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Old 03-08-2015, 05:49 PM
 
Location: Rural Wisconsin
19,585 posts, read 9,117,631 times
Reputation: 37816

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I am 61, and I have DVD's, CD's, a PC, a microwave oven, I order on-line, and I have a cellphone (the senior citizen Jitterbug), but those are all the inventions from the past 50 years or so that I want in my life! I refuse to have a so-called "Smart" anything!

At least 90% of what I cook and bake is from scratch, and my favorite things to do besides on-line forum participation and reading actual books are walking along nature trails and going tent camping. At the risk of being a hypocrite, with the exception of medical technology, I think modern electronic technology has been largely responsible for the decline of morals and basic courtesy today.

Yes, I am a "dinosaur" and proud to be one, and I just hope that I will not be forced to join the modern age any more than I am willing to do so!

Last edited by katharsis; 03-08-2015 at 06:09 PM..
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Old 03-08-2015, 06:07 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,600,167 times
Reputation: 11562
I was born before WWII. I have the old time skills and know what my grandfather could do in the 1880s. I have white hair. I can be out in the woods and encounter another hunter who is uncertain of where he is. I reach in my parka and haul out my iPad mini which fits in my parka pocket. I show him on Google Earth where he is and what is around him in very sharp photo images. Then I tap the screen and a topographic map appears showing where we are standing. He looks at me as though I must have just stepped out of a space ship.

Not all geezers are ignorant. That said, the hunter I just astonished may have skills I do not possess.
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Old 03-08-2015, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,493,320 times
Reputation: 16449
At age 65, I fully embrace the technology that works for me. Obviously, I know to work a computer. I even removed viruses that my wife inadvertently installed on this desktop.

My iPhone has become a valuable tool and a source of entertainment. Last April, we went to Hawaii to visit the grandkids. I brought my phone. What was interesting is what I did not bring. The list: laptop, camera, reading material (including my Bible), flashlight, maps or a GPS. I watched a movie on the plane on my phone and several more on Netflix and YouTube at our son's home. Read the news, checked email, posted on C-D. Found a hardware and pizza place with my phone giving me turn, by turn directions. We attended church and I had my Bible in my pocket. Heck, I even used my phone to place telephone calls!

And BTW the camera on my iPhone 5s is better than my Canon point and shoot. And yes, the experiment was a total success. Will just have my phone for travel from now on.

My wife's 73 year old friend loves her smartphone and texts us pictures on a regular basis.

Last edited by Mr5150; 03-08-2015 at 06:53 PM..
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Old 03-08-2015, 06:15 PM
 
Location: SW MO
23,593 posts, read 37,364,888 times
Reputation: 29336
I first started using computers when I was stationed at the Pentagon in 1975 and progressed from there to a Commodore 64 - much easier than a printer based system - at home with all the bells and whistles it eventually offered to include a modem and printer. From there it was a an HP with Word Perfect - hated it - and then a Mac all-in-one that seemed like a miracle with click and drag. I even ended up with a laptop. Finally I graduated to a PC with Windows in 1996. I have Widows 7 at home with which I'm perfectly content. I guess I'm eventually going to have to move up to Windows 8.something or 9 or 10 and I don't look forward to it.

I have a flip phone with some data capability so I can bring up emails and respond to them and accept and send text messages which I don't really care for so I never initiate them. It's small, has buttons and suits me. All I want in a cell phone is the ability to send and receive telephone calls. Isn't that what phones are for anyway?

We do have an Android, smarter-than-me phone which totally intimidates my wife and I don't like because with my neurological issues culminating in greatly reduced feeling and some loss of control in my hands I have a great deal of trouble with touch screens. I hate all these damn apps and don't download them. I will not have my entire life on or dependent upon something I could easily lose or break. Being a mini-computer the smart phone is handy when traveling to look things up but I have a GPS conveniently mounted in the car that I use.

One thing I do like is the ability to receive and pay bills through my bank. I can take care of everything in about five minutes on the first of the month.

My wife has a Nook but for me, when it comes to reading which I do a lot of, I prefer the tactile elements of real books.

In summation, compared to many I'm now probably also a dinosaur and throw-back when it comes to technology and an ignorant geezer. But I'm retired and I don't welcome constant learning curves. That's all!
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Old 03-08-2015, 06:20 PM
 
Location: South Texas
480 posts, read 1,179,996 times
Reputation: 613
Default Loving the tech!

OK, I'm a techie. Love tech items but I've learned to wait for the second version/model to be released. By that time, most of the bugs are worked out of things and there is normally a healthy after-market for support items -- cases, cables, screen covers, that sort of thing.

The thing I love the most over the past couple of years is the ease of interfacing with your electronics. Bluetooth and other wireless interfaces now can be voice enabled and/or controlled or have a cellphone/table-based application that can control specific items from anywhere on the planet. Whole-home management, though still somewhat expensive, is another application you can get for your tablet and smartphone that links to your home security system (think: home monitoring), environmental controls, interior and exterior lighting, even your oven if you want to warm it up before you get home.

Even the electronics in most late model cars and pickup trucks exceeds the capabilities most of us had in our homes and work places just a few short years ago.

There are so many tech things that are just "gee whiz" fun nowadays. I can't wait to see where technology takes us tomorrow.
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Old 03-08-2015, 07:02 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,813 posts, read 32,336,193 times
Reputation: 38572
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gandalara View Post
NoMoreSnowForMe -
Just an FYI ... Windows will be offering a free upgrade to Win10 (for 1 year after the release date) for people running Win7, Win8.1 and WinPhone8.1 devices. This is according to PCWorld and CNet and other sources. But they still haven't said when they are releasing Win10
(I'll have to go find some free wi-fi when Win10 is released. Thank the ghods I was staying at a hotel when I upgraded from 8.0 to 8.1 - it was a huge download!)
I know, but not for XP! Ahhhh! I don't want to have to learn one to get the other one. I wish Microsoft didn't have to reinvent the wheel with every OS. Sigh. I'm wondering if the transition to Mac might be better/easier. The thing is, my eyesight is fading, and I would need the 15" screen - so would have to go all the way for a MacBook Pro. Sigh again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasDillo View Post
OK, I'm a techie. Love tech items but I've learned to wait for the second version/model to be released. By that time, most of the bugs are worked out of things and there is normally a healthy after-market for support items -- cases, cables, screen covers, that sort of thing.

The thing I love the most over the past couple of years is the ease of interfacing with your electronics. Bluetooth and other wireless interfaces now can be voice enabled and/or controlled or have a cellphone/table-based application that can control specific items from anywhere on the planet. Whole-home management, though still somewhat expensive, is another application you can get for your tablet and smartphone that links to your home security system (think: home monitoring), environmental controls, interior and exterior lighting, even your oven if you want to warm it up before you get home.

Even the electronics in most late model cars and pickup trucks exceeds the capabilities most of us had in our homes and work places just a few short years ago.

There are so many tech things that are just "gee whiz" fun nowadays. I can't wait to see where technology takes us tomorrow.
I love your attitude! I'm thinking the smart phone I'm planning on getting for myself for Christmas will be an i-pad. So, maybe it makes sense to just transition to all-Mac. It will mean getting out the credit card to pay for part of it, though, which makes me cringe.
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Old 03-08-2015, 07:07 PM
 
Location: Jamestown, NY
7,840 posts, read 9,157,947 times
Reputation: 13779
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasDillo View Post
OK, I'm a techie. Love tech items but I've learned to wait for the second version/model to be released. By that time, most of the bugs are worked out of things and there is normally a healthy after-market for support items -- cases, cables, screen covers, that sort of thing.

The thing I love the most over the past couple of years is the ease of interfacing with your electronics. Bluetooth and other wireless interfaces now can be voice enabled and/or controlled or have a cellphone/table-based application that can control specific items from anywhere on the planet. Whole-home management, though still somewhat expensive, is another application you can get for your tablet and smartphone that links to your home security system (think: home monitoring), environmental controls, interior and exterior lighting, even your oven if you want to warm it up before you get home.

Even the electronics in most late model cars and pickup trucks exceeds the capabilities most of us had in our homes and work places just a few short years ago.

There are so many tech things that are just "gee whiz" fun nowadays. I can't wait to see where technology takes us tomorrow.
I'm an inquisitive person by nature. I see a back road I've never taken before, I'll drive down it to see where it goes. I see a short article on something in a magazine or a segment on a tv show, and I'll start reading up on it to find out more. When I was in sixth grade, a friend introduced me to science fiction. What was science fiction 50 years ago is commonplace reality today.

I'm a computer programmer/analyst who started out writing COBOL programs on punch cards. One of the reasons that I left my state job to take a lower paying job at a small public community college years ago was that it offered more opportunities to learn and use new technology. I was an under-employed historian teaching middle school when I read an article about how computer programming was a good career for women who liked to do puzzles, so I took a night class at one of the local colleges, and with the first program I ran, I was totally and completely hooked. Adapting to new and constantly changing technology has pretty much been my working life ever since.

I simply can not imagine closing my mind to learning new things. I don't have to master all the new technology that comes along, but I want to at least know about it so that I can choose whether or not to use it.
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Old 03-08-2015, 07:12 PM
 
5,139 posts, read 8,822,437 times
Reputation: 5248
with all the major hacking that has happened this past year or so (Target, Blue Cross/Shield,TurboTax, Michaels, major dept stores, etc.) I am glad I don't do my banking and bill paying on line. It's not that I can't do it, I just choose not to...I try to protect myself as much as possible from identity theft and all kinds of bad stuff. ID theft is going to be the major computer issue in the future.
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Old 03-08-2015, 07:53 PM
 
Location: On the East Coast
2,361 posts, read 4,854,188 times
Reputation: 4103
I had to laugh when reading this. DH and I are almost opposite ends of the spectrum. I do everything online, have a smartphone where I text, play games, and do things online. I keep my GPS updated and try to learn new things as they come out. I'm not the most tech savvy person in the world but I at least try to keep up with what will help me in my daily life. I just bought myself a new Lenovo computer that had problems, so I just finished putting in a new WiFi card. Once I get it up an running I will wipe this one and set it back up for DH to use. I do all the financial stuff online...I just finished our taxes this afternoon....and only write checks when I absolutely have to.

Now DH, on the other hand, thinks that phones still should have cords! He has a flip phone from work and refuses to upgrade even though his bosses have been bugging him. Instead of messaging he calls or tells them to call. Now he does use a computer for work and some personal things including email, but he often tells me to look up something or order something, etc.

And vinyl???? Not only do we have tons of albums, but probably close to 1000 45s. Why you ask? Here is a picture of our sunroom telling you why. Yep, that is what you think it is. 1952 Seeburg. DH used to refurb them and resell.
Attached Thumbnails
Ageing and Fear of Technology!-sunroom-2.jpg  
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Old 03-08-2015, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Idaho
6,341 posts, read 7,703,560 times
Reputation: 14136
Somewhat off-topic, but computer technology related.

I quit windows about five years ago. There is nothing wrong with XP and nothing wrong with Windows 7. I switched to Linux, because on my home computer, Linux did everything that I wanted to do. About a year ago, I got a Mac laptop, and shortly thereafter, a Mac mini. The transition from Windows to Linux was almost seamless, and Linux if free! Free is good.

The transition from Windows/Linux to Mac OS is a little more difficult. It's taken some time, but the OS sure is a whole lot more stable, and pretty much virus free. As we all know, Macs cost more. After using them for a year or so, I now understand that 'you get what you pay for'. They really are worth the extra cost.
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