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My life is definitely worse due to technology because technology has singlehandedly allowed this pandemic we are all experiencing to be dealt with as it has been whereas in the past people never would have been masked or locked down or forced to watch their children or themselves vaccinated against their wills or told what they may or may not do from morning to night day after day for 18 months with no end in sight. We would have lived as normal.
Technology is a minor asset or tool which has made a very few very wealthy while oppressing most beyond measure and they don't even realize they are slaves to it.
My freedom is worth far more to me than the technology that has destroyed it..
So, you would have preferred the old days where hundreds of thousands of additional people would have died? And, what makes you think there would have been no quarantine without technology? Masking and quarantines are not technology driven.
I don't think you are clear on what freedom actually is. Keep in mind it's never all about you, since you are a member of society, and have a responsibility to not harm others through your action or inaction.
A lot of smart features seem useless to me. My fridge beeps if the water filter needs attention and chimes if the door was left ajar. How is that inferior to sending me a notification on my phone, a system that took me half an hour to set up?
These are the instructions to make a grocery list using the smart features on a Samsung fridge....Seriously??? I have a pencil and paper magnetized to the side of the fridge which takes a fraction of this time. And I saved $1000 by not buying all this technology I don't need.
Yeah these refrigerators are ridiculous.
Kroger click list from your phone works great and it saves all the things you pick during the week so you don’t forget anything.
Um, some professors didnt want to see use of whiteout or correction tape. You either got to be very good typist or you hired somebody that was. Or you just accepted a lower grade. I remember some secretary types that made money on side typing student papers. Course I remember papers back in public school where penmanship was part of your grade beyond content and neatness. Nothing new under the sun I guess.
As to tech, no use for smart phones and smart thermostats and smart speakers and smart cars. But the internet before all the "social media" politics and data collection crap struck me as great, like having instant access to your own public library. Course internet never would developed so fast if it was just online public library. Dialup would lasted much longer.
Most of tech doesn't interest me but some of it is crucial to our being able to live out of the U.S. and I appreciate those aspects.
Our 2016 smartphones can translate and offer radio stations from all over. The map has helped once in awhile when we were walking around Europe. Our taxi drivers use the map apps. I was reluctant to get involved with WhatsApp but that's what everyone uses to communicate here. Businesses and all. No actual phone calls, lol.
Online banking is essential for us with accounts thousands of miles away.
Kindle is a real life-saver since there are no libraries. We love having Netflix and other streaming services.
But the complications of the smart TV (we bought it not knowing it was, years ago) are ridiculous. Even our tech-savvy friend has a hard time figuring it out. That is SO frustrating.
We know that we could not rent a modern car these days. The tech would be beyond us. My sister has never figured out her car's rear camera, for example and she is pretty computer-savvy.
So I'd say it's a definite mixed blessing. Social media (except for C-D, lol) is all negative, imo. I'd never get any of the smart-house/appliances stuff.
I think there is a real danger of society becoming too reliant and disconnected to reality.
The love of gadgetry seems to be universal in humans and I'm no exception. I love that I can do research across the span of science, history, aviation, and a too long list of other subjects. Having that kind of info in ones hands is very helpful and may be the answer to so much of our educational problems. The effects of an intrusive technology aren't so helpful though, and left to market forces, we'll be lucky to have any privacy. So like many, I like certain aspects of techno gadgetry but dislike the for profit model that requires constant intrusion and leaves us vulnerable to scams of all kinds.
So, you would have preferred the old days where hundreds of thousands of additional people would have died? And, what makes you think there would have been no quarantine without technology? Masking and quarantines are not technology driven.
I don't think you are clear on what freedom actually is. Keep in mind it's never all about you, since you are a member of society, and have a responsibility to not harm others through your action or inaction.
Quarantines and masking were both used in the Spanish flu pandemic 100 years ago. TB hospitals started before that. Quarantines have been around for hundreds of years, and the idea of having fresh air alternatives has also been around for a while. The only thing smart technology has done has made it easier for us to track where people go and do contact tracing.
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"Smartened up and walked away!"
(set 20 days ago)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
i am rewatching the series, Downton Abbey, and it struck me that I am a "Cousin Violet" in that I am VERY resistant to the changes that have taken place in the past 25 years. At the time of the series (1912-1926), there had been a radical change in society, not only a revolution in the English structure of class, but also in a relaxing of morals and many inventions that completely changed ordinary life (e.g., electric gadgets to make housework easier, the automobile, and the telephone). As far as I can tell, with very few exceptions, virtually everyone adapted to those inventions in just a very few years; and now, of course, I think we all accept those inventions as so much a part of our lives that I think that the great majority of Americans would find it very difficult to live without them.
Today, however, I am one of those holdouts who have not accepted a Smartphone or SmartTV or electronic banking into my life and I don't intend to ever do so as long as there is any way to avoid it other than death or committal to some institution.. Imo, those inventions are not creating a better quality of life, and with the talk about using Smartphones to track people for various reasons*, I am now wondering whether, in the opinion of MOST people, if "Smart" technology has made life better or worse?
Better - depends on how much money you have! My son's new phone cost over $1,000 - I'll stick with my Tracfone. As far as technology - it's made people stupid. Teenagers can't count back change if the register doesn't tell them how much the customer is suppose to receive back
I will say that it is helpful to me antiquing for carnival glass, although I know that seems odd to add technology and smart phones together. But when I go to the antique mall, I can scan through photos and pretty much see what the going price is for a particular piece of carnival glass. Just a few days ago I found 2 pieces way overpriced based on online auction prices, so I skipped them, but picked up another piece that was quite a bit less than half the online going price (and could even put a rough date estimate on it).
Yesterday, we had a power outage for an hour or so. I said to DW, as I always do, "Maybe this is the big one". The lights will not come back on. The beginning of the end.
The world is hanging by fewer and fewer threads. Some day there will be only one, with malevolent hackers looking for it.
Last night, on cable, I saw "Gunfight at OK Corral". which I first saw 64 years ago. Then, a 64-year-old movie would have pre-dated even the theoretical concept of motion pictures. In the next 64 years, little advancement has been made in the output of quality and entertaining films.
What's it all for? Doc Holiday said "There will always be a faster gunman than you. The more you play with guns, the sooner you will meet him."
What about the cost/benefit of some of these devices purely as a function of time spent?
I posted the smart fridge instructions for creating a shopping list above and I can see just from reading them that it's going to take at least 5 times as long to create a grocery list as it would to use a pencil and paper every week.
I recently bought a HEPA air filter and spent 3 hours trying to get the smart functions set up, including over an hour online reading questions from other customers with the same problems. I am fairly tech savvy and this isn't "just me." From the Q&A, I can see I'm probably going to have to invest another 2-3 hours to get this set up and functioning. In the meantime, I've been turning it on and off using the knob on the side of the cabinet. Is it worth it to spend a second afternoon of my time setting up the "smart" features just so I can turn the air filter on and off with my phone instead of walking 12 ft over there and using the knob? I don't think so.
When Microsoft/Apple/Firefox/HP/etc automatically update their programs to add some new features, which I don't want or need, they frequently foul up the existing features that I use every day, and then I have to spend hours troubleshooting those problems. I really resent having my time sucked up by a bunch of tech behemoths who have no right to it. I don't want to have to update a DW's software or reset a vacuum's program every time the internet goes down.
All this extra tech is just one more thing that sucks up time and money, and at least where I live, the people that can repair/replace anything more complicated than a door hinge in a smart appliance are rare birds. Expensive planned obsolescence.
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