Meanwhile, in a not-so-distant future
I am the user of a netnetnetbook, also known as a 3N or, popularly, as a “3netty”. The 3N is the result of three successive readaptations of the most common netbook models that appeared in the ’10s. The result is an even smaller computer, roughly the size of two open palms side by side. Portability and elegance with a QWERTY keyboard and an emphasis on communications, customizable looks and every kind of appeal for every kind of person, in its infinite variations… at a ridiculous price!
After the banning of paper for popular use, computers of this kind began to swarm the market, since in schools notebooks were replaced by the small computers. Similar effects occurred in several areas: notary offices, hospitals, commerce — almost everywhere there were one or two central computers and dozens of 3Ns and similar machines.
I remember the day I got my first netnetnetbook. I opened it deeply moved — an emotion that lasted very, very little. After a few minutes of typing, I noticed that my hands had to stay very close together, and my fingers had to make tortuous, contained movements, so that I would not press multiple keys at once on the minuscule keyboard. A horrible tension in the wrists and forearms settled in next.
Moreover, the proximity of keyboard and monitor forces the user to bend the head downward, so that one gradually keeps descending toward the screen until settling into a hunchbacked position. The hands, naturally, must rise up to the keyboard. Picture an ordinary citizen at work, or a school student, with a 3N on the desk: arms raised, hands turned downward pressing the keys, neck twisted, head low. We get something resembling the tyrannosaurus rex, with its dangling little arms and curved neck.
Evidently, I am not the only unfortunate owner of a 3N without the means to buy an ergonomic computer. Add to this the fact that many ordinary jobs employ the use of netnetnetbooks, and we have an entire generation of hunchbacks with swaying little hands and aching wrists, and slightly dumbfounded facial features.