Does anyone else sometimes prefer older technology over new?

[–] [Deleted] 15 points

I find tech developments of recent years more disturbing-- in that we're constantly being tracked and data-mined all the time. I also resent being "forced" to use online websites and apps for things, since I KNOW my privacy is being invaded.

In the old days, we didn't have to deal with so much intrusive technology.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 12 points

Edited

I wish there where more people fighting against this! Why are we so okay with technology invading our lives? I actually refuse to use those stupid apps. Sorry Dave, but I don't need to order my food via app and am more then fine getting off my ass and ordering in the restaurant. Once again, are we really this pathetic? I fear that in the future we are going to be like the people in the movie WALL-e. Apparently a lot of people are fine being super lazy and it is depressing.

[–] [Deleted] 3 points

It's like people think the tech world is benevolent-- the men who run these companies are NOT nice people.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 6 points

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos really freak me out....I miss the days when it was just nerdy Bill Gates.

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[–] [Deleted] 5 points

I almost prefer to not be reminded that I am being tracked lol ignorance was bliss

[–] [Deleted] 13 points

Yes. I hate the planned obsolescence, antagonism toward user repairability, ubiquitous data mining, obligatory network access (why the fuck does my fridge need Internet access??), and social media tie-ins. I feel like there was a "sweet spot" of tech where it was still fun, interesting, mysterious (in a fun way), and accessible to tinker; now it seems like everything is either too expensively slick to play around with, or actively booby-trapped by the manufacturer to punish you for presuming to believe that the item you bought is yours. IMO if you aren't allowed to repair and repurpose it, you don't own it.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 5 points

One of my favorite myths is the myth of Icarus. We are getting to the point where we are just going to crash into the sun because of our arrogance. Why can't people ever just be happy with what they have?

[–] questioningtw [OP] 10 points

I just wanted to say, I am so glad for the intelligent conversation on this! if I would have posted something like this on Reddit I would have gotten a bunch of responses like LOL, Okay boomer!(I am 40) and what are you some sort of grandma!

I was actually really glad to see that during the pandemic so many people where making bread and taking up sewing. It honestly bothers me when I hear about people with no hobbies or their hobbies are binging on netflex and playing video games.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points

LOL, Okay boomer!(I am 40) and what are you some sort of grandma!

I'm in my mid-20s and sometimes my friends call me "Old soul" for sharing your view on tech and for not being excited to share my life on social media 😂

[–] DiabolicalPinkBunny 10 points

Oh, I was complaining about this just the other day: I lived flip-phones! For me, that was peak phone. Now Samsung has this new "flip phone," but they missed the entire point of wanting a phone you can flip open and flip close: if you're angry, you want to slap that mofo shut! Now you have to aggressively touch the glass screen - not the same!

[–] BurnBooker 9 points

I miss my ipod shuffle!! I don't like that everything is streaming, costing data. I see memes about carrying two devices in the old days. But I used to leave my cell at home! Tuck my tiny ipod in a pocket and hop on my bike or take a walk.

[–] DiabolicalPinkBunny 6 points

Oh, yeah, those were great! I also loved my Walkman. I had it all through the discman era, too. Drove my "modern" friends up the wall, but I liked the old tapes that I specially recorded! And always with the first few notes of the song cut off, because I recorded them from the radio.

[–] [Deleted] 5 points

I was still carrying a Walkman and making mix tapes until 2005. Only thing that stopped that was losing the damn thing in the Montreal airport.

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[–] questioningtw [OP] 4 points

oh I loved my ipod! This is another thing I hate. NEW NEW NEW! Throw out the old stuff that still works, because it is obsolete! Everything should be NEW! Then we wonder why we are destroying our planet. We make fun of people in the past, but guess what in many ways they where smarter. They made things last and weren't out there buying things just because they could.

[–] Alexiares 8 points

“aggressively touch the glass screen – I lol’d. No, there absolutely would not be the same satisfaction in that!

[–] chrysthefeminist 7 points

Hell, there was NOTHING like slamming down the receiver in the old days. That really broke their ear drum!

[–] DiabolicalPinkBunny 5 points

Yeah, but then you needed an older model, with those round speaker and mouth pieces. Later models' cradles had little edges that made it easier to miss the target!

[–] chrysthefeminist 3 points

So what? This entire post is about preferring older technology. The phones I'm talking about were circa 1950s thru 70s.

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[–] questioningtw [OP] 5 points

UGH! My favorite was my old Nokia! it even had a bowling game on it that was cute!

[–] HessaHein 5 points

There's this YouTube series I watch called "When Phones Were Fun" and it's by a guy who used to work in phone stores during the 2000s. It's a great dose of nostalgia, where phones had more technical and aesthetic diversity.

[–] DiabolicalPinkBunny 4 points

I quickly scrolled through his index, and yes! The Nokia PEBL! That was the one! You pushed on one side, and the top snapped open!

Also, some phones were trippy!

[–] questioningtw [OP] 2 points

I actually had a tie dye one! That was my Nokia!

[–] questioningtw [OP] 4 points

I am going to watch that. You know how records have made a comeback? That would be awesome if old cell phones did too!

[–] [Deleted] 9 points

Yes. Simple, practical tech without built-in obsolescence, ever-present data mining, and social media tie-ins.

[–] [Deleted] 9 points

It’s a little scary how computerized vehicles are these days. Makes otherwise routine car repairs way more expensive half the time.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 7 points

You want to hear something interesting? Most mechanics haaaaaaaaaaate working on new cars! Cars don't need to be computerized! I honestly think one reason young people aren't really that interested in driving anymore is driving is less fun and cars are more expensive. Don't even get me started on self driving cars; I would be fine with them if they where for people that can't drive. But our tech overlords have decided that driving=bad and are going to liberate us from driving! Most people do not want one! It is good to want to drive and not rely on technology!

[–] Alexiares 6 points

Let alone technically we have self-driving cars, in the form of computer-driven electric subway trains – pretty much the only scenario in which the safety and programming conditions work, and of course there is still human oversight.

[–] endthewoo 4 points

Yes, once upon a time you mostly could fix them yourself with basic tools and a bit of help. Safety improvements are very welcome, but over-computerised everything not so good - can't even pump your tyres up nowadays without getting stupid messages from the thing.

[–] Alexiares 8 points

Absolutely, for so many reasons, raw repairability for one! It seems to me that everything is over engineered in both hardware and software, so you have to have a machete to get through the thicket of “misfeatures” nobody asked for, and constant vigilance to try to minimize the privacy invasions and ensure security patches are applied.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 7 points

The funny thing is I think a lot of people feel this way. But tech bros are such bullies, that they will act like you are crazy! How dare you want something you can repair easily! How dare you want to be able to understand how something works! Preferring technology from the 70s-90s should make you an object of ridicule!

[–] Alexiares 6 points

Oh yes, tech bros are the worst, not least because they try to pretend their sneering isn’t about their belief they should be in control of whatever technology you use, because they’re supposedly smarter.

Alas, sometimes tech support people are the worst of all, too. I gave up on them totally after encountering a second time the wide eyed response, “But why would you want to do that?” referring to doing perfectly legitimate things with my own equipment.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 5 points

The funny thing is is that techie people back in the day weren't like that. They were legitimately fascinated with computers and wanted to help people LIKE technology. These new guys are different. They have a god complex and seem to be angry when people tell them no, they don't want that.

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[–] kalina 7 points

Edited

yes, although i'm not sure if it's just nostalgia or not. I just got my first smartphone last year after years of 'resisting' and I must say it's very convenient sometimes but I don't actually use it that much. Otherwise I usually don't go with the hip new tech gadgets. I honestly do not understand people who get an Alexa or like, have to have the biggest TV always or stuff like that.

Specifically with the internet, I feel like it reached its 'peak' around 2007 or something and since then most developments have just been downhill.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 5 points

I don't get Alexa either......Here is another part where I am a luddite: I actually like looking things up in books over the internet. I feel we actually retain more information when we have to force ourselves to look it up and read it, instead of having a machine talk to us.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 2 points

I just wanted to add another thing...I am kind of sick of this postmodern oh it is just meaningless nostalgia! Things are so much better and you are just too dumb to see it. Ok, if that is the case then why do even teenagers complain about modern technology. I don't remember anyone really complaining about technology that much when I was younger....except for the fact that it was hard for them to learn. Maybe....just maybe, there was some things in the past that where actually better and robo-world will be a nightmare not a utopia.

[–] chrysthefeminist 6 points

I am tired of this everything has to be a computer crap. I don't need my tv to be a computer...I miss the days when a tv was just a tv.

Amen. I hate having to be halfway to a computer science degree just to "set up" my TV. I am old enough to remember when a TV was "set up" just by plugging it in and turning it on. What's even worse though IMO is the computerization of car engines. Firstly, it means you can't work on your car yourself. Secondly, when a dash light comes on they can't figure out what is wrong with it unless the light is on as it is being scanned. Sometimes the light only comes on intermittently, even though there is something wrong with the car. Thirdly, the price of repairs on these computerized engines are sky high.

[–] blahblahgcer 5 points

I miss the internet of the late 2000s before everything was tracked and centralized.

Then again, idk how the pandemic would play out if we still had that type of internet.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 3 points

Honestly, I kind of wonder if it would have been better. I was reading that Qanon got so huge in part because of algorithims and people being bored. The internet has provided so much misinformation.

[–] [Deleted] 4 points

I don't need my tv to be a computer...I miss the days when a tv was just a tv.

I think you would enjoy: https://twitter.com/internetofshit

There's a disturbing trend of making everything a massive security liability by making it connected to the internet with absolutely piss-poor security built into the devices. a) not everything needs an internet connection (certainly not a damn kettle) and b) if it's connected to the internet it needs to not be easily hackable!

[–] questioningtw [OP] 4 points

omg I love it! One of my friends has an apple tv and buys digital movies. Half the time the movies don't even come up and if she buys a movie she hates she can't just trade it or give it away. I prefer an actual hard copy any day. Also her Alexa will sometimes start talking for no reason or say stuff like it looks like you are going to run out of dog food soon! Should I re order for you? SHUDDERS

[–] [Deleted] 2 points

We are doomed as a species. Devices like Alexa and Google Home or Nest that contain microphones that are always listening are a massive security species, yet because companies have told us their minor conveniences are helpful, we compromise our personal security to have a stupid toy that does the exact same thing a computer can do without constantly spying on our conversations and sending it to a company to datamine.

[–] questioningtw [OP] 2 points

Apparently it is human nature to want to take the path of least resistance, and shit like the popularity of these devices really proves that. I wish we would see some resistance to this idea, instead of embracing it.

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General interest Does anyone else sometimes prefer older technology over new?

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