesday’s paper. But that was a brief session.

It did feel good to unplug, even if it was just for the weekend.

William Moore is the Senior Editor at Gulf Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at wmoore@gulfcoastnewspapers