topic Re: tech for tech's sake in Discussions & Feedback

tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 19:38:56 GMT

subject title is a skit off 'Art for Art's Sake' song by the group 10cc

OK, tech for tech's sake?

I ask this as a tech novice eg (yesterday, between me & the laptop, just no copy & paste no matter how hard I tried )

I'm old school eg If it ain't broke don't mend it ... & ... make do or do without

I currently have an old 2nd hand colour portable tv in the living room ... so ... what if I have to go right up to the screen to read the menu, text is a bit out of focus ... & ... picture goes off screen either side of tv set so-to-speak ... it's on my to-do list that hopefully atround Christmastime I will be able to treat myself to a flat screen tv ... but ... it doesn't gnaw at me that I have an old tv ... I'm not programmed / driven to have the latest tech or anything else for that matter ... & ... doesn't all this 'throwaway tech'? cost lots of money?

I'm really, really curious as to what people on here think about my comments above

I know tech ain't gonna go away

Re: tech for tech's sake

Cleoriff — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:09:04 GMT

Well I like tech. I may not understand all of it but I like to move with the times without going OTT

I know my own limitations but am fortunate in having my other half who knows what he likes....is an absolute whiz at setting stuff up..... so for that reason I 'go with the flow' as it were.

Having said that... I see no reason to have a 50in TV taking over the lounge and being the focal point. Stuff like that never interests me.

I have a laptop that runs Win7 and I am happy with that.

I have a Note 3 which will be 'old' in Sepember with the new Note release...but I am happy with mine and wont be changing...

I love to learn new tech stuff.....without feeling any burning desire to have all of it...

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:25:10 GMT

I love tech such as a flat screen tv. New samsung smartphone etc but i dont need tech like complicated earphones or Apple products just to be seen & a status symbol

Re: tech for tech's sake

Cleoriff — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:40:56 GMT

Fascinating subject really. Some people think it's an age thing. It isn't

My youngest son is happily bobbing away using my old S3 stating it's the best phone he ever had. On the other hand he has a 40in Panasonic Viera TV (because he was offered it for £250) He does love top of the range audio systems but can't afford them.....so makes up for it by having good speakers...

My eldest has an iPhone 5....wouldn't upgrade to the 6 as he said it was too big and too expensive....but everyone in his family has iPads.

Some people have a real need to have every sort of high tech they can. If it's affordable and no-one suffers, thats really up to them I think.....

It's good to be individual

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:47:59 GMT

Cleoriff & lovemyphone thank you for replying to my post

its reassuring to hear what you both say

I thought maybe I'd be 'the odd one out'

I have a laptop with Windows 7 home premium on ... & ... my 1st smartphone, bought early Summer = Nokia Lumia 640 lte ..... I'm very happy with that

I particularly am not into having a portable music system on my body when out of the home interferring with my relaxed enjoyment of being 'out in the fresh air'

to explain, as-it-were, when I am occassionally in a car / on a train, well I'm a gawper out the window, during daylight ... & ... at night (I just enjoy the lights)

maybe I'm easily pleased ... & ... not so easily impressed? ... dunno

I am grateful for the help I receive on this forum ... because ... without it I have no-one to help me with tech -my son has helped me in the past, but he is away, busy ... & ... has his own life ... however when he rings me for a chat of course I wanna make the most of it ... but ... well ... thanks to you good people on the forum me & my son can talk 21st century tech if we wish

I use my phone's 'diary' / calendar / reminder feature now with ease, its 2nd nature, no need for a paper diary & gel pen ... who'd have thought that when I joined the forum 18 months ago :womanvery-happy:

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:51:34 GMT

You dont need tech to enjoy life. Sometimes i like to walk & just enjoy the views not using any phones music whatsoever

Re: tech for tech's sake

L_W_Ward — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 11:09:17 GMT

I love technology and can create an excuse and desire for a new thing. Being a Psychologist I know exactly how to make myself "need" something when I only "want" it. However over the last year or two i've started to settle down. I got an iPad 1 instead of the 2 becasue I "wouldn't use it to the best of its ability" and "the air 1 will do just fine". Also since buying a house cheap which needs doing up I now think of things in terms of holdhold goods/repears. For example I could move to an iPhone 6 +s in Sept or I could replace the entire guttering system.

Also i need a new TV for the spare room but I decided the wait and update my main one and move the previous one upstairs.

I also got some gray hairs in my beard....

Re: tech for tech's sake

jonsie — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 11:11:57 GMT

With gray hair cometh wisdom.....

Re: tech for tech's sake

Cleoriff — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 11:21:14 GMT

I wouldn't know about grey hair. Mine is red....courtesy of L'oreal

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 12:41:24 GMT

Hello L_W_Ward

you made me laugh ...ie ... just paid for my guttering being done

& since finding fifty quid in the dresser drawer (I didn't know I had) I've taken a tenner out of my purse ... & ... so I have sixty quid ... so ... do I blow it all on a pleasant visit to see my beautician & have a massage with hot stones ... no ... it all goes back into the drawer to go pay towards a good handyman just 'tickling up' the outside windows as I can't afford whole outside of house painted ... so ... some things still have to be non-tech ... but arn't I as good girl?

Also getting back a bit on topic ... you seem to have created a balance in your life between needing / wanting tech

You'd be a great bloke to a conversation with over dinner out (I'm not chatting you up btw)

My hair gets greyer / whiter everytime I go to the hairdressers to have it cut

Re: tech for tech's sake

Cleoriff — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 13:03:05 GMT

I will go a bit off topic here but it really does relate to people's perception of what you want or need. (be it tech or anything else)

Many years ago we decided we would move house and go upmarket on the property ladder.

No-one thought that was a bad thing. However before we did that, we came to Spain and decided instead we would buy an apartment out here.Went back to the UK and raised the money for the apartment by re-mortgaging our existing house.

It was amazing to see the change in peoples reactions to that decision.

The same people who thought it was great to buy a big house in the UK.....thought we were a bit snobby to buy an apartment abroad....(The fact we paid less to do this was irrelevant to some narrow minded people)

We were asked many times why we needed to do this. Our reply was... we didn't need to...we wanted to

(Incidentally it was the best investment we ever made)

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 13:30:41 GMT

Something in a similar vein Cleoriff

a year or 2 after I was married my x-husband wanted to gain a post graduate degree in Urban Design

he gained his ILA (Institute of Lancscape Architects) qualification externally whilst working full time in Leeds then Rochdale ..... he couldn't get funding for this ...so ... we sold out house in Castleton, Rochdale to finance him a year course at the then Oxford Polytechnic

Whereas before I'd been seen as a good, loyal wife & a friend good to be around with ..... I was now seen as a stupid person ... & ... told so

my x-husband got me out for a 'holiday' amongst the course students, to the Estoril coast of Portugal when he was specialising in Urban Design = hot countries

he qualified well ... went out to the Sharjah UAE (United Arab Emirates) working for the Dubai municipality ... it all was an good life experience ... BUT ... my marriage began to go crook out there

Anyways, all's turned out well & for the better ... its all water under the bridge, old family news

Re: tech for tech's sake

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 13:35:17 GMT

to add to my post above ^^^ ^^^ ^^^

tech has very very much taken over a landscape architects job

no drawing boards or tracers in employment

CAD Computer Aided Design

my son once described himself as the office techie

he does use CAD

Re: tech for tech's sake

jonsie — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 14:27:21 GMT

Won't be long before doctors surgeries are a thing of the past, everything done in the way of diagnosis by implants and computer.

I love technology but it came into my life at the grand age of 49 so I had a life at one time! Kids are growing up with it, learning about it in school, showing off the latest devices to friends and strangers alike. Their upbringing now makes it a necessity to own the latest tech as a vital part of learning, of social integration and of leisure time.

Me? If I can walk to the pub, answer the very few calls and texts I am likely to receive and get on the Internet then I'm happy sitting alone in my own little world. This is me, I'm coping with what life as thrown at me. Happiness is whatever place you are in at any given time which is bearable and pain free.

No amount of the latest tech will make a scrap of difference to your ability to cope with the true meaning of life. Maybe you get a buzz, a five minute feelgood factor but live life while you can. Get away from the 50 inch TV, lift your nose away from that 5 inch screen which has taken over your life....in fact, GET a life.

Do I envy these people whose world is ruled by all things technical? Not a bit, I'm happy that I was born in an era where we actually learned to live independently, spoke to people face to face. I do marvel at the dedication, skill and technological minds of those people who have made such wonderful advancement in medical science, we have come a long way in that respect.

But bear in mind, it was 46 years ago when man allegedly landed on the moon, we could speak to them....as far as we have advanced, at times we cannot get a phone signal in our own sitting room. Isn't science wonderful.