Know Of Any Last Of The Mohicans? (grandparents, conversation, blog)
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I would call my DH's brother a Luddite. To my knowledge, he doesn't have a computer, or use the internet. He has no email address, and no social media accounts. I'm sure he would consider the cell phone a pox on the world. He's not unable or afraid, he's just unwilling. He is intentionally low tech in everything he does. I think it's a form of oppositional defiance.
He was a teacher for special ed students for his entire career. He retired some years ago, but we haven't heard from him in several years. He doesn't call us, and he has stopped writing letters even. He used to send us bits of his artwork on holidays, in lieu of cards, but even that has dried up. He used to call his mom on her birthday or Mother's Day, but that went by the wayside a couple years before she died. That really hurt her. He used to even hate vehicles (too much pollution) and would ride his bike everywhere, even 20-30 miles if necessary. He was given a couple of his parents' used vehicles after they traded up, and he let them sit in the driveway and rot, literally rot. Years ago we visited at his old house to pick him up for a trip, and the family station wagon sat in the driveway with 4 flats, and the rear window was left down for over a year. There was grass growing in the back area, and a family of squirrels living in it. I'm not making this up. The other 2 cars they gave him were sitting in similar state, and forever unused.
He's a very intelligent and talented artist who simply hates pretty much everything invented after 1970. At one time he had a landline and an answering machine, it delivered an obscure political screed instead of a greeting. When he moved he never gave us the new number. He's disconnected himself from society more and more, until now we don't even know if he's alive. We send cards to his last known address about once a year and get no reply, but no "return to sender-deceased" either. He declined the life insurance his mother bequeathed to him. We know this because he never responded to the insurance company's calls, and we had to send an affidavit saying we had no contact before they would release my DHs half of the money. Apparently he has no use for money other than his pension.
Last edited by TheShadow; 01-22-2022 at 09:39 AM..
I was late getting a iphone not untill May 2018 or a cell phone of any kind. I was so proud that I had finally joined the rest of the world that I used to carry it so everyone could see it. With the help of friends and a intrest and desire I learned it way faster than I thought I would.
I use my computer for most things like banking, shopping, and email. My phone is for talking to people. I don't text and know few who do. I do message people through Facebook.
Different strokes, eh! We never talk on our phone, as it turns out. Poor cell reception and the popular communication tool here is WhatsApp. But it's on DH's phone and he doesn't hear the alerts, lol. He wears headphones. So we miss most of the WhatsApp unless we're expecting something.
My phone doesn't even have phone service. But I can email and do all the internet stuff, though I don't use it for that. It sits by the bed as an alarm clock, camera, translator, fact-checker (after the laptop is put away for the night), bluetooth radio for the Bose speaker and lots of other uses. But no talking, lol. No texting.
I'd say I "love" my laptop and merely "appreciate" my smartphone. (2016 vintage, just fine for us)
I agree with the other poster who said it's not necessarily "stubbornness" but going with what works for you and what you need in your particular situation. In our case, we live with no phone calls or texts and no mail service. Different from what we WERE used to.
15+% of USA does not even have internet or cell service.
I've been to many quite remote international locations that are well served by connectivity. (Thanks to USA companies eager to reap more customers, and often funded by USA foreign aid, sometimes used for purposes that will be contrary to USA benefit and safety). Yet, plenty in USA cannot afford or may not have access to non-Mohican technology.
Well, not everyone in the world can use ARCGIS! Two things on that angle, the ARC......and K2.
ARCGIS is a dream, the stuff is wonderful.........and it costs thousands of dollars so most are not likely to have it on their home computer.
Ever read K2 by Heidi Howkins? https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Boo...yABEgKEtvD_BwE At one point in the book, they are going into one of the countries and they can't carry, a radio telephone, because of religious restrictions (she gets around it by saying it is replacement parts). One ought to realize that everyplace is not like home AND, to borrow from an example like Liberia, not every place in a country is like that in the capital.
Being a Mohican out here on the ranch is, of course, something of a retreat to primitivism choice.....and yet, on the other hand........
Take my cowboy coffee, for example. A pot on the stove top, water, and the grounds poured on to the water on top. HOW PRIMITIVE! And yet........when it comes time to get a new pot, the old one is completely recyclable. No plastic tubing, no plastic hull, just metal that can be melted down for something else.
Where does the time go? Well, of course, a lot of it is spent on the Net and despite that we might want to say we ought to be able to turn away from the Net......can we, really? So for those who are able, one way or another, let's not cut them down for it.
Add to it that one way or another, our connected electronic lives probably do increase the tension we all experience. Just using, for example, imdb to find out about Pink Panther "Cato" actor Burt Kwouk, for example. Look at almost any page and there is an advertisement for this or that which covers half the page, if only for a second. Or a page of information with that....or something that is click bait. It might only be there for a second......but it is irritating, BP points going up using the death of a thousand cuts method.
There are points to getting away from it all.......
I lived in Arizona, the only state that doesn't observe Daylight Savings! And I love it, twice a year!
That is something I get a kick out of, all those who dodge DLS, who use the meme about cutting off an end of the blanket to sew it on the other end to make it longer (how illogical it is) to prove their point.
Why the kick? Because they are trying to apply hard logic to humans living in a society! Living in a society, things are an interpretation, a translation..........and not hard fact. After all, how many different ways under the law can someone be killed?
Now, if someone doesn't use it, well, that's their affair but it isn't a matter of harsh science because humans together aren't too scientific.
I think we ought to respect those who adopt--or don't adopt the latest technology.
If we find it useful -- adopt it.
If we don't -- don't.
Me, I find much useful--and much, not.
When I see some folks --especially in the public sphere-- with their eyes and fingers hooked onto their smart phones with little awareness or engagement with their surroundings, I wonder...is this SMART? Or stupidity of the herd animal...?
I think we ought to respect those who adopt--or don't adopt the latest technology.
If we find it useful -- adopt it.
If we don't -- don't.
Me, I find much useful--and much, not.
When I see some folks --especially in the public sphere-- with their eyes and fingers hooked onto their smart phones with little awareness or engagement with their surroundings, I wonder...is this SMART? Or stupidity of the herd animal...?
Technology can be addictive, yes??
My issue with my Luddite friends is that there is technology that would be very helpful for them and they refuse to use it. When a dear friend recently told us he’d missed 2 doctors appointments, I wanted to tell him that a reminder function and calendar is built into the smart phone he begrudgingly uses after his flip phone died. Another friend was worried about mail theft because she had a large check coming from Fidelity. I told her those can be deposited electronically but she doesn’t trust electronic banking - she still pays bills with a check and a stamp.
I do respect their choice not to use it but I don’t really understand why.
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