This is why I detest modern technology....

[Angel07]

I'm a teenager. Everyone in my school talks about social media and everything while I'm just here wanting to talk about my animals. No one wants to hear about them so I'm a "loner" because no one wants to be my friend because I'm not on social media 24/7.

 

[Sequel]

I'm a teenager. Everyone in my school talks about social media and everything while I'm just here wanting to talk about my animals. No one wants to hear about them so I'm a "loner" because no one wants to be my friend because I'm not on social media 24/7.

Well you sure can talk about them here on BYC!

 

[Angel07]

Well you sure can talk about them here on BYC!

Haha, yep! That's why I joined (and to ask questions).

 

[gtaus]

Chances are, those young people ARE interacting with each other!

I will assume they are interacting with other young people, just nobody at the family gathering.

 

[gtaus]

I resisted getting a cell phone because I liked being somewhat inaccessible when I wanted to be.

When I was in the Navy (many years ago), and the cell phones were just a new thing, all the senior officers wanted a cell phone to show their status. After a few years, when cell phones became more popular, none of the senior officers wanted a cell phone and preferred to have someone else take their calls and pass them a message if it was important. They did not want to jump and answer a phone every time it rang. So junior officers often ended up with the cell phones and nobody much liked being secretary answering the phone all day. But that was for work, of course, and not for private use. That's really old school where the boss was always "too busy" or "too important" to answer the phone himself.

 

[gtaus]

I'm a teenager. Everyone in my school talks about social media and everything while I'm just here wanting to talk about my animals. No one wants to hear about them so I'm a "loner" because no one wants to be my friend because I'm not on social media 24/7.

Teenage years can be challenging for us all. I suspect you are just more independent than your peers and as you get older, others will see that as a strength. I think you will do just fine. In the meantime, you can talk to us old timers, but young at heart, about your animals.

 

[Angel07]

Teenage years can be challenging for us all. I suspect you are just more independent than your peers and as you get older, others will see that as a strength. I think you will do just fine. In the meantime, you can talk to us old timers, but young at heart, about your animals.

Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me.

 

[DatCampG]

Old guy rant coming up, just had to vent...

I think lots of modern technology is destroying our society. Maybe I'm just getting too darn old. But here are my rants....

First of all, I will state that I have not always been anti-tech. I have been programming computers since the late 1970's and hold 2 degrees in computer science and information systems. Most of my early college education was heavy into computer science. Along the way, I also became a certified A+ technician and built and serviced computers. I always enjoyed it.

Something has changed with tech today, and I don't think it's just me that is questioning the direction of our society. So let me rant about just a few things that really bug me, in no particular order of importance.

- Not to be sexist, but I have been run off the road and into near collisions with young women who are texting/talking on their cell phones instead of paying attention to their driving. You used to have to worry about intoxicated drivers after closing hour, but nowadays, you have to worry about young mothers picking up their kids from school. I don't think the fines can be too heavy for people who are texting/talking on their phones instead of driving safely. Somebody needs to wake them up. Again, my encounters were all with young women, but I suppose men could be equally as distracted when on the phone.

- I was out at a restaurant the other night, and many people are either talking/texting on their phones, or worse yet, letting them ring and bothering everyone else who is paying for a enjoyable night out. I don't care to hear constant telephone ringing in the background and people sharing their private conversations with everyone else in the restaurant, I would rather have stayed home and ate my dinner in front of the TV. At least my chair at home is comfortable.

- A few months ago I was at a family gathering at my relative's house. All the "younger" people were just sitting on the couch staring at their cell phones and texting someone else. In my time, behavior like that would have been considered very rude. Someone invites you to their house and you just sit there and text someone else?

OK, turning a bit political and don't mean to offend anyone, but here goes.

- Vaccinations. I have many friends that get all their "medical" news from Facebook. None of them consider taking the COVID vaccination because someone, somewhere, reported that they had a bad reaction to the shot. They are full of Facebook medical wisdom and ready to share it with me. Really? Why did I waste all those years in Nursing school to get my RN degree and license? I could have just sat at home and read Facebook all day. I tend to think of myself open minded towards alternative approaches to medicine and care. It's part of our nursing philosophy. But I'm waving the caution flag (I wanted to use stronger language) on these Facebook treatments. Thank God that we did not have a Facebook educated population when the Polio vaccination was being distributed early on. We might still be actively fighting Polio yet today.

- Facebook, in general. For years I have been anti-Facebook because I thought they were destroying the fabric of our society. Recent Facebook whistleblowers have come forward and brought to light just how bad it is. Facebook will do anything for profits, and if that means hooking you into a bunch of nonsense and lies just to keep you clicking on their platform, they don't seem to have a problem with that. I know many people who refuse to watch news on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, or even Fox news now, because they think everything is a lie. Boy how I miss my evening news with Walter Cronkite and what we regarded as mostly unbiased news reporting.

- Other social media. As you can tell, I'm not much into social media. But recent reports of how damaging some platforms on social media is to young girls body image is alarming to me. As an RN, I have treated a number of young women who suffer from Anorexia and other eating disorders. Along with that, I have treated some young women who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder, where they focus in on perceived flaws or defects in their body. From what I hear on the news, social media is only making things worse for young women.

OK, if you have made it this far, let me end a more positive note. Recently my bank (non local) switched over to making deposits by scanning checks in via smartphone app. I only had a landline until a few weeks ago. I never cared about getting a smart phone for the many concerns I have expressed. But, my landline phone cannot scan in checks and therefore I was forced to get a new smartphone to do my banking - or sending checks through the mail which was not my desire. I also ended up signing up for a Facebook account so I could get the free Messenger app to make "free calls" to friends and family. I don't use Facebook, but my family calls me on Messenger. When I cancelled my landline telephone, I also cut the cord on my cable TV. I kept our internet service, but everything else was cancelled. I don't expect I'll use my new cell phone anymore than I did the landline phone, so I just bought a Tracfone with 1500 mins and 1 year of service. Dear Wife got me the phone from QVC. Anyway, it was $80 for the phone for 1 year of service, but I am saving over $90 per month by having cancelled my landline phone and cutting the cord on the cable TV. I am now saving about $1000 per year. So, I'm not totally against new tech, just much of it and how it's used.

Thanks for letting me rant.

This post confirms my actions and reminds me of how glad, and how much I will continue to hold onto "the old ways" as things change quickly going into our future. Yeeesir, with inflation, rich-ways hangs might too high on the limb for me. CQCQDX do you read me? Over.
I enjoyed reading your written words.

 

[DatCampG]

Another good thing to rant about. A couple of months ago, I had a break down with my pickup and called AAA for a tow. 2 hours later, I called them back and they had somehow not even notified the towing company! Lots of excuses, etc... but bottom line it took 3 hours to get a 10 mile tow. I filed a complaint with AAA. Actually talked to a customer service rep who apologized for the muck up, and he gave me $50 credit towards next year renewal. I said I'd take the $50 credit, but it in no way makes up for being stranded on the road for 3 hours and if that would have been Dear Wife left out on the road, I would have been beside myself with the poor service of AAA.

I have been a member of AAA for many years, and have always considered them to be the gold standard for towing service. But they have moved almost all their calls to some kind of automated system and using their app. At the time, I did not have a smart phone and talked to a real person - after a good period of waiting - and evidently that person did not know enough that she had to call the towing service! So I sat out there without a clue that nothing was happening and no tow truck was on the way.

BTW, in the end of that story, I had to call the tow truck and give them directions to my breakdown location. AAA still had never called the tow truck and given them my location. Nothing went right on that call and I'm still very upset with AAA. And, frankly, if I had a better option for towing insurance I'd probably switch.

AAA's excuse was that they do most of their service calls via mobile app and that their rep had not been adequately trained on handling phone calls from customers. I guess if you don't have the smartphone and submit everything yourself for a trouble call, some of their real life people don't know how to handle a breakdown anymore.

The country way...It's always nice to know someone locally and personally and keep that wrecker-card in the glove compartment! Smiles

 

[DatCampG]

I have been lucky in that I have gotten lots of great responses from the BYC forum. If my posting a topic on a thread is interesting to others, than I am happy to have been part of it.