I remember the first time I visited a grove of redwood trees. What a surprise. I couldn't see a single tree.

I could let my eyes focus on an enormous trunk. I could look way up and see a canopy of green. Or I could look down at a thick carpet of fallen needles. But I couldn't --- in one glance --- see one of those giant trees. My eyes didn't have a wide enough field of vision.

Changes in technology pose the same challenge. We can't pull our mental cameras back far enough to see the big picture. Instead, we piece together our view based on a new product here, a trend there.

That's why you shouldn't be surprised that one of the most important changes in consumer electronics in decades is happening right before your eyes, right now. You've seen it but may have missed what it means.

What is this big deal? It's the wide screen. You may already have a wide-screen TV in your den. The next computer monitor you buy might have a wide screen.

And wide screens are becoming a popular option for laptop computers.

Big deal, right? If you're unimpressed, that's just my point. Wide screens will bring enormous changes to how we use technology. But most people think of them simply as another cool and expensive product, not a revolutionary change.

I think I can show you why they have the potential to bring so much change.

Stop reading for a second and look around. If you have normal vision you can --- without turning your head --- see an almost 180-degree view.

That's the natural way humans see things. We live in a wide-angle world. It's how visual data have been going to your brain since the day your eyes first opened.

Now think for a moment about how you get visual information by television or computer screen. Up to now, you have been getting visual data in narrow vision, not in the natural way our eyes and brains work.

That's a big deal in a lot of different ways.

When you're watching the TV, you aren't seeing an accurate view of what's happening, whether you are watching a video of your child's birthday or a newscast of rioting in Paris. Instead, the camera focuses on some narrow detail of the real picture. That misrepresents reality.

Your computer monitor has its problems, too. The narrow screen changes how you work and makes you less efficient.

Let's say that you need to research the economy of Brazil. To do that, you must browse various Web pages. You also need a word processor for your notes. And since you're dealing with the economy, you're also crunching some numbers with a spreadsheet program.

Think how you'd work at the same task sitting at a real desk, instead of at a computer. Your reference book would be open, a notepad would sit next to it and --- on that same desk --- you'd have a calculator for crunching the numbers about the economy. You'd be able to move seamlessly from one task to another.

When you do the same work at a computer, each task probably fills your entire screen. If you try to force several of these tasks on the screen at the same time, everything gets so tiny that it's useless.

All it takes to change that is a wide screen.

As things stand today, you'll pay a premium --- a pretty high one --- to watch TV on the wide screen. Wide-screen monitors for your computer are premium-priced, too. But that's changing fast. Within a year I bet that wide-screen TVs and monitors will be the norm. As wide screens become more common, everything you see on TV will be shot in wide format. Computer programs will be written in ways that will let them take advantage of the wide screen.

My record as a prophet is fairly dismal. But I feel easy telling you that wide screens are going to broaden the way you get information --- and use it.

You still won't have a view that matches the wide-screen view from your brain and eyes. But your TV and computer screen will come much closer.

It's going to be a big deal. Who wants a narrow-minded view of the world?

tecbud@ajc.com