[Misc] Modern life

[Greg Bobkin]

Yes, because they too are a consumption of time better replaced by being down the pub with mates talking tete a tete in the old days with an Evening Argus and John Vinnicombes inside scoop

So put the device down and GO TO THE FACKING PUB THEN!

Don't blame that scenario on modern life or 'Big Tech'. Having your face stuck on/in a screen is on you!

 

[METALMICKY]

Yes, because they too are a consumption of time better replaced by being down the pub with mates talking tete a tete in the old days with an Evening Argus and John Vinnicombes inside scoop

You're still missing the irony bit aren't you that many have pointed out.

 

[portlock seagull]

So put the device down and GO TO THE FACKING PUB THEN!

Don't blame that scenario on modern life or 'Big Tech'. Having your face stuck on/in a screen is on you!

No one to go to the pub with…because they’re all stuck on social media (debating football and/or watching/streaming endless games of football you once had to go to in the flesh or they didn’t exist…)

 

[Greg Bobkin]

No one to go to the pub with…because they’re all stuck on social media (debating football and/or watching/streaming endless games of football you once had to go to in the flesh or they didn’t exist…)

Again, that's THEIR problem. They have the choice to go to the pub, but they don't

 

[Weststander]

I think we just live in a really over populated crap expensive country which is rush rush rush.
The normal person is existing not living in the UK.
I’m amazed why people risk their lives to get to this shithole just to exist on benefits in some cockroach infested crap flat with mould on the walls.
Each to their own I suppose. The People in the med actually seem to mostly enjoy themselves and are way more relaxed that’s where I would be heading.

The reality for people in Spain, Greece, Italy might be very different. They too have to work full time in the same master-servant working life scenario to live, the vast majority won’t live anywhere near an attractive beach, narcotics issues, poverty, people obsessed with social media, influencers and not talking to friends/family whilst looking at them, a left v right political chasm, political corruption is rife including at the local level.

The difference is it’s sunny.

You’re based in London which like Brighton is a work to live location. The direct result of just one thing … 27 years of exponential house price rises. It’s a capital city thing. This has been explained to us too by upset locals to Paris, NYC, Prague and Rome. Priced out by investors.

There’s a big difference from holidaying/retiring in a place you love to visit, to chiselling out a living there.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I find it stunning the amount of people who walk around glued to their phones, mum's pushing prams or parents walking with their kids, people out in nature head-down in their phones. Stand on any UK train station platform waiting for train and 99% of commuters are stood or sat head down in their phones. If you'd shown that vision to someone decades back they'd think it was some sci fi dystopian fiction. Really absurd and quite depressing.

If the technology we have now was available to people who are now in their 70s and 80s when they were in their 20s and 30s, they would be all over it.

That's what makes me laugh and some people in that generation. Moaning about how life was so much better when they were younger - on the Internet, in their house that is equipped with a fridge, freezer, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, TV. Hell, maybe even a coffee maker, an Alexa and a chuffing robotic vacuum cleaner. And when you go and see them, they answer the door with their Ring doorbell.

But yeah, the 'good old days' were the best

 

[hans kraay fan club]

So put the device down and GO TO THE FACKING PUB THEN!

Don't blame that scenario on modern life or 'Big Tech'. Having your face stuck on/in a screen is on you!

Indeed.

I‘ve missed out on this thread this evening, as I got home from work, ate dinner with my wife and one son, then went and played five a side football, and on to the pub, with my older son, and 5 of our mates.

Don't treat social media as a thing to do. Just use it to fill the gaps between your ‘things’.

 

[Zeberdi]

I love technnologiy - it’s clean and more environmentally friendly than eg destroying n acres of forest for paper - WFH means less people are commuting by car every day;

The NHS advanced diagnostic technology services has literally saved my life twice in past 18 months:

For me, online banking is a miracle of time management that means I no longer have to go to the bank to draw out cash to pay tradesmen;

My Apple Wallet on my watch means I can quickly scan my way into football matches, onto trains and pay instantly without having to fish around for my mobile phone or risk it being swiped from my hand.

Technology means even though I was born in the 60s, I am still learning new database systems and software applications at work which keeps me interested and mentally engaged.

Modern technology allowed me to stay in touch with all my family and friends remotely for hours on end when I was on my own in Covid lockdown.

 

[GT49er]

Only I didn't say that.

And, what I said earlier on in my post was 'Yes, it makes a huge difference to have an email address and possibly a smartphone...' which it clearly does. That one example is hardly being a slave to technology and the digital age, is it?

It does when 'the digital age' stars to cut off access to those without smartphones, yes. So, getting to be compulsory. And before long it will be - firms will close down their helplines and cancel their phone numbers; some already have.

I gave loads of alternatives if people want a predominantly analogue life. If it bothers people that much to use an app to park, find somewhere that has a machine.

Like another town, maybe? Yeh, that'll be convenient!

You want to bank in person? There are still options to do that - a place opened up in our high street earlier this year.

Fancy a bet? Try one of the many bookies all over the shop.

Yes, I can do that, and I do. They are some of the organisations that don't treat me like a pariah if I don't have a smartphone (although the banks are moving that way in some areas, I'll agree).

Want to know the latest news, but hate the thought of the Internet? Turn on the wireless (AM, FM or LW, obviously - none of that DAB nonsense for the non-techically-minded).

LW? Blimey - you have become disconnected from the non-digital world!

Want live sport? Does a TV count as 'digital'? Need a recipe? Try a cookbook. Want to listen to music? Plenty of CDs, records or tapes around (and the antiquated machines to play them on).

TV's a TV. Yes, I've got one, but unlike some venues, some events, and parking in many towns and cities, I can do that without being compelled to buy a smartphone.

As I DID say, in most situations it's almost completely up to the individual. Sure, it might be a bit more of a ballache, but if it bothers people that much, they'll surely be willing to go the extra mile and do what they did in what they would no doubt call 'the good old days'

In some situations it still is up to the individual - but those situations are being eroded day by day. And the options to 'do what they did in the good old days' are fast disappearing as access is shut off.

 

[GT49er]

You might think it has, but it's probably wait than you'd think to live a mostly analogue life. If you hate it *that* much...

In English?

 

[portlock seagull]

You're still missing the irony bit aren't you that many have pointed out.

Not at all. I so obviously invited as to merely play along with dear boy. Anyway, back on topic: Modern Life is rubbish and it’s all because of Big Tech. And Romans.

 

[portlock seagull]

If the technology we have now was available to people who are now in their 70s and 80s when they were in their 20s and 30s, they would be all over it.

That's what makes me laugh and some people in that generation. Moaning about how life was so much better when they were younger - on the Internet, in their house that is equipped with a fridge, freezer, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, TV. Hell, maybe even a coffee maker, an Alexa and a chuffing robotic vacuum cleaner. And when you go and see them, they answer the door with their Ring doorbell.

But yeah, the 'good old days' were the best

Granted am running out of people I know in their 70s and 80s as most now dead. But don’t know any / knew any with robotic vacuum cleaners, Ring doorbells or Alexa. Those with fridge freezers, TVs, dishwashers and microwaves had them in the good old days because these existed most of their lives. All complained about the Internet and Big Tech mind, and how it made their lives infinitely harder. “Have you tried switching it off and on again?!”