Dismissing reports that he is "out of the loop" when it comes to information technology, presidential candidate John McCain, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he understands the importance of IT and is "using the computer more and more every day."

"Am I a tech freak? No," he said in an interview Monday with The Chronicle. "And I don't like to text message because I'd rather call somebody on the telephone."

McCain said he understood the importance of blogs and recognizes that technology "is changing the shape of the news. ... It's changing the information age, and I've got to stay up with it."