I don’t “get” the iPod/MP3 craze either. I just can’t get my head around someone needing to have all that music at their fingertips all the time. I understand in principle but it just doesn’t sink into my old head. It’s like this: I have tons of CDs. If I want to listen to one, I pop it in the computer or in my audio system. If I’m in my car, I have the radio and gasp a cassette player (hey, the car’s 15 years old but it still runs and actually looks nice!). And for all the hoopla about them, I sure don’t see tons of people walking around with earphones in, dancing around with their iPod. If someone can explain the appeal (seriously), I’d appreciate it.
I don’t have a GPS. I don’t drive enough to justify the expense and my cellphone is pretty basic. I use it to make the occasional phone call, not to take pictures. I don’t need all that other crap.
But on the other hand, we have a couple HDTVs and I’ve shared torrents a few times. I was an avid online gamer until I got burned out, especially when I realized that most new games these days are just variations on the grind, grind, grind. In fact, when this nice gaming system PC finally craps out, I’m going to replace it with a laptop.
Everyone has a level of technology that they’re comfortable with having and using. If you don’t need or want an iPod, HDTV, torrents, etc., then the world will still go on. They’re just not important to you.
I’ve never played a video game in my life and wouldn’t recognize a Nintendo or Wii or XBox if one bit me. I don’t have GPS although I wouldn’t mind getting it. But a map works fine for me too. I thought iPods were useless until I got one and ended up loving it. But I’d be living just fine if I never had bought one.
I don’t think it’s good to get too far behind–but I think learning things like how a computer and email work are far more important than learning how an iPod works and buying one. You don’t really need an iPod, whereas a computer is much more valuable.
Re torrents: if you don’t want to download TV shows or movies or music or pirated software, then there’s no need to ever learn what they are or how they work. I’d consider them way far down on the scale of “practically essential technology.”
Little Wing, I recently got a 2GB Sansa MP3 player. The thing I love is that I don’t have to fumble with CDs anymore–I can carry around a decent number of albums in my pocket, or even in that little dimebag pocket if I’m wearing jeans. If I’m in the car, I can use an FM transmitter or plug it in to my tape deck. When I go to bed, I can plug it in to my clock radio and listen to whatever I want without fumbling around with a CD player. I can even pick up and record FM radio on it, so if a song comes on that I like but I don’t know what it’s called I can just grab it and then upload it to my computer. If I’m at my computer, well, I have more music on my computer, so I can just listen to what’s on the hard drive.
That’s the appeal of MP3 players for me: not that I can walk around town jamming (although that’s nice sometimes), but that I can carry a large collection of music in my pocket. I lurve the hell out of that thing. I only wish it had more storage space, but I was on a budget–and anyway, it has a Micro SD card slot, so I can expand its storage capacity to whatever I can afford in the future.
Yes, you are, God love ya. So am I, and I totally enjoy the lack of stress all of that superfluous tech would give me. Man, just reading your list made me nervous.
"…can I live like this for some time?"
Dude, let’s hope so! I intend to as long as I can still dial my rotary telephone.
Husband and I only recently (like, maybe four months ago) got our first cellphones. Ever. Our friends very nearly threw us a party, they were so excited.
It’s not about need, of course, but desire and is no different from having satellite or cable television. I personally don’t watch TV almost ever and make do with the internet, books, and, yes, music so having hundreds of channels means nothing to me. I do quite like music, though, and I have a much beat up 20g mp3 player that currently holds about 4,000 songs that I can and do carry pretty much anywhere and listen to as I please. I even take it to work and listen to it while on calls, which quite a few of my other colleagues do as well.
And before you ask, no I do not listen to all of that music and there’s probably a fair bit I never will or won’t even like if I do but it’s nice having it as an option and a few of my current absolute favorite bands are because a friend recommended it and I downloaded it only to hear it randomly a couple months later and think “Oooh, who is that?”
Of course, there’s no reason you have to start using new technology but I will make one point: all the tech you use is stuff you learned to use when you were relatively young and are very comfortable with. It’s very easy to use stuff you’re comfortable with, no thinking required. But I think there’s a lot of value in pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and learning about new things.
One, if you don’t keep abreast of new developments, there will come a time when you’re forced to use new tech (as your old comfortable faves are no longer supported and wear out) and it will be that much more painful and traumatic if you know absolutely nothing about them. Think about the poor old guys form the seventies who still have a collection of 8 tracks.
Two, there are documented benefits to learning new things as you age. Studies show that people who are mentally active tend to develop dementia at a later age than those who aren’t. It’s entirely possible that your still actively learning in something other than tech but I’ve often seen refusing to adapt to new technologies as one of the first indicators that a person is growing a bit stodgy.
Three, if you know nothing about what people are using for entertainment today, it can isolate you. You already experienced that to a small degree.
Take baby steps, you’ve got access to an incredible resource, the internet. You can find out all about mp3’s and other file formats on the web.
I say all this as a 40-year old who’s starting to feel left behind a little. I still don’t text and don’t know how to use most of the functions on my phone. But I force myself to learn a little bit about new tech when it comes out so I’m not completely ignorant. I also have to force myself to learn new versions of software at work. I’m most efficient on Microstation 7 but I’m forcing myself to get used to V8 or I’ll be left behind. And I’m finally getting myself an ipod for Christmas!
Hey, no problem. It’s what I do all. day. long. My biggest problem with technology is that I keep getting so much new music that I have to delete stuff from my MP3 player to fit it.
My thoughts on some of the more common technologies:
Cell phone/internet/email:
No one should be without these technologies in this day and age. You may not need an iPhone or a Blackberry, but if you don’t at least have an email address, people will be like what the fuck.
iPod:
Do you walk a lot or commute on public transportation? Do you actively look for music to listen to? If not, you might be perfectly content to listen to your car radio or the occasional CD (although many new cars have an input for your iPod). I never bothered getting one until I found myself traveling a lot for work and wanted something to entertain myself with on long flights.
HDTV:
I know people who don’t even own a TV. I just bought a 50" HDTV though and it kicks ass. If you like movies, it’s really nice having a big-ass HDTV screen. It’s expensive though (although I got a great deal). And most people don’t buy a tv more than once every 5 years or more.
Gaming console:
Not everyone likes videogames
GPS:
My phone has GPS service and it’s great, but I managed to survive for 34 years using only maps, written directions or my keen sense of direction.
Networking web sites (MySpace, etc):
I suppose they are entertaining, but at 35, not too many of the people I know from school use it. I have about 40 Facebook “friends” but most are really acquaintances from around school or work who I only sociallize with infrequently.
I know a Western writer of some minor success here in Thailand who not only does not have a cellphone, but he does not have an ATM card, even though he does have a bank account. He never pays attention to local holidays either, because when a holiday rolls around and the bank is closed, he invariably borrows money from me. Which he always repays within a day or two without fail, so that’s no problem, but seems a little odd. I even casually mentioned once that he could get an ATM card for his account, but he just sort of shrugged it off, so I never mentioned it again. I dunno, but he must go to the bank about every day; he always borrows just enough to see him through until the bank opens.
Particularly since I work on a college campus, I see people walking around with iPods all the time. No dancers, occasional singers. In addition to the benefits previously mentioned, I like to buy audiobooks from iTunes to listen to while I drive or exercise. It’s much easier to deal with one iPod than 6 or 8 CDs for an audiobook, especially when driving. One of the reasons I didn’t finish listening to Saving Fish from Drowning was that it was packaged as individual CDs in envelopes in a box and it was too hard to keep them in order.
I think it’s more that an MP3 player is less, I don’t know, “awkward?” I don’t have one yet-I’m hoping to get one for Xmas. I have to use my portable discman when I’m going to work on the bus, and it’s a pain in the ass, because it’s big, and my cds and all that take up too much space in my purse. I can only take a few CDs at a time, too.
So, it depends on what you want. It’s much more convenient, and because it’s smaller, it takes up less space.
I’m not saying you have to have one, if you don’t feel you need one. I’m just pointing out the appeal. Does that make sense?
I understand burn out. I work with children! People burn out but they burn out BECAUSE they are doing their job (it’s parents that cause burn out not kids!). I can’t understand how helping a doofus like me can be so stressful…surely it’s more a good thing. I can imagine trying to sell something to a know-it-all could be painful but surely selling to a doofus is a chance to put knowledge into action.
I wouldn’t call you a doofus, Calm Kiwi. You get an automatic exemption under the SDMB Members Rule.
Selling stuff to a know it all is easy. They already know what they want. All you have to do is get it from the storeroom and take their money.
Selling stuff to n00bs is a lot harder, because no matter how you explain it, you just end up confusing them, which leads to more questions, which leads to more explanations, which confuses the n00b customer further, which leads to more questions… And that’s assuming that the n00b customer doesn’t think the salesperson is deliberately lying to them. And there’s still a chance they’re going to return the product a week later because they just can’t figure out how to work it (read: too lazy or stupid to read the manual, in 95% of cases).
The reason people returning stuff is bad is because you end up with a storeroom full of damaged stock with missing boxes or manuals or remotes, which then has to be sold at a significantly reduced price, or else no-one will ever buy it.
FWIW, My dream is an electronics retail store in which you’re not even allowed through the front door without a purchase order, obtained off the store’s website. You browse through the store’s stock selection (which has colourful pictures and technical information phrased for both Geek and n00b customers), select what you want, print off your purchase order, and visit the store to collect your purchases and pay for them.
