Community Chat

[CouponQueen]

My job couldn't function without technology. I don't know how they did it years ago.

Personally..I wouldn't want to live without it. My cell phone is attached to me 24/7. That is work related and also personal. I love LOVE being able to communicate with everybody whenever I need to..zip off a text.

I work odd hours/days/off shift..so it is great to have the level of communication with home.

I love the Kindle and the ability to just download any book I want...

I love having the Internet/Google/Email on my phone literally at my fingertips.

I think it depends on ones life and lifestyle.

I could easily give up TV. I don't watch it. I just don't have time and TV and I often work different hours lol.

I would not want to go back to the day and age of no technology. We have come a long way baby and I love it lol..

[ChynnaBlue]

Of course I could live without it, but I don't want to. My tech vastly improves my life.

I don't pull it out at the table when I'm out with family or friends (unless I'm checking on something that pertains to our conversations, like looking up movie times and buying tickets). I keep it in my bag or upside down on the table. I don't feel a need to answer every text the instant I receive it and the people I text with are the same. None of us get mad if we don't hear back from someone seconds after we send a text.

I love my social media, but if I'm feeling overwhelmed, I log out and leave it alone for a few days. No big deal.

And I love that instead of hauling a paperback with me wherever I go, I have an entire library on my Kindle and even on my phone when I get stuck somewhere and don't have my Kindle. My old rule was that I wouldn't buy a handbag that wasn't big enough to carry a paperback book in, but now I just need one big enough to hold my phone.

[Mominohio]

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@Desertdi wrote:

I use the "basics"......phone, computer.    But I have no need to monitor the steps I take, wire the house with cameras so I can view it when I'm away.......

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Yeah, I guess I forgot about how automated our homes are going to be in a few short years. Unlocking the door, controlling the thermostat, and watching every room right from the cell no matter where you are. 

Some of the best use of technology, in my opinion is the alert necklaces people have now, so when the have an emergency in their homes, they can get help right away without a phone. I see those are going mobile now too, and will be working anywhere there is a cell signal. Good stuff.

Wondrous thing, technology, but invasive as well. Quite the double edged sword.

[Mominohio]

I will offer up that some here and at other times that the topic of personal technology comes up, some seem to equate the lack of desire to be comitted to these devices as 'fear', and that is just not true or a fair assessment for all people.

I'm sure we do have a small number of people who fear it. But more we have those who are frustrated by it (find it harder to use for many applications than whatever their old way was).

We have those (like me) who find much of it a waste of money for the amount  of use or enjoyment they would get out of it. And there are still many people who have done it all and used it all at some time, and just don't find value in it, but actually enjoy the old ways.

An example of that would be books. I prefer a traditional book any day, over an electronic device for reading. I like the feel and the smell of a book, and like the ease of noting things in the text. I like not having to rely on power to be able to read what I have in my hand, and I know that if I leave a book lay, it most likely won't be taken for it's monetary value, if I drop it, it won't break.

I just think in unfair, because some people see less value in all the technology in their daily personal life, to classify them as afraid.

[sfnative]

@Mominohio

@ChynnaBlue

I resisted technology to a certain degree in the 70s, when it truly started to make an impact.  (Not talking about the huge IBM computers, with huge tapes, and cards, which the computer spit out into slots.)

The clincher was my husband's 180 turn from a career as an attorney, when he went back to college, got an engineering degree and started work down the road from Apple in Cupertino.

By the early 80s in California, small and large businesses were spending massive amounts of $$$ on computers, printers, and servers. This was a really interesting period of time to be in the work-force.

Before retiring 2.5 years ago, my teaching facilities were 75% reliant on technology: we had 16 O.R. teaching/learning stations, chock full of every type of O.R. electronics used today.  We also had a primary instructor's station at the front of the facility with an electronic "blackboard," 20 overhead 58" monitors with the ability to share one Resident's work with the entire room. Our microscope teaching platform was software/hardware based on sharing images with each other and the instructor sharing his/her dissection or procedure with the 14 "learning" Zeiss microscopes with cameras.

Of the above, I cannot begin to tell you what a positive impact this had on the quality of teaching to both Residents and Staff physicians.  When in trauma training, this technology allowed us to teach more in 2 hours than that previously thought possible.  However, I was constantly criticized for keeping hard copy training files: I don't believe in relying solely on my office computer for source of information.  This also allowed me to constantly hand off a training file to a physician making referencing a training module from 12 years ago, complete with anything graphic, pertinent e-mails, sign-in sheets, my conversations with the Attending Physician with whom I worked to design the course, etc.

My experiences with technology at home are pretty basic and I enjoy them: laptop, Kindle 8, iPhone; and; I'll include our TV and its components, plus our rather huge stereo system.

[sharlee]

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@ChynnaBlue wrote:

Of course I could live without it, but I don't want to. My tech vastly improves my life.

I don't pull it out at the table when I'm out with family or friends (unless I'm checking on something that pertains to our conversations, like looking up movie times and buying tickets). I keep it in my bag or upside down on the table. I don't feel a need to answer every text the instant I receive it and the people I text with are the same. None of us get mad if we don't hear back from someone seconds after we send a text.

I love my social media, but if I'm feeling overwhelmed, I log out and leave it alone for a few days. No big deal.

And I love that instead of hauling a paperback with me wherever I go, I have an entire library on my Kindle and even on my phone when I get stuck somewhere and don't have my Kindle. My old rule was that I wouldn't buy a handbag that wasn't big enough to carry a paperback book in, but now I just need one big enough to hold my phone.

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@ChynnaBlue, your post describes me to a T!  We may be siblings separated at birth!

[Moonchilde]

I will offer up that whenever the topic of personal technology arises, usually when a poster decries its use, some seem to equate happy use of such technology with "addiction" and use terms such as "committed to" technology as if that means it cannot be done without, when in reality it's simply that these are people who enjoy using these technologies and feel no more need to apologize for them than those who do choose not to use them.

[Noel7]

It always surprises me that some people think technology and smartphones are all about social media. 

Yesterday we had wind storms all around the Bay Area.  Blackouts all around, we had two at my house and used the smartphone to inform the gas and electric company.  We were then able to receive updates and even a map of the area affected.

I really appreciated getting the map because it allowed us, at a glance, to know which restaurants were affected and where we could get hot food since it wasn't going to be from home.

Reliant?  I could have just waited it out without knowing a thing, but why? 

We are all reliant on technology unless we have no phone, no car, no hairdryer and see a dentist with no drill, etc.

[ChynnaBlue]

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@Noel7 wrote:

It always surprises me that some people think technology and smartphones are all about social media. 

Yesterday we had wind storms all around the Bay Area.  Blackouts all around, we had two at my house and used the smartphone to inform the gas and electric company.  We were then able to receive updates and even a map of the area affected.

I really appreciated getting the map because it allowed us, at a glance, to know which restaurants were affected and where we could get hot food since it wasn't going to be from home.

Reliant?  I could have just waited it out without knowing a thing, but why? 

We are all reliant on technology unless we have no phone, no car, no hairdryer and see a dentist with no drill, etc.

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I love that power companies have those maps online! a few years ago I got a Facebook update from my apartment complex that said the power was out and they were leaving the gate open. I had been about to drive home, but instead I used those maps to check restaurants outside the affected area and went out to dinner. I used my phone to check for updates and saw that the power was going off and on for a few hours. Because it was laundry night, bought some emergency underpants to wear the next day in case the power was off and on all night and went for a walk around the outdoor mall. I kept checking my phone and went back home when the power steady on for 30 minutes.

[Moonchilde]

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@Noel7 wrote:

It always surprises me that some people think technology and smartphones are all about social media. 

Yesterday we had wind storms all around the Bay Area.  Blackouts all around, we had two at my house and used the smartphone to inform the gas and electric company.  We were then able to receive updates and even a map of the area affected.

I really appreciated getting the map because it allowed us, at a glance, to know which restaurants were affected and where we could get hot food since it wasn't going to be from home.

Reliant?  I could have just waited it out without knowing a thing, but why? 

We are all reliant on technology unless we have no phone, no car, no hairdryer and see a dentist with no drill, etc.

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And why do the Luddites assume that everyone of any age must be using technology in exactly the same way? A 50 or 60-something will not likely be social texting for hours on end, unable to put their phone down or have a conversation. They will not use FB or Instagram or Pinterest in the same way either.