i think its been nearly 30 years since the modern cellphone...not the standard non flip phones you see here nowadays, but the old flip phones of the late 90s and early 2000s...i for one being 42 remember them...its not exactly 30 years, but close enough to prove my point... but really its a lot longer than just 2 years i can tell you that!!

Edited August 15, 20232 yr by darrenvox

14 minutes ago, darrenvox said:

but really its a lot longer than just 2 years i can tell you that!!

Definitely.  They were around in the 80s, but they looked like giant walkie-talkies and only had very limited coverage in some large cities.

Dave

My first cell phone was a large brick that Radio Shack sold for about a $zillion dollars and weighed nearly as much as a small car... 🤑

...now my favorite cell phone is a tiny, thin gadget that weighs a bit more than a eagle's wing feathers and about the same size as a pack of cigarettes. 😄

After that first message in this topic, am I the only one in here having now the images of two skeletons dancing in front of a pirate stuck in my mind ? 🙂 

Edited August 16, 20232 yr by Daube

Makes no sense to me that just because a person gets into their 50's, 60's, 70's that they willingly decide to be anti-modern technology and therefore miss out on the benefits that come with that technology and render themselves less technologically cognizant. Clinging to the past instead of embracing the new is not a good idea.

My father is close to his 80's and he is actively using his smartphone. Not only to call his friends, but also to send them messages and pictures+videos to be discussed later, to check meaning or history of some things he didn't know, to watch funny stuff sometimes etc...

Some people have to stop thinking that having a phone makes you cut from the rest of the society. It's all the opposite.

I'm soon 45 years old and I'm using my smartphone quite a lot. This includes reading this very forum, but also taking all of my photos while I'm anywhere (travel, holidays or any special moment anywhere). I don't use social media though, even though one might argue our forums are the first/original kind of online social media anyways 😉

1 hour ago, Daube said:

My father is close to his 80's and he is actively using his smartphone.

 

Yep, I'm thinking it's mostly to do with personality traits, attitude and other factors, rather than age.

There's nothing wrong with owning a mobile and although I don't want one I can see that they can and do serve serval purposes for some people.

But, why, oh why, oh why, can some folks never put them down and just live and enjoy real life and their surroundings?

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

Makes no sense to me that just because a person gets into their 50's, 60's, 70's that they willingly decide to be anti-modern technology and therefore miss out on the benefits that come with that technology and render themselves less technologically cognizant. Clinging to the past instead of embracing the new is not a good idea.

I think that what most of us are saying is that it seems many people nowadays are obsessed and enthralled with their smartphones.  I've seen people walking around staring at their screens who are oblivious to what;s going on around them.

It's one thing to embrace and utilize new technology.  It's another to allow that technology to take over your life.

Dave

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

Makes no sense to me that just because a person gets into their 50's, 60's, 70's that they willingly decide to be anti-modern technology and therefore miss out on the benefits that come with that technology and render themselves less technologically cognizant. Clinging to the past instead of embracing the new is not a good idea.

Martin...I'm still rubbing 2 sticks together to make fire! 🔥

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

Makes no sense to me that just because a person gets into their 50's, 60's, 70's that they willingly decide to be anti-modern technology and therefore miss out on the benefits that come with that technology and render themselves less technologically cognizant. Clinging to the past instead of embracing the new is not a good idea.

It makes sense, Martin, when you are not a technocrat and get overwhelmed by it all.  We do not willingly decide to be anti-modern technology.  The technology has passed us by because our learning curve flattens out with age.  If we don't already know how to do it we don't do it.

Take my car for instance.  I can make it go.  The touch screen has so many things on it I get confused so I ignore it.  If I want to change the speed of my air conditioner-heater fan I have to pull over to the curb and stop.  I long for the knobs on the dash that controlled those things.  I could reach over and turn the knob and still keep my attention on the road.  I cannot drive and use a touch screen at the same time.

Likewise my I phone.  I care not for the games and the GPS and all the other things on it.  I have difficulty trying to find text messages.  I have no idea how to reply to them.

I had to call AAA for a battery jump on my car.  I used to call them and an operator would ask me for my membership number.  I would tell her and she would call a tow truck and get help.

But now I call the AAA number and they tell me they have texted me a number, to hang up and then call back and enter that number.  I had to go to the management office here and get them to help me.  They found the number and called back with it and then had to enter my 16 digit membership number and hang up and they would call me back.  I finally got the help I needed but I could not do it myself.

I called the AAA customer service number and told the lady there my problem and she gave me an unpublished number to call and get me right to an operator without having to go through all that other stuff.  They realize everyone is not like you.

You, Martin, are a technocrat.  You love new technology and that's fine.  But when you age your learning curve becomes flat.  You can still do things you already know how to do but it is very difficult to learn something new...especially if it is complex like the touch screen on my car.  I like to listen to classical music on a Sirius channel but I don't know how to get it on the touch screen so if I lose it I go to the dealer and a salesman will tune it back for me.

Your turn is coming Martin.   When your learning curve flattens out, and it will, the new technology will not stop coming and you are going to find yourself lost in the techno forest just as we, your seniors, are now.

Noel                

Edited August 16, 20232 yr by birdguy

55 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

I think that what most of us are saying is that it seems many people nowadays are obsessed and enthralled with their smartphones.  I've seen people walking around staring at their screens who are oblivious to what;s going on around them.

 

Yes, that is one weird phenomenon associated with phones. I've had people almost walk into me because they were on their phones and I saw one young lady walk across the road without looking. Its social media they are obsessed with I would say, rather than the device itself. From my experience it's mostly young people under 35 and female. Sorry ladies if that sounds sexist. 

54 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Martin...I'm still rubbing 2 sticks together to make fire! 🔥

 

A fine technique. Have you tried the Bear Grylls technique of steel wool and a 9V battery? A tad more technological but I feel you may be ready for it. 

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

A fine technique. Have you tried the Bear Grylls technique of steel wool and a 9V battery? A tad more technological but I feel you may be ready for it. 

What happens if you're in the middle of a wilderness and your battery dies?

Noel

15 hours ago, birdguy said:

It makes sense, Martin, when you are not a technocrat and get overwhelmed by it all. 

 

Yep, fair enough. As I mentioned in my following reply,  I'm thinking it's mostly to do with personality traits, attitude and yes, whether technically minded. 

 

15 hours ago, birdguy said:

We do not willingly decide to be anti-modern technology.

 

Some do. 

12 hours ago, birdguy said:

What happens if you're in the middle of a wilderness and your battery dies?

Noel

 

Hmmm.... then I would advise Charlie to revert back to his sticks and rub them together very vigorously. I'm told he's very good at it. 😃