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By my calculation, that means you "stopped" any new technologies in your early 40's - which seems decidedly young. Especially given that a lot of the new technology are merely extensions of pc's that I guess you had then and still use? So mostly a matter of convenience about having greater access to the internet and apps on tablets and smartphones.
Do you also eschew gps and backup cameras or other safety type devices now available?
I'm in my early 50's and though I no longer get a new phone every year, I definitely do replace it...add new apps all the time, text more than talk, etc. I don't delude myself that at some point tech will get tougher to learn but I'm not ready to stop quite yet.
Technology IS changing at an ever faster pace that makes it difficult to keep up but also has more of a cost if you DON'T keep up.
I do NOT have GPS, any kind of camera, or any safety-type devices -- and, yes, I did give up on new technology (except for a DVD/Blu-Ray) when I was in my early to mid-40's. I am just hoping that I will not be forced to do all my banking and financial stuff on-line.
It's interesting how many people feel the need to proselytize about technology, especially smart phones. The proselytizing is so strong.
They want to defend their investment and usage, and feel the need to try to convince others, but also themselves.
It has been proven that the constant checking/use of a smart phone as if an appendage is because dopamine is sent to the brain upon every notification, every noise, any time something is received, and there's the urgent looking & hoping for something to be received or to send, so it is definitely an addiction. All the people walking around staring down at their phones with heads bowed, and who cannot put the phone down even when in the company of others (often younger people the most) are hopeless addicts.
And the rampant 'selfies' are often narcissistically ridiculous. And I agree with Kevxu at his post #26.
Last edited by matisse12; 02-15-2017 at 04:59 PM..
I'm a hard core tech person. Hint - there's this thing called The Cloud you've probably heard of ....
Nonetheless, I hate, hate, hate the way that the B2C tech space has become this treadmill of planned obsolescence, consumerism, promotion of emotional buying, getting people addicted to the web, etc, etc.
So many people who should be putting money into their emergency fund or retirement savings, not to mention even shorter term concerns, are being manipulated into blowing it on the latest bright shiny object.
It's a disgrace.
I think the real appropriate technology is in the B2B space.
Only if its bad or useless technology. Such as so-called "smart phones", which are lousy phones and even worse as a computing device.
But I'm happy to upgrade my desktop. And I don't mind at all inheriting my son's laptops when he upgrades. I still have my EEE PC "netbook", it still runs Vista, and it is still head and shoulders better than a "tablet" - and doesn't require me to "register" it, forcing me to get a google mail account to do so. Which "smart" phones also force you to do (Android ones at any rate).
Tablets killed the netbook, despite the fact that a netbook has 10 times the functionality and 1% of the security/privacy issues of a tablet. When mine finally dies I will move to the smallest laptop I can find. There is just no purpose to a tablet. In order to make it usable, you need a real keyboard and mouse, one or both of which may have to be bluetooth given the dearth of extra USB ports. And you would need a clamshell or other hard case to protect it from damage so you can safely toss it in a backpack, briefcase, or even in the back seat of your car. By the time you do all that, you might as well have just gotten a small laptop to start with, so I just cut out all the intervening bother and get what is actually useful to start with - an actual, real computing device aka a laptop.
I'm good with a Roku so I can stream to my TV. I used to have it hooked up to one of my old computers but it went belly up and I decided after 10 years it had done its duty - so, the Roku. I'd prefer a computer, but its not really cost-effective unless I happen to come across an "extra" again, or if I decide to fix the old one after all (probably not).
I don't want to computerize my house. I know how to use a light switch, and a simple mechanical timer takes care of anything that needs to come on or go off at particular (or even random) times.
I wanted a BB-8 until I found out that it would only work with a cell phone app. So no BB-8 for me. (that's the little round robot in the new Star Wars flick).
Basically if its useful, I'm for it. If its the latest i-Phone that doesn't even have a headphone jack - no freakin' way.
I/O? To g__-d__ h___ with I/O! We have no I/O. In fact, we don’t need I/O. I don’t have to show you any stinking I/O, you g__-d__ cab__ and achin__ tu madre!
In all seriousness, yes, the lack of decent I/O on these devices is utterly maddening. Truth is, they (the device maker and network provider) do not want you to have good connectivity with your own peripherals, storage array, PC, server, etc. They only want you to have access to their stuff, and they throw a bone with Blue Tooth / etc to allow head phones.
I am particularly interested if any of you know of anyone who does not have a personal computer, and if they are able to get along without it.
There are people in my senior complex who don't have computers but when they feel the need to use one there is a media room and library in the building where they can use the computers that are there.
I know a few.
1) My 76 year-old uncle. He still helps his son on occasion in professional work. Plus, every day he is out and about walking, eating, or shopping.
2) My 80 year-old mother. She lives alone but is out every day unless the weather is extremely bad. She loves going to the library, does all of her banking in person, goes shopping, and meets friends and family for breakfast or lunch. Now, she does cheat a little by having me order books for her online from time to time as well as the occasional item from Amazon. However, she could go without that, but it's nice to be able to do it for her.
3) My mother's 98 year-old friend and her 100 year-old sister. Both ladies live with relatives but spend time talking on the phone and get out whenever someone will drive for them. One is a bird watcher who is very happy looking out the window and throwing food to our feathered friends.
4) My 85 year-old aunt who also lives alone. She gets out many days, always gets her hair done weekly, goes to the vet/dog groomer, and does her banking and shopping in person.
5) Two 85 year-old friends of my mother, one lives alone and the other with a daughter. One was given a smartphone but hated it and got her flip phone back.
I'm sure there are many others I'm forgetting. The thing I love seeing is how getting out every day keeps these relatives and friends young-at-heart and sprightly. My mother is the only one I can see from this group who might get a computer if she found herself stuck inside day in and day out. She's very inquisitive and on-the-ball mentally.
1) My 76 year-old uncle. He still helps his son on occasion in professional work. Plus, every day he is out and about walking, eating, or shopping.
2) My 80 year-old mother. She lives alone but is out every day unless the weather is extremely bad. She loves going to the library, does all of her banking in person, goes shopping, and meets friends and family for breakfast or lunch. Now, she does cheat a little by having me order books for her online from time to time as well as the occasional item from Amazon. However, she could go without that, but it's nice to be able to do it for her.
3) My mother's 98 year-old friend and her 100 year-old sister. Both ladies live with relatives but spend time talking on the phone and get out whenever someone will drive for them. One is a bird watcher who is very happy looking out the window and throwing food to our feathered friends.
4) My 85 year-old aunt who also lives alone. She gets out many days, always gets her hair done weekly, goes to the vet/dog groomer, and does her banking and shopping in person.
5) Two 85 year-old friends of my mother, one lives alone and the other with a daughter. One was given a smartphone but hated it and got her flip phone back.
I'm sure there are many others I'm forgetting. The thing I love seeing is how getting out every day keeps these relatives and friends young-at-heart and sprightly. My mother is the only one I can see from this group who might get a computer if she found herself stuck inside day in and day out. She's very inquisitive and on-the-ball mentally.
Then there are people like my folks. Dad passed a while back, Mom's in her 80s. They were kitters back in the day. Radio Shack, the early Fry's, etc, were familiar places. Nonetheless, they despise(d) the direction consumer tech has gone. I must have inherited that gene.
Part of the sad irony of older folks ''getting out and about'' for social interaction is that more and more the people ''out there'' are zombied out on a phone or ipod or what not and there is no one to interact with at the store, the salon, the park, the gym, the bike trail, the school, the theater, ETC.
Yesterday I went to the park with 2 small dogs. Passed walkers, joggers, cyclists, people on benches just sitting. All ''connected''. Not one reacted to a smile, a wave, a little dog coming up to them on the path. It's almost like ''The Twilight Zone''. I am really tired of it.
Me? I have a smartphone, an Android. Use it for email, text, internet, social media, GPS, blogging, paying bills, banking. But I still talk to some friends and family on it's phone. I know people who won't talk on the phone, only text or use FB. I know some 70+ folk who only have a basic cell for talking and pay all bills by mail and own no computers nor use any tech devices. They do just fine.
I am trying to wean off some of the ''wasted'' time that I spend on-line, but I do find my tech devices to be life-enhancing. Android phone, Kindle Fire, laptop, Fire Stick, DVD, CD player, HD TV, and basic old fashioned am/fm radio. I still also read hard books and frequent the library and what few bookstores that still exist. Don't want one of those Echo or Google things or a talking GPS. I cherish my time in quiet and nature and off any grid. Nothing beats a good book, snuggled in bed or recliner or a live chat with a real person. If electricity ''uninvented'' itself tomorrow I'd be just fine. Kerosene and a wood burning stove. Yep. That's my dream.
THIS (bolded). My problem is that I have "sausage fingers", and I know that I could not type using a touch keypad. I tried using one at a hair salon to check in, and the receptionist had to do it for me!
It takes practice. I didn't think I could do it either. I only use one finger, haven't developed the multi finger tapping and probably never will.
It's interesting how many people feel the need to proselytize about technology, especially smart phones. The proselytizing is so strong.
They want to defend their investment and usage, and feel the need to try to convince others, but also themselves.
It has been proven that the constant checking/use of a smart phone as if an appendage is because dopamine is sent to the brain upon every notification, every noise, any time something is received, and there's the urgent looking & hoping for something to be received or to send, so it is definitely an addiction. All the people walking around staring down at their phones with heads bowed, and who cannot put the phone down even when in the company of others (often younger people the most) are hopeless addicts.
And the rampant 'selfies' are often narcissistically ridiculous. And I agree with Kevxu at his post #26.
Meh, I don't know that its any stronger than the sentiment of those that indignantly (and haughtily) insist they avoid technology.
My husband and I are only in our early 60's, and we do not have a "smart" anything -- no SmartTV, no SmartPhone, and no IPad Basically, anything invented after about 1995*, we just don't have and don't want. Neither my husband nor I have EVER sent or received a text message.
I am wondering if any of you have done the same thing, and how it has worked out for you. I am particularly interested if any of you know of anyone who does not have a personal computer, and if they are able to get along without it. I suppose I am wondering if anyone knows of someone about 80 years old or older who is still living on their own without ANY modern technology and doing fine. (And, if so, where do they live?)
*We do have a senior "Jitterbug" phone, but we hardly ever use it; we just keep it in our car for emergencies.
My dad doesn't use a computer at all, in fact he resents the whole technological revolution. He is nearly 90 years old, his job was phased out by computers, and he never got past his resentment of the technology.
He would tell you he doesn't miss it at all, never needed it.
However.....he repeatedly ask me to look up information for him using my computer, and following up on things using my e-mail. In fact, I'd say that he just "dictates" what he wants done with the computer, but won't actually do it himself. He does it with my sister too, but my searching abilities are a bit better than her's so I get the majority of the orders, err I mean requests.
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