Old man stuck in his ways vent

[Hankphenom]

People will adapt, especially youngsters who will take it all in stride just like we did hooking up stereo stuff and other things that baffled our parents. But is it better? That I can't answer, all I know is that instead of playing pickup football or basketball or reading on the couch like we did, kids nowadays are doing whatever on their phones. Doesn't seem like an improvement to me, and I'm very happy to have lived when I did without these things. Nobody had an answering machine until I was 40--how in the world did THAT work? You left a note or called back later, that's how. Logically, some important messages went unrecorded, no doubt, but I'd be surprised if a single person in the world ever said, "f**k, this is intolerable!" Its just the way it was, and the world went on. Much less complicated, that's for sure. Better? I have no idea.

[JollyElm]

A few years ago, I eased into having a cell phone. The key word there is "having."
It's good to be able to be reached (or be able to reach out) wherever you are. However, I refuse to be a robot who stares at it all day long, and unless it's entirely necessary (like clicking on a food item at Safeway to see if I get a deal on it), won't use it for anything my functioning brain can already handle.

So, I guess it's a happy medium.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

While I would have given anything to have been born about 70 years earlier to bear firsthand witness to so many things which matter to me, as a middle aged guy, I often think back in sheer gratitude that I was born when I was. My era has straddled so much interesting world development: sometimes wonderful, others scary.

To think I started out in a world where nobody I knew had a computer and still relied solely upon imagination to play as a child.

Devouring untold thousands of books as a teenager and young man as opposed to using a fairly useless internet that was just in its most basic infancy.

Understanding the immeasurable beauty of libraries and used book stores.

Travelling all over the world without a phone or GPS (or sometimes, even a functioning gas gauge); just good old Rand McNally to help me find my way. Getting lost on trips was time consuming, but it helped me to engage with people to ask for directions. Once in a while, I made a friend becuase of it.

Never making hotel reservations ahead of time was sometimes a pain when one couldn't be found, but a lot more freeing than having every moment of every day pre-planned because it "provides more security". Yeah, I've had to sleep in the odd church, farmer's fields or on a slab of concrete when a room wasn't in sight, but the stories are priceless!

Outside of work obligations, I tried having a cell phone once or twice, but it did nothing for me, so they never took. I spent years fighting the smart phone revolution, as I just saw rooms full of people not communicating with one another. While I'm no social butterfly, the whole thing just seemed rude and inward to me. Then, I got one. Now, I'm just like everyone else. I've adapted and am afraid that I'm so sucked in that it no longer bothers me quite as much as it truthfully should.

To the handful of guys here without such gadgets, I commend you. You're better people for it, and I have a feeling we just might get along if we ever met.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Nice post. We sure did manage to navigate without a device, didn't we? My kids have no sense of direction whatever. And I'm also from the generation that read books, and wrote letters. The only thing I will say for the phones and devices is that it's probably a good thing for someone to be able to reach you urgently, and vice versa. The worst aspects are the antisocial behavior you mentioned, and also it seems to me they have generated a culture where people expect instant gratification. I mean I would write a letter to someone and expect to hear back in a week or two, and it was fine.