How much of a Luddite are you?

In My Humble Opinion
1

You can’t be THAT much of one if you’re reading this, so I’m talking relatively speaking.

I have a cell phone. It’s a pre-paid thing that I bought at CVS. I don’t know the phone number. I keep it in the bottom of my shoulderbag just in case something happens to me while I’m walking to work or if I’m driving. So it’s default state is “OFF”. I probably have some voice mails on it from months ago that I still haven’t checked. I texted someone once. It took me fifteen minutes to write it because I kept messing up.

I have an mp3 player. I bought it at Target for $49.99. An elderly lady asked me about it and I told her that it held 350 songs (thinking she’d be impressed). She said, “That’s all?” I can afford an iPod. I just don’t need or want one.

I have two laptops. One that I keep at home and surf the web on. Another one–a cheapie–that I keep in my desk at work when I want to write during my lunch break. So I guess I’m not too backwards there.

Except for the fact that I have just one TV–a 13" tube, not a flat screen. It’s got buttons and a remote, so that’s good. But I don’t have a VCR or DVR. It’s connected to cable, though. It’s kind of embarrassing when Comcast comes to switch out modems or whatever and they see my small screen. Also, the screen is so small that words are cut off in the Guide menu. Sometimes I have to use context clues to figure out what a TV show is about, because critical words are missing.

I don’t have Facebook or MySpace accounts. I’ve never gone to one of those dating websites. I have a hotmail account that I use daily, and a yahoo account that I never use. I don’t chat or instant message. I don’t play computer games. Pandora is the coolest thing I use. And Skype.

I don’t know what “4G” means. I don’t know how a Blackberry is different from a regular cellphone. I don’t know how an iPhone is different from a non-iPhone. I don’t know what “Droid” is.

I’m not afraid of technology, so I guess I’m not a Luddite at all. But I am averse to buying things that I feel are unnecessary. Like, why do I need to leave my cellphone on ALL THE TIME? If I need to call you, I’ll call you. If you need to reach me, you can email me or leave a message on my Skype voice mail, which will notify me by email. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. And why do I need to access the internet on my cellphone? How much of it can you enjoy on that little screen?

I guess if I had to grade myself on technocoolness, I’d give myself a C-/D+.

And you?

2

I had a cell phone, but didn’t use it much; I got rid of it to save money. I had an iPod, but didn’t bother to get it fixed or replaced after it broke (I don’t listen to that much music anyway). I’ve been using Facebook mostly for Farmville lately. I don’t have an HD television, but I’ll probably get one when my current set breaks. I do have a decent-sized HD monitor on my computer, though. I haven’t gotten around to getting a DVR yet, but I probably will sooner or later.

I do have a gaming PC which I use a lot, and most of my games are digital downloads (Steam is awesome). My optical drive can read Blu-rays, but I haven’t used it to watch any yet; I don’t make it down to Best Buy much anymore on account of my downloading all my games.

3

I type first drafts of things (well, not emails) on a typewriter. It isn’t even an electric typewriter. This way I will always have a guaranteed paper copy of the first draft, no matter what happens to my computer.

It’s also handy for addressing envelopes, and much quicker than doing it on the computer.

4

I too have a prepaid cell phone that I don’t use much. Mine sits in my truck and the battery is usually dead. I have about 500 minutes prepaid but in the year I’ve had it I might have used ten minutes or less.
No mp3. I still listen to cassette tapes and CDs.
No laptop.
No cable TV.
No high speed internet. Dial-up, Baby!
Never been to Myspace or Facebook except following links from a message board and I left before it all loaded.

5

I have the same cell phone I’ve had for the last 8 or 9 years with a pay as you go plan. I use the phone maybe once a week. I still have a land line.
I have the same desktop computer I bought in 2004. It still works fine, I added some more memory a couple years ago.
I don’t have an Ipod. I have a portable cd player I use when I’m on my exercise bike.
I have the same 27" tv I got in 1996, it works fine.
I have a Facebook account because my friends from work asked me to. I check it every couple of weeks. It doesn’t make much sense to me, it seems that people use it to collect friends to show how popular they are, or to sell stuff. I don’t play the games on it.
I think that they invent these things to part you from your money and then use them to get you to spend your money on more stuff, the old “create a need and then fill it”.
I like to knit and crochet my own blankets and scarves.
I’m still using the same refrigerator I bought in 1983 (some of you dopers are younger than my fridge) it doesn’t have an ice maker in it.
I have a VCR / DVD player and high spped cable internet & TV.

6

I do have an iPod (actually one my wife and I share), but still listen regularly to cassette tapes.
I don’t have a DVR, and if I want to watch something that’s on when I’m not home I set the timer on my VCR/DVD combo and record on a VHS tape.
Also until two years ago when my parents got me a digital camera for my birthday, I was still using my Minolta 35mm. In fact I still use it quite often, especially in situations where I want to take really high quality photos (the digital my parents got me is a cheapie that works fine outdoors during the day , but not very well in low light).

7

My wife gave me her iPod a few years ago when I bought her an iTouch; I have never used it and am confident I never will. I have no interest in music anymore.

I recently canceled my Comcast account, so no more cable for me. I do watch programs online though. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the 8 billion TVs I have around the house, however.

I have a Facebook account that I’ve opened once; which was enough to realize I don’t have patience for, nor interest in, Facebook. I have a Ning account I never use. I’ve never been to MySpace, and assume it is just Facebook by another company. I have a LinkedIn account; thank goodness all I had to do was set up my profile and forget it.

I have a TiVo DVR, but stopped using it at least a year before I canceled my cable; it’s no longer plugged in.

I have a BlackBerry that I leave hooked up in the car. I don’t walk around with a cell phone. If I’m not in the car, you can’t get me on the phone unless I’m in the office.

I still have a live phone line at home, but it’s only because my alarm system requires it; I don’t have a ringing phone attached to it. We use my wife’s cell phone for incoming and outgoing calls from the house.

I have a library of hundreds of movie DVDs I haven’t watched in well over a year. Needless to say, I’ve stopped buying DVDs.

8

the only things I really refuse to deal with is stuff like Facebook and Twitter. Facebook because the handful of people who might actually care about what I’m doing can already either text, e-mail, or call me.

Twitter I don’t use because it’s fucking stupid. it’s just another outlet for attention whores who think that everything that pops into their brain just has to be broadcast to the world.

9

That’s it in a nutshell for me. I got my MSc in computer science (focus on AI in mobile robotics); due to family stuff, left grad school as an ABD (all but dissertation, for those non-academics reading). With that background (and still interested in/pursuing various tech stuff), I’m not really a luddite, although I do occasionally joke about being one.

I much prefer going with the Amish analogy – I weigh what I think the effects of technology will be in my life and consciously choose to partake or not. Usually not.

10

I have a Facebook account. I couldn’t figure out a good use for it 'til I started posting links to it.

I have a Twitter account – two, actually – both of which I rarely use. It bores me.

I don’t have an iPod or iPhone. I have a regular mobile that I rarely use.

I have a Blu-ray drive and full HD monitor, because I enjoy movies and find the technology more cinematic. I have a desktop, plus a laptop that gathers dust.

The real irony is that I work in computer science research. But so much of the current hot tech seems geared towards GenY (of which I’m not) – the whole “Let’s turn our lives into a Reality TV show!” idea. It doesn’t appeal to me at all.

11

Good question; like the rest of you, I’m a mix of high(ish) tech and not interested.

I have a purse-dwelling cellphone, too, that I’ll pull out when I feel a need (like when my tire was flat when I came out from work). I don’t feel the need to chat with anyone, ever.

We have a big, HD tv downstairs that we inherited. We don’t watch it much. We have an eight-year-old 5 disk surround sound dvd player that we still use and love. We have an approx. 15 year old tv upstairs that we watch mostly. It has a dvr attached to it that we use daily. We’ll be replacing this tv, not because it’s too small or not hip enough, but because shows are broadcasting in widescreen and we’re losing too much info on the sides of the screen now.

I had an iPod, and I loved it like a firstborn. I recently washed it and ruined it; I will be replacing it on Monday. My husband has an iTouch that he loves like a firstborn.

We have a PS2 that we rarely play.

We have many dvds that we do play.

We buy cds regularly; I load the cds onto my computer and put the original cd away.

We keep our computers fairly current; the newest computer in the house is a one-year old Macbook. The other regularly-used computers are a pair of four year old iMacs.

I deleted my Facebook account. I have a Myspace account somewhere that I haven’t been on for God knows how long. I check my two email accounts regularly every day. I check Twitter regularly and enjoy it.

ETA: Forgot to say, I do all our banking and bill-paying online.

B-?

12

The OP has a cell phone, two laptops, uses Pandora and Hotmail. The Luddite bar has been moved.

13

Personally, I hate those spinning jenny things, all my clothes are hand made.

14

I have a cell phone, but I almost never use it. I think cell phones are absolutely the bee’s knees and the cat’s pajamas when it comes to picking up someone at the airport, because the picker upper and the picker uppee can call back and forth about just where they are. The phones are also damned handy when meeting someone at a restaurant, only you’re running late or the restaurant is closed for Memorial Day or something. My husband is worried that I’ll have some sort of medical problem while I’m out running around, and that’s why he insisted on getting me a cell phone. However, I think they are too convenient sometimes…my husband does most of the grocery shopping, and he’d gotten into the habit of calling me for extremely trivial things like they’re out of gallons of milk, should he just get two half gallons instead? Since I generally sleep during the day, and since I think that anyone with two frigging brain cells should be able to figure this out, this behavior has led to him getting his head bitten off.

I’ve never even attempted to text someone. The only texts that I’ve received are spam.

I don’t Tweet, and don’t have an account. I don’t believe that all of my friends want or need to know when I’m eating lunch, for instance.

I have an XBox 360, but it’s not connected to the internet. I also have a PS2, a PS1, a Super Nintendo, and a Nintendo. The PS1 and NES are not hooked up, but I do still have the cables and such for them. The other game systems are usually hooked up, and I play with them several times a week.

I don’t have an MP3 player. My computer and the PS2 are very good at playing music and movies.

I knit and crochet and embroider and tat, too.

15

But she doesn’t have a smartphone, which is apparently the only real measure of a non-luddite these days.

Some of us here might be luddites about certain gadgets, but asking “how much of a luddite are you” on a message board is the wrong question.

16

I’m 58

I keep my cell with me 24/7, I can access the internet at all times over my PC, my laptop, or my cell phone. I love every little techie thing that comes out and have been a techno geek Way before anyone knew what that meant. I have been using the Internet since the days of Milnet before Arpanet when the thought of using graphics was way in the future.

I started programming computers in 1971 and have owned everything even resembling a PC since that time when I got a design for one by building from a 10" disk word processor.

I’m probably not the oldest geek but I have to be up there.

17

My weak spot is DVR/Tivo/what-have-you. Never used it, intimidated by it, don’t know how. I’m sure I’d like it, no doubt about it. I just don’t know how to start and I hate what I’m paying for cable already.

Would like to learn what exactly it means to “stream” Netflix.

And my fondest dream, technology-wise, is to browse the internet on my tv screen while being comfy on my couch.

I have a smart phone, though. And FB and a blog.

18

I eschew electricity. My smartphone works on angels breath. Ummm.

19

Most of what’s listed here aren’t things I’m adverse to so much as I just don’t have right now.

However, I’ve had people get a little defensive when I say I don’t want a kindle or another kind of e-book reader. Nothing against people who use them, I’d just rather have an actual book-book in my hands. Yes, I KNOW it’s still the same as reading a book – you’re still reading, just using a different medium. I just like the feel of a book in my hands. No, I’m not being judgement, I just don’t want want.
Sorry if I sound a little defensive myself. I’ve just had people think I something against them. Nope, I just don’t want one.

20

I finally gave up my Rolodex last week, in favor of an online address book.