The Technological Nuisance

[Vulture]

I use a pretty powerful laptop, a Samsung Flip (went from the Samsung Fold).  I've loved technology since I was a kid.  But at this point in time, I feel it's more of a nuisance than it is a benefit.

Look back to 1995.  Imagine being at Blockbuster.  What do you think of and see? You see people looking at the backs of VHS movies and even talking to each other.  Enjoying the moment.

Now imaging that same Blockbuster and people in 2025.  What do you see?  I personally see everyone on their phones checking IMDB, texting or talking on the phone.  Checking out trailers on Youtube.  Posting on Facebook or Twitter what they've rented.

It's all become so tiresome.  No one can just live in the moment.  They're too busy with their noses in their phones.  Dinner? Let's all look at our phones.  Kids being kids? Get them on the computer so they can play Fortnite, ASAP!  Your baby crying in the crib? Quickly, put on Noodle and Pal's so they shut up!

I remember in the before-fore time, when technology was exciting.  And not used to babysit or remove you from life.

I remember a time where kids would be out biking around the neighborhood (myself included!)  The only time we sat down at home was to play the NES at a friends house as it felt exciting.  Then we'd go back outside and play or bike.

Then came the 90's, the term "multimedia" reigned surpreme.  CD-Rom's started becoming a thing.  Sound cards were becoming normal.  I had an entire encyclopedia at my fingertips on a couple of CD-Roms.  Windows 95 was still fresh and new harking in a new era of personal computers.

Now, Windows 11 watches everything you do.  Youtube is a constant bombardment of fake videos designed to coerce your eyeballs to watch a sponsorship.

Facebook (which I quit in the mid 2000's sometime) is all fake.  Fake people, bottom tier products designed to become waste before you even get it out of the packaging.  Twitter is a platform for people to angerly yell at clouds and shill even more products.

It's all become such a nuisance.  One reason why I flocked to ATS.  No overbearing advertisements.  And genuine people sharing genuinely interesting topics.  Now Deny Ignorance has taken ATS's place, and I am enjoying the place and the people here.

But in the end, I find technology as it is and the internet to be detrimental to our overall wellbeing and sanity.  Or I can be mentally ill and be completely removed from reality on the subject.  It wouldn't surprise me if I was. 

The constant dings on your phone making you look only to see it's a reminder from Temu that your tinfoil hat is delayed in shipping?  Or that your friend from 9th grade just took a massive dump and tweeted to all his "followers" about it?  

We're always on.  No longer can we be away.  We're expected to be available constantly.  Not like before, when you left your house you were literally unavailable.  You'd have an answering machine that let people know you were gone and that they could leave you a message.

When you were off work, you didn't have to worry about an email from your boss on a Sunday.  

I miss those days, deeply.  Are you sick and tired of technology and always being on? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[UltraBudgie]

yes it is and always has been a trap and it will eat your brain
and everyone else too even those who think they have control
it will all end in fire and all warnings have been ignored
so enjoy it while it lasts!

[UltraBudgie]

sorry here is cute kitten

[argentus]

I feel much the same.   I am two years away from 70.  The thing is, that if you don't adapt, you are left behind.   All my life I have adapted to the changes thrust upon me.   When I met and loved and married my Bride, we both adapted together, and still do so.  

I don't FaceBook.  No particular reason, other than I really don't have time for it.   DI is my connection to the world, and Sky News and a few others.  

It is and has been super hot where I live lately.   I don't want to travel from my air-conditioned house to my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned job.   We only use the A/C at night to sleep.   We have adapted to the heat.  Life is out there, outside of the house.  The world appears going to shit, and I can't affect that, but what I can affect is the things we grow and eat, and the seafood we harvest, and the life we live.   We treasure the sea, and bathe in it often.  

If I were young today, I would seek simplicity.   I would seek a job that I loved the work, and a simple life that made me happy.   I would look for someone who I was compatible with who felt the same and consider sharing my life with.  I wouldn't live in a city, but seek my simplicity in a rural  area or small town.  In small towns, people work together, because they live out of each other's pockets.  It's a good system. 

Always adapt.  Don't rage against that which has passed.  That's negative energy which does you no good.  Adapt and live well, no matter what is thrown your way.

[Bootless]

I miss those days, deeply.  Are you sick and tired of technology and always being on? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

That's why I stay in the past.

Let's see:
VHS launched 1976, got mine in 1983
i386 computers out October 1985, got mine in 1997
i486 computers out April 10, 1989, got mine in 2000
Pentium chip out March 22, 1993, got one 2004

I may get a cell phone some day, or not.




I may have purchased the very last 8 track player ever made.
Bought Songs From the Wood to play on it.

[Shoshanna]

Remember the good old days of the internet? Well. Maybe my idea of "good old days" is not the same as some people's.

I remember when Geocities was a big thing and everybody had their own website. Everybody knew a lil HTML to make their page look cool. I remember looking at the "source code" on the page if I saw something I liked HTML-wise but didn't know how to do yet. Even though the web seems like it was smaller back then, it seemed way easier to find relevant search results. If I didn't have anything to do one day I would just keep on clicking "I'm feeling lucky" on Yahoo and see what rabbit holes it took me down.

AIM and MSN messenger. Oh. My. GOODNESS! When I was in high school this is where you WENT to gossip. This or the diary sites. Remember LiveJournal and DeadJournal and Xanga?!?! We had groups on Xanga of our classmates and people in other classes where we would just GOSSIP nonstop. Nothing mean-spirited BUT maybe I'm only remembering my personal high school dramas of being torn between two guys, picking neither and then deeply regretting it 20 years later when I ran into one of them at the library and he's a big time musician now. Boo. Hiss. Hehehehehe.

Remember Webrings? [Still exist, kinda]
Remember ICQ?
Remember IRCs? [still exist, kinda]

If nobody was on AIM or MSN you knew they were at the mall or park. And we used to be at the mall. Constantly. Now malls are dying.

You had to come up with a cool screen name and away message too. Just in case your crush or frenemies got online you had to have the cool away message, even if you weren't really "away", you just wanted to seem busy hehehehehe.

I think I just miss the early 2000s. What do we think ruined it?! Obama?! Gore?! I can't blame a man who plays the Sax and didn't inhale. I just can't. Plus, controversially I really liked Bush. But that was when I was in high-school hehehehehehehe! I thought he was an endearing figure for some reason. 

[Unknownparadox]

It's all designed to addict you. And it is not by accident. The changes started sometime before 2010. And it has slowly inched it's way from fun, meet new people, hang out and chat. To addictive, tracking, combative. And it was done that way on purpose, it's like they modeled media, and social media on the WWF. And it keeps people hooked, and fighting. They track everything you do and feed people any and all kinds of bullshit, based on what their algorithms think you will believe. 

AI will make things exponentially worse.

[rickymouse]

Yeah, Technology is destroying society.  I liked the social functions that were around here in the seventies, most of them were free and they did have reasonable price vendors present, but nobody stopped anyone from bringing in their own food those days.  Bringing in alcohol was not allowed in some of the areas of the social function itself, but it was allowed in the camping areas of the function most times.  but it used to only cost fifty to seventy five cents a beer anyway, nd entry into some social functions like the country or state fares used to be fairly cheap those days.  Same with the Frisbee turnaments, a couple of bucks, and the bars with bands, entry was a buck cover charge most times.

Not anymore, seems like most social functions are expensive these days, and there are way less people at them and when they are there, they seem to be staring at their phones or taking selfies or short video clips and sending them to everyone in their facebook group. 

We went to a credit union free outdoor lunch today, and not surprisingly, ninety percent of the people there were over sixty.  Because us old timers still like to go to cheap or free social gatherings.  I had a brat and some salads, and we had the great grandkids with us, and I ate half of one of their pulled pork sandwich.  Came with a can of soda and some chips too.  Kids ate and played on the parks playground while we talked to others...mostly about stuff like hip surgeries and cancer and friends who are in nursing homes....kind of depressing now.

Saturday we will go to Finn Fest here, the conversations will be probably similar, but no free food, but most times it cost less than ten bucks apiece to sample a bunch of ethnic food and buy some cardamon bread.  We need to pay our dues when there to for the wife and I which run about ten bucks a year usually.  That cost is for the quarterly newsletters and to help with costs associated with paying for rental space for the meetings, which are once a year and include some finnish breads and coffee.  There are free speakers at that event.

I guess I am getting old, the kinds of events have changed, but there are widows and widowers there looking for companions too....yeah, just because we are old doesn't mean us oldtimers are dead. 

I am not seeing much fun in the younger generations anymore, they believe to have fun you have to go to college to find the parties now, and student loans pay for that....so maybe that debt is why nobody seems to have as much fun after they graduate, they have bills to pay.  Society has changed so much now.  So people just stare at their phones and join social media because that is all they can afford because of their debt now I guess.

[quintessentone]

I use a pretty powerful laptop, a Samsung Flip (went from the Samsung Fold).  I've loved technology since I was a kid.  But at this point in time, I feel it's more of a nuisance than it is a benefit.

Look back to 1995.  Imagine being at Blockbuster.  What do you think of and see? You see people looking at the backs of VHS movies and even talking to each other.  Enjoying the moment.

Now imaging that same Blockbuster and people in 2025.  What do you see?  I personally see everyone on their phones checking IMDB, texting or talking on the phone.  Checking out trailers on Youtube.  Posting on Facebook or Twitter what they've rented.

It's all become so tiresome.  No one can just live in the moment.  They're too busy with their noses in their phones.  Dinner? Let's all look at our phones.  Kids being kids? Get them on the computer so they can play Fortnite, ASAP!  Your baby crying in the crib? Quickly, put on Noodle and Pal's so they shut up!

I remember in the before-fore time, when technology was exciting.  And not used to babysit or remove you from life.

I remember a time where kids would be out biking around the neighborhood (myself included!)  The only time we sat down at home was to play the NES at a friends house as it felt exciting.  Then we'd go back outside and play or bike.

Then came the 90's, the term "multimedia" reigned surpreme.  CD-Rom's started becoming a thing.  Sound cards were becoming normal.  I had an entire encyclopedia at my fingertips on a couple of CD-Roms.  Windows 95 was still fresh and new harking in a new era of personal computers.

Now, Windows 11 watches everything you do.  Youtube is a constant bombardment of fake videos designed to coerce your eyeballs to watch a sponsorship.

Facebook (which I quit in the mid 2000's sometime) is all fake.  Fake people, bottom tier products designed to become waste before you even get it out of the packaging.  Twitter is a platform for people to angerly yell at clouds and shill even more products.

It's all become such a nuisance.  One reason why I flocked to ATS.  No overbearing advertisements.  And genuine people sharing genuinely interesting topics.  Now Deny Ignorance has taken ATS's place, and I am enjoying the place and the people here.

But in the end, I find technology as it is and the internet to be detrimental to our overall wellbeing and sanity.  Or I can be mentally ill and be completely removed from reality on the subject.  It wouldn't surprise me if I was. 

The constant dings on your phone making you look only to see it's a reminder from Temu that your tinfoil hat is delayed in shipping?  Or that your friend from 9th grade just took a massive dump and tweeted to all his "followers" about it?  

We're always on.  No longer can we be away.  We're expected to be available constantly.  Not like before, when you left your house you were literally unavailable.  You'd have an answering machine that let people know you were gone and that they could leave you a message.

When you were off work, you didn't have to worry about an email from your boss on a Sunday.  

I miss those days, deeply.  Are you sick and tired of technology and always being on? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I was fortunate enough to experience the evolution of technology from it's relative beginning and even though some people my age let it slip by without engaging, I engaged, except for video gaming as it always seemed too childish a pastime for me.

I love technology because as an analytical person who loves study, reading and research, as well as having deeper discussions about almost anything, it meets my needs perfectly. Also my social circle were mostly fun seekers throughout the evolution and not so much questioning the meaning of life, so I dipped my toes into both worlds.

It really depends on the type of person you are and your pursuits in life.

I am not attached to technology as perhaps some younger people are today, but I go out and about and I see many young people (and older like myself) enjoying their lives outdoors (some with phone in hand, some without). My son and daughter and their partners are always up to something whether it be sports events, travel, concerts, visiting friends, etc.

I think these new upcoming rules in schools not allowing cell phone use is a good idea and gives the younger generations the opportunity to be in the moment and learn how to focus.

[Vulture]

In Norway, the street I've lived on since the year 2000 I've seen kids go from being outside in the summers up until around 2005-2006.  Now it's a ghost town.  I know there are children in the area, but they are no longer building treehouses in the woods across the street from me.

They're not biking or using their scooters like they once did.  Now I hear, "bro lets go home to me and play the PS4!".

The same with my neighborhood in the U.S., there used to be kids biking up and down the street as the street itself was tucked away.

When I left Facebook it was a cometition on who could get the most friends or doing competitions of them visiting something a mountain or visiting Buckingham Palace or the Eifel Tower lol.