Mark,
You make some interesting points...
First of all, I'm 63, and somewhat of a luddite.
Really. I love technology when it helps me, but just for the sake of technology, no.
For example, my cassette player on my stero system is still an original ADVENT, one of the original implementations of Dolby, mechanical switches, and a real VU meter. Since it never broke I never had to replace it with a newer one.
I was addicted to the early
Adventure on timeshare systems and also to implementations of it on the old TRS-80.
I never got interested in any of the more recent adventure games and I don't own any kind of game console. Never did. Though I did play solitaire on Windows and on Linux desktops for years (and still play solitaire as a mindless time-waster when on hold).
I don't like social sites like Facebook, MySpace, etc., specificallly because they waste a lot of time at the expense of real interaction. I go to specific sites for specific reasons, but in general I don't do computer stuff at all except for work. I go to movies, read, and watch some television (after over ten years I finally upgraded my bedroom TV to a new HD set).
For years I was addicted to the early CompuServ, Prodigy, and AOL networks (pre-Internet) but gave them all up cold-turkey in '95 when I started my first webhosting venture (about the time Win95 was coming out).
And I don't IM (except occasionally with employees not in the office) or use my cellphone for text messages. I don't even have a camer, though I do have text messages and email on the cellphone so I can get emergency support requests.
My ex and I still communicate through regular mail, though my brothers and I email.
I still send real birthday cards and since the proliferation of the use of phony ecards to install malware, I no longer open ecards unless I've been told to accept them.
On a good note: last week I contacted Proctor and Gamble by email because of a defect with a Pur water filter I'd purchased. I actually got a snailmail letter back in reply.
So some companies still believe in the power of real
communication.
But of course that was after my original contact with them through their website brought a totally useless answer by email.
Was it Socrates who pointed out many years ago how the youngsters weren't doing anything right anymore and that the world was going to heck?
Jeff
