I mostly watch ONLY VHS! No paid TV and I have DVDs, but prefer VHS - no mess, no fuss,
Note: I only watch TV when eating. Otherwise do things or read non-fiction books. So I will watch a little of a VHS tape, then shut it off. It starts right up where it left off the next time I view it - without a big hassle.
I also have 2 Kirby vacuum cleaners which use [gasp] bags!
And have old Western Electric/AT&T desk touch tone phones. These work when the electricity goes out! (Unlike some of the newer junk phones.)
I don’t have anything against new stuff - if it works OK. Have Android cell phone, USB music, 2013 car, ice maker fridge, A/C, etc.
I’m 54. We still don’t have a refrigerator that makes ice automatically. My wife thinks that makes us cavefolk. Other than that, we’re pretty up to speed on technology. I was relatively late to the iPhone, but have embraced it now.
There are many things on the internet I don’t understand (paypal, grinder, pinecrest, reddit), but I don’t think that’s a technology thing.
It has nothing to do with me being a youngster, I know how to get cash out of a deposit/write a check for “cash”.
But, just thinking about real-world applications, if you’ve never had a debit card or been to an ATM, it’s just wicked inconvenient to get cash. I assumed they had direct deposit (since most places force you to) so that would make going to the bank to get cash much more difficult.
With a doctorate in Computer Science you’d think I’d always insist on having the latest and greatest doo-dad. But I don’t. I know how to get by with a lot less (i.e., older).
I remember a poll around our department years ago asking about the CPU of our personal PCs. All of us were a noticeably behind. But we also didn’t have bloat/malware, etc. so they ran just as fast in practice as people’s in other departments.
My latest upgrade to “normality” was getting a cell phone. I bought a locked-in phone for very little. Got a busted version of the same model off eBay that was unlocked. Swapped the mainboard. Presto, a “new” smart phone for under $60 with a pay-per-minute plan. Haven’t used it as a phone since I set it up and tested it. (But I do use it as a portable Android WiFi device.)
But now I’m drooling over the $50 phone Amazon sells that’s rootable and more.
Looking back, I was resistant to getting a DVR. Didn’t see the point. Was given one and in very little time it became a necessity. Watching TV in “real time” just seems ridiculous now.
It took a good while, but eventually all the CRT TV/monitors are gone.
Downloaded music hasn’t had DRM tied to it for many years. I’ve downloaded music from iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody and haven’t had any restrictions whatsoever on transferring it to any device I pleased. I have the same music on multiple devices.
Oi! My mother. She always said “We don’t need an ATM card. It’s a small town, I just go to the bank.” Then one day they drove to the bigger town next to them to pick me up at the airport. Dad was all embarrassed because he had to borrow money from me to get out of the parking garage. Seems they didn’t have any cash and no one in town would take a traveler’s check. Most of them didn’t even know what one was.
I talked Mom into going to the bank and getting an ATM card the next day. Getting her to carry it all the time was another matter. A few years later I showed her how to get $20 when you bought something at CVS or a grocery store without getting charged a fee.
Most new technology makes me very happy since it means I don’t need as much room for stuff. Books and music and movies took up a whole lotta room that I like having back.
Somehow, I pretty much avoided having a portable MP3 player (iPod, Zune, etc…) entirely. I mean, I bought some cheap one for like $20 at Wal-Mart about 10 years ago, and promptly forgot it on an airplane like a week later, and never bought another.
I seem to be on the slow end of the curve for mobile devices as well- didn’t get a cell phone until about 2000, and didn’t get a smartphone until 2014.
Never had a MySpace page, and while I understand Twitter, I don’t use it.
The only reason I now carry a cell phone is because we dropped our land line - my phone number is the old land line number. It’s a very basic flip phone with a pay-as-you-go plan - I see no reason to pay for a smart phone and the associated monthly service - if I want to surf, I have computers at home. We have a GPS in the car if we need it. I hate when I have to talk on someone’s smart phone - it just feels weird.
If I want to listen to music, I’ll play a CD or, in the car, the satellite radio. Never had an iPod or any of those devices and never really wanted one. We don’t have our house alarmed or under video surveillance.
But we do have a dishwasher, a fridge with an ice maker, and flat screen TVs. We’re not luddites - we just don’t feel the need to have all the toys.
Way back in the 80s, I remember telling a coworker that I didn’t see the point in having a computer at home. Turns out I was wrong about that. We have 2 PCs, 2 laptops, and a tablet for 2 of us.
I’ve had a flip phone forever, which I keep in the car in case of emergencies, I’ve used it 2 or 3 times.
Decades ago, I lived in an apartment with a dishwasher. Since then, I haven’t had one or needed one.
No wifi in the house.
My car is from 2002, so it doesn’t have all the new stuff I have no use for. My husband’s car is brand new, and the only new feature I like is monitoring of the tires’ air pressure.
My old Series 3 Tivo unit finally broke down. I bought a new Roamio Pro two weeks ago, and we’re still trying to figure out how to set it up. Meanwhile just watching TV via the cable from the wall. It sucks.
I have a lot of bleeding-edge electronics, to the point of getting flack for selling so many barely-used gadgets. But I’ve never owned a car with a remote (keyless entry). I think my 2009 Honda Fit actually has a receiver, and all I need to do is buy a remote for it and get it programmed, but I never bothered.
re dishes, I have one bowl and one spoon. I microwave slop, eat it from the bowl, wash the bowl and spoon, and all’s done and done. Running a dishwasher for one bowl and one spoon would be terribly wasteful!
I have air conditioning and heating…and refuse to use them. (Ha, San Diego; who needs heating?) Too expensive! I resent even the cost of the electricity to run a ceiling fan.
That’s not just a tech issue, though. Manual transmissions are still much more common in Europe than the US, in part because people just enjoy the experience of driving that way. If you’re on a winding mountain road, a manual transmission is way more fun; stuck in stop-go traffic, not so much.
I hate smartphones and anything with a touchscreen. My e-reader is a Nook (it has physical buttons, which is why I got it).
I write a rent cheque every month, and I give cheques rather than money to people I trust. My work has various gatherings every once in a while that require payment by cheque (not cash, not a card).
I have never owned a dishwasher, but it’s more due to not having money (until recently) and living in an apartment.
Preach it brother/sister! My 2014 Honda Civic is a manual, I’ve been driving manual since the 80’s and I hate automatics! The sales lady who sold me my Civic didn’t know how to drive stick. I also have almost no fear of my car being stolen, because most folks apparently aren’t learning to drive stick anymore. So there, thieves!
