Re: Today's technology, just how reliant are you?

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

@Moonchilde wrote:
@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.

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.

Because if they're Luddites, all they have to go on are assumptions.

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Group 5 minus 1 · ‎03-11-2010

Not very. Our adult children could not exist w/out it but I am sure they would if they had to.

Sure could use a little good news today.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@ChynnaBlue wrote:
@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.

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.

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Great example, @ChynnaBlue !

DH had an older car he loved and didn't want to get rid of. It was stolen from a parking lot.

I bought a new car and included the chip they hide somewhere in the car so it can be traced via GPS. Supposedly the car can't be stolen easily with all the new technology, but if it is, the car + thieves will be located ASAP.

Love the new technology!

Buck-i-Nana · ‎09-28-2010

@Mominohio wrote:
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.

Just as some seem to make the assumption that anyone who appreciates and utlizes technology are somehow addicted to something not worthwhile and neglecting the true necessities of life. Some posts I read I get a mental image of the poster with a halo patting themselves on the back for remaining pure and untainted by the demon of technology.

It's all perspective.

ladyroxanne · ‎03-09-2010

i've come to rely heavily on my cell phone and laptop. i feel like i've lost my right arm without them.

brii · ‎06-20-2010

I love technology. I embrace it and welcome it.

It comes in handy more times than not. My daughter sent me a 10-page paper she wrote. She wanted me to proofread it and give her my thoughts on it. She emailed it to me. I made some corrections and emailed it back to her. Her professor required its submission by email by 11:59 pm.

We did all that without ever leaving our laptops 100 miles away.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@Moonchilde wrote:

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.

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@Moonchilde

I haven't seen or heard that word in a long time, lol

I was in the hospital for days around last Thanksgiving. DD brought my iPad and it kept me sane in there. It was right after the terrorist attack on France and it was on the room TV 24/7. At least with the iPad I could play solitaire in the wee hours and send and receive family messages.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Noel7 wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:

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.
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@Moonchilde

I haven't seen or heard that word in a long time, lol

I was in the hospital for days around last Thanksgiving. DD brought my iPad and it kept me sane in there. It was right after the terrorist attack on France and it was on the room TV 24/7. At least with the iPad I could play solitaire in the wee hours and send and receive family messages.

That's pretty much how I use my phone and my iPad - things to keep me occupied instead of staring at a table waiting for food or leafing through a magazine I have no interest in at the doctor's office. Or when TV s*cks.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Mj12 · ‎03-09-2010

I LOVE technology; I love my iphone, iPad, laptop. And Kindle - LOVE. How else can you carry around hundreds of books? (and the books do not mysteriously erase away)