[Closed] how long can someone remain a technophobe?

This is something that Carl Sagan mentions in a book of his I am reading: All the while we are creating a world that relies more and more on technology and yet the general populace is not keeping pace and we are running the risk of creating a world that no one, apart from a select few) know how to operate.

Personally speaking, I think the time to pull your head out of the sand is now.

As the IT manager at work (alongside my main role) I get increasingly frustrated by people either being completely ignorant about, or even deliberately obtuse towards, the tools they use 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's like a chef now knowing how to operate an oven.

So long as it doesn't affect your everyday life too much, then it's entirely up to you. Plenty of people live 'off the grid' as it were, either through choice or circumstances; the fact you're on here means you're not entirely divorced from technology and the web.
I don't actually use a computer that much these days, I have a work PC, but I'm not too familiar with the software, I just use two programmes, and they're network based anyway, my home Mac gets used as a backup and music streaming device; if there's a software problem I start having kernel panic attacks...
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Yer land ranger map batterys never go flat

Maps for touring....even if i had a gps id still carry the maps.

Organising and laminating maps is a most enjoyable part of planning a trip. I'd never be without a map despite carrying a gps.

TBH, we are already totally dependent on our tech and service infrastructure! If you think, War2 was only 75 years ago and we had country wide blackouts, growing our own food in our gardens, and people walked/cycled to work. If the same thing happened now, we have mass panic in a week, and mass starvation in a month.......

Tbh it's the reliance on tech which is more of an issue IMHO..

I love gps but strangely enough wouldn't go off galavanting around anywhere interesting without paper maps or laminated...probably have forgot the compass nowadays though...

I find that outdoors is a bit harsh on tech 🙂

frak technology. just another way of being controlled.

^ bit without technology we wouldn't be able to make the tin foil for your hat 😉

Yeah, in terms of maps, the ability to read and navigate from a map is a skill that fewer and fewer folk have. Fine until sky net takes over.

Looking at the bigger picture, lack of map reading skill isn't really an issue until a 'walking dead ' catastrophe strikes. In which case finding a cache of assault rifles would seem to be more a priority than knowing how to navigate pen-y-fan sans garmin.

Of course, I know where my local TA armoury is, and how to point the business end of a claymore(sword and AP mine) at the bad guys, so I'm sorted!

Maps are the best. You don't learn about an area as much following a GPS route. I have a lot of OS maps, love collecting them and poring over them to find new places to go.

I thought about buying a GPS unit last week, looked into it but then thought I'd have to carry a map anyway as a back up so why bother buying the tech as well?? For touring a bar bad holds a map fine.

garage-dweller

^ bit without technology we wouldn't be able to make the tin foil for your hat

Do you know why tinfoil is shiny on one side and matt on the other? (i do) #mustgetoutmore

When this happens, no amount of smartphones and selfie sticks will save us (although the selfie sticks may be useful for stabbing eyes)

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ton - Member

question is, as technology gets techier, and life becomes more dependant on it.....how long can i go on burying my head is the sand?

Life becomes more dependent on it because large organisations got sucked in by large corporations who are trying to sell them dreams or to create "problems" because they want to generate profits. The situation then spirals out of control. For example, you can still pay by cheque but then tech companies would argue the death of cheque payment system in the hope that everyone would move away from old form of payment into the new ones. There is associated risks but then tech companies would down play that by bombarding you with so much of the positives to over shadow the negatives in the hope that you would adopt their technology.

Technology does not make your life less stressful or easier because you need to constantly upgrade your knowledge in order to cope with it, otherwise you will be left behind. The aspect of learning and upgrading does not stop and eventually you will get very stress up simply because you need to learn again in order to cope. You could have a simpler lifestyle and become more relax if you can avoid them, but increasing you are surrounded by the so called improvement to life technology that you will find it hard to avoid.

Yes, you can bury your head in the sand but you will slowly be left behind which is inevitable but then how many important things in the world will have direct impact on you anyway?

I don't use smartphone because I refuse to simply because I have no need for them. Yes, might be convenient to get the latest info etc but will I suffer? Hell No. If I were to use smartphone I think I can use it much better than many others if I wish too but what's the point.

^ boba fatt I have seen a worse queue for the boxing day clothing shop sales or the toilets at Clapham Junction after too much beer at Twickenham

You should develop a relationship with technology on your own terms. Although understanding it to some extent is a requisite for that relationship to work.

I highly recommend reading Steve Talbott's "Devices of the Soul".

don't have a fancy phone, the only time i use the one i have is to tell the time.

You might prefer to swap it for a watch then?

You see, my point it what you CAN use and what you DO use are two different things: I think paper maps are great and everyone should be able to utilise them, and other such "older" technologies. However, this does not preclude you from learning to use modern technology, which I also think people should do.

You have to control technology, not the other way round, and this is where a lot of "technophobes" fall down: When they do inevitably have to use it, they don't have the knowledge or confidence to control it, so it controls them.

When this happens, no amount of smartphones and selfie sticks will save us (although the selfie sticks may be useful for stabbing eyes)

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And what's more, there's a MAMIL zombie in there with world champs stripes he hasn't earned. *shudder*

Modern GPS devices have maps on them so one isn't exclusive of the other.

Organising and laminating maps is a most enjoyable part of planning a trip. I'd never be without a map despite carrying a gps.

CG - Where were you when I was looking for a good lady wife?.... 😀

padkinson - Member

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And what's more, there's a MAMIL zombie in there with world champs stripes he hasn't earned. *shudder*

Isn't that "Tyres" from spaced?

(and i notice Dr House has made an appearance too (back left) 😉

Tyres prob thinks it an illegal rave and House will be looking for an interesting case 😀

I think Tyres is looking for this guy (pudsy) from our festival

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And if you ever see Dave on your travels tell him to get in touch, i lost him back in 2006 😀

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Modern tech is a wondrous thing - and I don't even scratch the surface with what I use.

I have access to an unlimited resource of digital media. I can listen to more music than would have ever been possible 20 years ago, I can watch more informative television (or complete dross if my mood takes me) than I've ever had the option to, I have more information available at my fingertips than a lifetime in a library could have ever afforded. I never have to set foot in a Bank, or post a letter. I buy goods cheaper than walking into a shop.

I can do this independently, or simultaneously on multiple devices, at home, or on the move. I can contact people and share views, photographs, experiences from almost any location. I can even track the location of my daughters phone in her pocket.

What's not to like?

Use as much, or as little of it as you personally feel the need to, but personally I prefer to see the positives of technology, rather than drag my heels in some form of luddite rebelion....

My father denied us the internet in our house until 1999. He didn't see the point. When after asking him for it for 3 years he connected to the web via that 56k modem and was hooked.

Try new tech. Its often popular for a reason. 🙂

I'm in the 'modern tech' is isolating us from other people and from the outside world in general, and on that basis is/risks causing great damage to our own wellbeing and society overall.

But I'm also in the 'keep up so so you can pick and choose the tech which suits you and helps you live your life' ie: get to know what's there, and make an empowered choice on what you use and what you don't, and most importantly, how you use it. Just because you can dick about on facebook all day getting envious of other people's 'perfect' lives, doesn't mean you have to, especially if it stops you being grateful for all the great things in your own life.

It's such a tech-driven world now that you'll lose touch and come across as a dinosaur if you don't, as well as losing out on the benefits of having internet access whenever and wherever you need it.

My parents have always been very conservative but they refuse point blank to get the internet in any form and they're getting increasingly isolated from the outside world - just hiding away in fear of change and it's not doing them any good at all.

I'd look on it as making a choice, rather than burying your head in the sand. I make my living from technology, yet only got a smartphone a year ago (I could happily live without a mobile phone at all, but do appreciate some advantages to having a smart one). Typing on a 5 year old laptop, which now I've sorted the overheating problem by cleaning the dust out of the fan duct I have no intention of replacing any time soon. White goods all at least 5 years old, some rather more (I tend to repair when most people would replace). Got rid of the CRT TV a couple of months ago. Occasionally use the satnav on my phone, but more often use a road atlas instead if I don't just know the route.

Like others I'd also choose to take maps rather than a GPS. Can't see that changing until such time as GPSs come with at least 30cm by 30cm screens. Until that point, there is a big advantage to proper paper maps (admittedly whilst I own lots of paper maps I no longer buy them, and for a tour I'd print out the bits I need from digital mapping). Might take my GPS watch on a tour, but only for recording what I'd done and Straaaaava - the only time I've ever used it to get a position is when surveying!

Can't see any particular reason why you have to embrace all this technology to live your life - fundamentally things haven't changed.

[quote=scotroutes ]Modern GPS devices have maps on them so one isn't exclusive of the other.

Big difference between paper maps and the display on a GPS though.

[quote=brooess ]I'm in the 'modern tech' is isolating us from other people and from the outside world in general, and on that basis is/risks causing great damage to our own wellbeing and society overall.
It's certainly not isolating me from other people and the outside world in general.

Telephone, messaging, email, facebook etc: all ways of keeping in touch with more friends than ever before. I've made friends, met them, visited them, had them stay with us etc.

Radio, TV, internet, google etc: I have more information about "the outside world" available to me than anyone has in the whole of human history. I find out about events happening across the globe, as they happen. I have ways of finding out more information about them and of forming my own opinion from a number of sources rather than being spoon fed what the local press tell me.

ton - you can successfully post photos on here so you're more technically savvy than say 50% of forumites.
Don't be in denial. You're an early adopter (compared to a lot of people)

question is, as technology gets techier, and life becomes more dependant on it.....how long can i go on burying my head is the sand?

Write us a letter about it and we'll get back to you.

For what it's worth I don't a GPS either. Map and compass for me.

I welcome technophobes. And I say this as someone who could program computers from the age of 11 and has never known a time after then when I didn't have a computer. I've worked with computers most of my life, I earn a very good living because I know shit about computers, I play computers games a lot, I use computers all the time, I own more computers than most people have shoes, and I love that fact that some people don't have or use or like computers at all.

Life is becoming more dependant on technology., but you still can't beat someone who knows how to fix pipes, or walls or woodwork. Or someone who can turn a piece of paper into something that looks great.

Screw technology, stuff computers up your bum. Make a fork out of a lump of wood. Do it.

CG - Where were you when I was looking for a good lady wife?....

Too busy in my map room obviously! 😆

I'm a dinosaur, can't be doing with a lot of technology as so much of it just seems pointless. Fallen out of love with my Kindle, gone back to paper books as they excite me more. Don't do Facebook nor Twitter. Thinking about starting a blog though, bound to be good p & l material. 😉

ton - you can successfully post photos on here so you're more technically savvy than say 50% of forumites.
Don't be in denial. You're an early adopter (compared to a lot of people)

This.
Using the web to tell a bunch of strangers spread over the globe that you're a technophobe is taking the piss! 😆

Organising and laminating maps is a most enjoyable part of planning a trip.

Err you clearly cannae keep up, OS been selling laminated ones for years 😉

I wanna know what happens in the (username/password) future when you get amnesia or dementia - you'll be locked out of your life 😐

Thing great thing about more and more tech is that you can choose which bits you need/want and which bits you don't.

Music; I can now via my chrome laptop (very cheap) and a wireless speaker, listen to the music I want to in my garden whilst I wash my bike after a ride.

Re zombie Apocalypse: only have to avoid them for a week (or so) before they are literally eaten from their insides via their own bacteria...(the unspoken fatal flaw in any zombie movie/book/comic strip...)

[quote=cinnamon_girl ]Fallen out of love with my Kindle, gone back to paper books as they excite me more.

Good point. Got one of those for my birthday. Was told I could get books out of the library to put on it. Tried, and found that UK libraries don't lend e-books which work with a Kindle (wtf - it's not like it's the most popular e-reader or anything). It's sitting there unused whilst I re-read (again, again) some of my old paperbacks.

[quote=qwerty ]Err you clearly cannae keep up, OS been selling laminated ones for years

Which are big and cumbersome rather than having just the bit you need. I was chopping up full size OS maps (and then laminating them) for years before I switched to printing off the bits I need.

I am very much in ton's technophobe camp. Although I do post on here. No idea how to do pictures though.

I do have a smartphone, no idea how to use it really, I have to ask my mrs. Refuse to use gps, much prefer maps, cannot work out music streaming (tried one, bought some stuff then PC seems to have lost it all).

Agree frankly that there is a lot if subtle (and not so subtle) manipulation and control going on behind a fair bit of tech. Contact payments? Get away with you!

As the IT manager at work (alongside my main role) I get increasingly frustrated by people either being completely ignorant about, or even deliberately obtuse towards, the tools they use 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's like a chef now knowing how to operate an oven.

This. I do sort of get it, but when your job requires you to know this stuff it's immensely frustrating. I get people all the time asking me how to do stuff relating to their job, and I'll go and poke around and work it out. It's their job, not mine!

For some it's just a generation thing, and that's understandable. I was lucky enough to be of an age where I grew up pushing buttons. But what really grinds my gears are those who aren't just inexperienced but seem to wear it as a badge of pride. "Oh, I know nothing about all this shit" they'll say, with a big grin on their face. Well, 1) it's a tool you need for your job so it's time you made an effort or considered a career change and 2) thanks for calling my career choice 'shit.'

Do you know why tinfoil is shiny on one side and matt on the other? (i do) #mustgetoutmore

Ooh, do tell.

Contact payments? Get away with you!

Give over. Contactless payment is ace.

In the great scheme of things accurate maps and compasses are relatively new technology 😉

Love the irony of those posting on an internet forum lamenting the march of technology. Were you faxing each other in the 80's saying that Amstrad was destroying the world?

...oh..Ton: I have a Garmin 800 with full OS 1:50000 UK on it. You can borrow it if you like on a "break it you bought it" basis.

As the IT manager at work (alongside my main role) I get increasingly frustrated by people either being completely ignorant about, or even deliberately obtuse towards, the tools they use 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's like a chef now knowing how to operate an oven.

I think a good deal of the problem there is the automatic assumption that everyone understands the technology they are handed and best practice when using it - handling data, emails, etc. All with no training.

They don't.

I think a good deal of the problem there is the automatic assumption that everyone understands the technology they are handed and best practice when using it - handling data, emails, etc. All with no training.
They don't.

And I appreciate that, but my problem is they don't even try.

Big difference between paper maps and the display on a GPS though

True, the OS map on a phone display will show you exactly where you are at any given moment, even if visibility is down to twenty meters in the middle of Dartmoor, when a (paper) map and compass become very difficult to use accurately due to there being no landmarks to sight on.
I have the whole of the UK OS Landranger maps on my phone, with areas at 1.25k where I spend more time.
I prefer to use satnav when driving, it's a pain trying to follow a route with lots of junctions using a road atlas, especially on minor roads, and concentrate on the traffic as well; I'm a lot more relaxed in the car with a scrolling map showing junctions coming up and a voice telling me which exit to take while I keep an eye on the muppets yakking to their passengers or on the phone to their friends.
Of course, if you have the luxury of a (competent) map-reading passenger, satnav becomes redundant; I rarely, if ever, have that luxury.
I also like to use ebooks; I have 4-500 eBooks spread across several ereader apps, many of which would otherwise be a bulky 5-600 page paperback or hardcover that would require a fairly large bag to carry around.
One upon a time, you could stick a paperback in a jacket pocket; not any longer, many are up to nearly 800 pages; I've got an entire library on my phone, along with a significant amount of music, and the ability to take really good photos, and shoot time-lapse, slomo and regular video, all this on a phone that, while fairly bulky in its case, is [i]still[/i] smaller than a Penguin Classic paperback.
I like to use technology to its best advantage, but I don't let it dictate to me, often, except for the occasional photo, my phone doesn't even come out of my pocket for hours at a time.
And during working hours, it has to be shut away in a locker, so doesn't get used for most of a regular working day, the pad gets used at home.