# I put luddites who must remind everyone else how wonderful they are **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798 "2015-09-28T05:12:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/41 "2015-09-28T21:41:20Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I carried a flip phone for years, strenuously resisting getting a smart phone. “It makes calls,” I said, “Why does it have to do anything else?” > > Now that I have made the switch, I’ll never go back. I reverse flipped this. Had a smartphone and never used the extra widgets. I got tired of paying for extra widgets not being used and went back to a dumb phone. Now if the phone derps would let me have that phone without being forced to pay for internet and stuff then I would go back to using that phone. I do have games and music on it > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It feels like it, though, when you’re stuck behind an old lady in the grocery store checkout line. “God does not give one patience. God gives one the opportunity to be patient.” -God > [@russian\_heel](#): > > You sure you want to do this? Simma dawn na son. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nP1TWcILbcg/maxresdefault.jpg "Simmer Down Now - Simmer to down to now") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1TWcILbcg) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/42 "2015-09-28T22:05:41Z")
I like my pits the way I like my grapefruit: fresh, juicy, with a good bit of zing. This one has none of these characteristics. I demand to see the produce manager. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/43 "2015-09-28T22:07:09Z")
I might be a fucking Luddite, but I stick by the idea that shit like Twitter and snapthingy are a fucking waste of technology. :mad: I got to water the grass, so you know what to do. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/44 "2015-09-28T22:34:33Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I don’t give a fraction of a fat rat’s ass what anyone else does; my whole gauge is if and how much it affects me. If you have some objection / inability to manage using a debit card, well, it \*is \*still legal to write checks and stores still accept them, but for the love of god could you please have everything but the amount filled out beforehand? Yes, you still have the \*right \*to use them, but don’t be a cunt about it. Same with the folks who are very involved with their electronic devices. Pay attention to the goddamn world around you \*first \*and enjoy all your texting, chatting, tweeting and whatnot at a time when you’re not inconveniencing everyone else. ^ This. Make your choice, but be considerate of other people when you do so. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/45 "2015-09-29T01:10:47Z")
It takes me less time to write a check than it does for the nimrod in front of me to put all her coupons on the counter and then ask for item x to be rung up separately because she’s too fucking stupid to make change when she gets home. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/46 "2015-09-29T01:15:19Z")
At work, the cash registers will actually print the check for you - just hand me the damn thing, I’ll feed it through the machine, and hand it back to you as a receipt. Update your little book when you get home, m’kay? Actually, the big delay today wasn’t a check writer or Luddite - it was the nearly deaf (but not using hearing aids) old lady who I suspect might also be a bit daffy. MA’AM, YOUR TOTAL IS $62.53. **I SAID $62.53.** Then her husband has to get into the shouting, and get her to look at him because I suspect she’s actually doing quite a bit of lip-reading… honestly, sir, why aren’t YOU handling the money here? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/47 "2015-09-29T02:46:02Z")
I don’t know whether to blame Luddism or not… But the poor bastard ahead of me at a Burger King had a smart phone…but couldn’t figure out how to use it to bring up a discount coupon. The cashier was trying to explain it to him…and it just wasn’t happening. So… Credit to him for trying to use modern tech, right? (I was the only person behind him in line, and I wasn’t in any hurry. I smiled at the cashier, to assure her there was no need to rush anything.) ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/48 "2015-09-29T03:36:40Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > You don’t carry around a debit card, if you need cash you go to the bank, and withdraw money? Good for you. Another 15 minute drive, WHEN the bank is open, you fill out a slip, wait in line for 20 minutes, and get your $500 in cash. Surely, my method of walking up to an ATM machine at CVS anytime I want and while I am most likely buying stuff I need is so much worse. Must have been a really long time since you have been to a bank. Most just ask for a driver’s license and you tell them how much you want to withdraw. I haven’t used a withdrawal slip in years. Or a deposit slip. I just give them my paycheck and driver’s license and say to deposit this in my account. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/49 "2015-09-29T03:39:57Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > The subset of hipster that is annoying me lately is the thin wallet crowd. I’m still trying to figure out where hell this came from as something desirable. > “OHH my GOD! I don’t know how you can carry that thing around, My wallet is 3 nanometers thick and weighs less than a pubic hair” > And fucking so what? They act like the 15 business cards , and 7 pieces of plastic a normal person carries is the burden of Atlas. Remington Steele was doing that 30 years ago, but I think it was a matter of discipline in his case. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/50 "2015-09-29T04:42:25Z")
I really would like to see membership cards and discount cards all integrated into a smart phone. Right now, I have to carry around a little business-card file with all my cards. There’s no reason for that in the information age. One personal ID card…and all the others should be digital: Zoo, museums, grocery stores, department stores, ACLU card, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund card, etc. etc. Why carry two pounds of plastic and cardstock? (Ha! Exaggeration. A few ounces.) ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/51 "2015-09-29T05:29:43Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > Must have been a really long time since you have been to a bank. Most just ask for a driver’s license and you tell them how much you want to withdraw. I haven’t used a withdrawal slip in years. Or a deposit slip. I just give them my paycheck and driver’s license and say to deposit this in my account. You got me there. I did visit a bank this summer to cash some checks (which I know you can just photograph with an iPhone and email them in, Im not such a technologist that I trust THAT with thousands of dollars) and yes, there were no slips and I was quite out of my element. That said, I drove to the bank to make a multi-thousand dollar transaction not to withdraw a few hunny in cash. BTW, I think what is lost in the top 3/4 of my OP is I don’t CARE if you prefer to not have a cell phone, prefer to go to the bank to get money, etc etc. Just don’t mock us that choose not to do so. Loudly. At a party. Shut the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/52 "2015-09-29T11:36:48Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > A 90-second search engine!? That’s preposterous! > > Seriously, who’s calling the kettle black here? > [@Morgenstern](#): > > Yeah, I was wondering if the OP was still in an 8-bit world. Maybe Russia is still using dial-up? ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/53 "2015-09-29T12:18:55Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > You need to research something, you drive 15 minutes to the underfunded public library and spend an hour or two processing mostly out of date printed materials on the subject. I’ll look up the answer and get it about 90 seconds via a search engine. There are computers at the library, too. Benefit-- no internet bill. Cost to consider-- fuel. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > You don’t have a cell phone? Have fun retrieving out of date answering messages, and oh, thank goodness you have never had to use 911 for you or another’s safety. As for me, I can call, text, or email anyone I want at anytime, and if in an emergency, I can call 911 too. Or if Im lost, I have this thing called a SMART PHONE that allows me to go on a map app and find exactly where to go, saving time. Maybe they’re confident that 99% of the time, someone in their vicinity will be able to dial 911 if need be. Sparing themselves the phone expenses. Maybe they don’t want to become dependent upon technology to navigate. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > Yeah, who needs a credit card, or credit? You don’t need any of THAT to buy a car, or a house. Wanna buy a $1000 living room set, surely you enjoy carting around loads of $100 bills, or writing a **gaaagh** check which takes 10 minutes it process and approve. Maybe they don’t want to buy a car or a house. Maybe they like writing checks, so they can unnecessarily hold up the line behind them. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > You don’t carry around a debit card, if you need cash you go to the bank, and withdraw money? Good for you. Another 15 minute drive, WHEN the bank is open, you fill out a slip, wait in line for 20 minutes, and get your $500 in cash. Surely, my method of walking up to an ATM machine at CVS anytime I want and while I am most likely buying stuff I need is so much worse. What if I told you that some people manage their time to where they don’t go out of the way and waste fuel unnecessarily. Also, maybe they like the danger of heightening the probability of being at a bank while it’s robbed. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > I get it, Miss Luddite. You have failed to exit your comfort zone to try and appreciate new and exciting technologies that millions have slaved over countless hours and lifetimes and careers to provide for you and others to make the world a better place. It is your right not to participate, for whatever stupid reason. It is your right to call someone stupid because they don’t share your fancy methods. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > This message also goes out to my idiotic co-worker who refuses to use an iPhone app paid for by our company to record and upload his receipts for expense reports, instead opting to scan them and upload them to his computer, which has to take 3-6 hours longer a years to do. Maybe they prefer to spend the extra time scanning and uploading receipts versus using an app because it keeps them gainfully employed. Not necessarily an idiot for doing something in an unconventional manner. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > Or the moron sales reps who constantly asks me to email her pdf files all available on our company’s shared server available via smartphone, which she has been thoroughly trained on. I don’t mind, but you are taking my time, and missing the WOW factor of emailing your client the pdf file within minutes of their request rather than relying on my schedule Maybe it’s easier to ‘play dumb’ and have you e-mail it rather than perform x amount of steps more to access the same material. Email: click and open. Shared server: probably have to scroll around a bit initially to find it, then who knows what else. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/54 "2015-09-29T12:27:38Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I really would like to see membership cards and discount cards all integrated into a smart phone. A few of mine are. But then I have pull out the phone, turn it on, put in the code, and navigate to the app for the card. It’s s much simpler to pull the card for anything used often. The ones I only use rarely, and usually on the spur of the moment, and are thrown in my glove box would be nice that way though. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/55 "2015-09-29T12:49:04Z")
I don’t get all the rage here. I know people who do many of the things described by the OP, but it doesn’t bother me for the most part. I didn’t get a cell phone until late 2004, but it’s my only contact number now, so it’s a necessity. I could see someone having just a landline, I guess, but since a cell phone isn’t much more expensive, I don’t really see the point if you’re only going to have one line. Hell, I just had a conversation yesterday where someone I know was commenting on someone that had a flip phone. Sure, it’s nice to be able to Google anything anywhere or have a gps in my pocket, but the phones and data aren’t free, and even a lot of people I know with Smart Phones seldom use any of the features besides a few games. Similarly, I can understand not having credit cards. Some people live paycheck to paycheck and never make large purchases. I also know people who do, but they’ve gotten rid of their credit cards because the temptation to spend is too great for them. Some people are just much more comfortable with cash. Me, I generally hate carrying cash because it adds to bulk in my wallet, it increases my loss when my wallet is lost or stolen, and I very seldom run into a situation where cash is accepted but credit isn’t. In the few cases I do need cash, I usually know ahead of time and get enough. Checks, though, they do still kind of bug me. They seem like the worst of both worlds between cash and credit, at least today. I guess they make sense for people that don’t want credit cards but still need to make large purchases. Really, the only part that bugs me about it though is when people pay for their groceries by check, but they wait until the total is given to them before they even start filling out the check. They can at least pull out their check book and start filling out the parts that don’t depend on the total, like the To line and signature. But that’s less of a Luddite thing than just people being oblivious. And to the person who commented on thin wallets, I’ve never heard of anyone bragging about a thin wallet, but I’m not sure how a fat wallet is something to brag about either. Usually when I see someone with an unusually thick wallet, they have random business cards and membership cards they never use. Sometimes there’s even receipts or tickets jammed in there from months ago. I, personally, just don’t see the point in carrying around things I don’t need. I do occasionally put things in there, but I try to make a point of cleaning it out regularly. That not only has the benefit of keeping my wallet thin, but if there’s a business card I picked up, it actually makes sure I see it when I’m home so I can do something with it. As such, my wallet generally just has my credit card, debit card, license, insurance, and CAC (which I need on me for the contract I’m doing now, but generally don’t bother always carrying around). What else do I need to ALWAYS have on me? Even if I had an extra credit card, maybe one for big purchases, I’d probably leave that at home, because I’d only need it for those few situations, and otherwise it’s just one more thing to carry around and that much more of a pain in the ass if something happens to my wallet. And even for random membership cards like at the grocery store or GNC or whatever, they either take a number or one can use a phone app instead. Hell, if I could reasonably use my phone to replace my license and credit card, I’d probably not even bother carrying a wallet at all. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/56 "2015-09-29T14:13:55Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Hah, I love the people who “don’t own a television” but watch stuff via Netflix or other streaming options. I mean, it’s one thing to be smug because you’re spending your nights working on your collection of short stories or reading obscure Eastern European authors or really getting into exhibits of Laotian neo-Renaissance art lately. But the people who proclaim “I don’t even own a television” and then are watching _the same stuff_ just via a different source crack me up. And it’s not even about cost but rather pride that they can’t tune in to the Kardashians even if they wanted to, as though the girls creep out of the TV vents at night and whisper into your ear. > > Note that I don’t mean you **Anaamika**. You’re clear about you not being better. But your example just reminded me of that weird subset of bragging television non-owners. Naw, I’m just as shallow as anyone. If I’m better than you it’s because I watch British telly. 😛 **Blaster Master** , again I don’t care what people do. It’s when it affects me that I hate it. I don’t even mind writing checks at the store. I understand. It’s how you roll. BUT, please be efficient. Don’t give me shit about “taking time to smell the roses”. Seriously, that’s what people say. “Relax.” I’ve got places to go and I’ll relax on my own time. Be aware of the people behind you. Have your checkbook out. Have it ready to go, with a pen. DON’T fill out your check register without at least moving down so I can get on with my life. It’s when people tell me I am being a tool of the government (have seriously heard this) because I have a bank account I get mad. Sorry, I just don’t feel safe keeping it all under my mattress. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/57 "2015-09-29T15:01:52Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > The subset of hipster that is annoying me lately is the thin wallet crowd. I’m still trying to figure out where hell this came from as something desirable. > “OHH my GOD! I don’t know how you can carry that thing around, My wallet is 3 nanometers thick and weighs less than a pubic hair” > And fucking so what? They act like the 15 business cards , and 7 pieces of plastic a normal person carries is the burden of Atlas. I’ve had a [Big Skinny](http://www.bigskinny.net/wallet-bifold-hipster-leather.html) wallet for a few years and love it. It has nothing to do with fashion. It’s all about the comfort. I can sit with it in my back pocket all day and not be bothered by it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/58 "2015-09-29T16:09:03Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > I was quite out of my element. Lets go down to the quarry and throw stuff in, what a luddite. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/59 "2015-09-29T16:18:35Z")
Lets go down to the quarry and throw stuff in please don’t do that again ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798/60 "2015-09-29T18:10:59Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I really would like to see membership cards and discount cards all integrated into a smart phone. Right now, I have to carry around a little business-card file with all my cards. There’s no reason for that in the information age. I use a free app called CardStar for my random discount cards, library card, etc. It’s pretty great. You scan the barcode of the card with your phone camera, type in the name of the card, and save it. Then when you call up the right card, the cashier can just scan your phone. I discovered it because the local public library was encouraging its patrons to use it. I guess they were sick of people leaving their library cards at home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-luddites-who-must-remind-everyone-else-how-wonderful-they-are/732798.md?page=4)