My, How Technology Has Changed - Page 5

kittymomNC · ‎08-09-2012

Technology can be a wonderful thing, but it definitely has its drawbacks. I was running a Human Resources Computer System for a company with 4,000 employees when it was on a "main frame computer" that took up a room as big as my house. I was in between HR and Information Systems-worked for HR but wrote very complicated programs to get reports from the HR system. I remember the excitement when we got our first "personal computer"! Now a cell phone can do much of what that huge computer did!

I think the advances in technology have made us a very "disconnected" society, even while making us safer and more productive in many ways. It's also made us less safe at the same time, due to people driving and using cell phones to talk or text. People are constantly walking around with a cell phone or tablet in their hand, or a cell phone up to their ear, or a bluetooth thing IN their ear, etc. etc. I get really tired of being forced to listen to people's conversations--sometimes I just want quiet-in the grocery store, in the bank line, etc.! I know people who just cannot be parted from their cell phone, computer, tablet, computer games, etc. for a single minute - they look like they might hyperventilate without them! It's texting, or emailing, or social media, etc. but how many people still visit their friends and neighbors personally or make phone calls as much as they used to?

I have a good friend who can always seem to find time to email me (from her phone sometimes), but can't dial my number on that same phone and actually talk to me. It has gotten me very frustrated, and I don't feel that we are nearly as close as we used to be...and that's very sad... ${#emotions_dlg.sad}$

I think it's just going to get worse..... ${#emotions_dlg.crying}$

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

On 7/17/2014 straykatz said:
On 7/16/2014 hckynut said:
I'll say it has changed and I have been interested in it since my high school days back in the early 1950's. Before stereo radio was even available(true 2 channel stereo now)I improvised my own version of stereo in my first couple of cars. I added speakers/faders/rheostat or 2 and also a reverberator. Could pass to most as true descrete 2-channel stereo.

Always kept up on technology related to audio and video, and once I got into computers, I included them in my interests.

To this day I am still interested and try to keep up with current technology, but one thing I wish was never made available for public use? It is called a cell phone.

I carry my cell for roadside emergencies..I still have a landline in my home....My father was a trucker so I grew up around CB radio...beside having one in his truck he always had one in the car too in case of emergencies.

Hi straykatz,

I too was into CB radio but that is a whole different world than cell phones. When I traveled during my Auto Racing years I always had a CB in all of my tow cars, but I never needed one for an emergency situation. Some of my passengers passed time playing with others on their CB radios, I pretty much concentrated on driving safely to make sure I didn't wreck either on of my 2 cars, the tow car or my expensive race cars.

While I certainly understand having a cell phone with you at all times for emergencies, which I do, driving with one is my main issue, and now it appears texting has taken root in lieu of just talking while driving. It can easily be seen in the increase in traffic fatalities nation wide where cell phones are the suspected cause of, what I call "an on purpose". To me they are not accidents they are something one stupidly chooses to do and risks their lives and the live of all innocents that just happen to be on the same roadways.

Just like the internet there certainly are good uses and bad uses, both of which when bad can and are many times, deadly.

My best to you,

hckynut(john)

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

On 7/17/2014 NoelSeven said:
On 7/16/2014 hckynut said:
I'll say it has changed and I have been interested in it since my high school days back in the early 1950's. Before stereo radio was even available(true 2 channel stereo now)I improvised my own version of stereo in my first couple of cars. I added speakers/faders/rheostat or 2 and also a reverberator. Could pass to most as true descrete 2-channel stereo.

Always kept up on technology related to audio and video, and once I got into computers, I included them in my interests.

To this day I am still interested and try to keep up with current technology, but one thing I wish was never made available for public use? It is called a cell phone.

John, cell phones have saved lives in emergencies, and many people don't even have a landline anymore. They do more good than bad from thoughtless people.

Hi NoelSeven

I agree that cell phones certainly can and are many times used for good things, and I also agree they do save lives, or at least get many out of difficult situations while on the road or when in trouble anywhere. Many also have had video used to help convict a perpetrator of a certain crime because a "video does not lie".

On the other side however I see many vehicle fatalities found to be cause by cell phone use, and not sure I am right, but it seems like more times than not, the innocents on the roads are the ones that either get killed or are more severely injured. While talking on a cell phone is bad enough, I don't care if it is hands free, the mind an paying attention while driving has more to do with it that driving with 1 hand or 2. Without 100% of a drivers focus on driving? I've driven long enough, accident free, to know that even talking with someone in the vehicle can be a distraction and it takes only the blink of an eye for bad things to happen.

Also know many no longer have land lines, I just don't happen to know any that have dropped their home land line phones, even the many doctors that play in my hockey league. I have no issue with anyone that wants to use their cell/smart phone for whatever it is capable of doing, while they are doing anything else but being the driver of a moving vehicle on any public roadway.

As for the "more good than bad"? I don't have any factual statistics on that either way so I will stick with what I believe when it comes to that one.

My best to you,

hckynut(john)

MomOf4 · ‎01-28-2012

Hi John,

You are 100% correct on all points.

Big Sister · ‎05-15-2010

As I look at that photo of the telephone operators I think of my mom. That's what she did before she had children. She loved it!

azterry! · ‎10-21-2011

On 7/17/2014 NoelSeven said:
On 7/16/2014 hckynut said:
I'll say it has changed and I have been interested in it since my high school days back in the early 1950's. Before stereo radio was even available(true 2 channel stereo now)I improvised my own version of stereo in my first couple of cars. I added speakers/faders/rheostat or 2 and also a reverberator. Could pass to most as true descrete 2-channel stereo.

Always kept up on technology related to audio and video, and once I got into computers, I included them in my interests.

To this day I am still interested and try to keep up with current technology, but one thing I wish was never made available for public use? It is called a cell phone.

John, cell phones have saved lives in emergencies, and many people don't even have a landline anymore. They do more good than bad from thoughtless people.

I agree with you, noel.

I no longer have a land line and I couldn't be happier. The fear and loathing of cell phones often exhibited here make me grin. I imagine there was a similar reaction when the "horseless carriage" first hit the scene! ${#emotions_dlg.biggrin}$

straykatz · ‎03-09-2010

On 7/17/2014 hckynut said:
Hi NoelSeven

I agree that cell phones certainly can and are many times used for good things, and I also agree they do save lives, or at least get many out of difficult situations while on the road or when in trouble anywhere. Many also have had video used to help convict a perpetrator of a certain crime because a "video does not lie".

On the other side however I see many vehicle fatalities found to be cause by cell phone use, and not sure I am right, but it seems like more times than not, the innocents on the roads are the ones that either get killed or are more severely injured. While talking on a cell phone is bad enough, I don't care if it is hands free, the mind an paying attention while driving has more to do with it that driving with 1 hand or 2. Without 100% of a drivers focus on driving? I've driven long enough, accident free, to know that even talking with someone in the vehicle can be a distraction and it takes only the blink of an eye for bad things to happen.

Also know many no longer have land lines, I just don't happen to know any that have dropped their home land line phones, even the many doctors that play in my hockey league. I have no issue with anyone that wants to use their cell/smart phone for whatever it is capable of doing, while they are doing anything else but being the driver of a moving vehicle on any public roadway.

As for the "more good than bad"? I don't have any factual statistics on that either way so I will stick with what I believe when it comes to that one.

My best to you,

100% agree.....I'm not opposed to cell phones per say...but they do cause distracted driving and are the blame for many accidents....including fatal ones. :-(

misspammie · ‎03-14-2010

hckynut, great sound system in your car, BUT my husband had an altimeter!! thing is, there were a ton of wires on the floor and it took me a small fortune to get the organized. just thought you'd get a chuckle out of an altimeter!!