Anyone miss when technology was more basic?

[GuinnessLover]

When smart phones didn't exist and the only decent game available was snake? When you only had minesweeper and pinball on the computer and had to actually buy a CD if you wanted to play a different game? When you couldn't use the phone and Internet at the same time? Just been reminiscing with my brother about this and it's dawned on me that I have far too much technology in my house. Not so much an AIBU, but more of a coffee break musing. I'm in my early 30s so sure many of you remember times when technology was far more basic than I have described. Curious to know if anyone else misses a simpler way of living? (and yes. I do realise that technology has also made life a lot easier in a lot of ways, but so much of it is massively addictive and unnecessary)...

No, but I wish today's technology wasn't so pervasive. Just used as needed, not take over lives especially young people

On the whole I like technology, BUT I do not like what it is being used for. There are far too many connections between organisations, companies, financial institutions and government departments of which the average tech user is unaware.
Just think how many times you are asked to register for something using your Faceachebook or Google log in credentials... I don't.
I also have a single e-mail address that is only used for PayPal. I get scammed there hundreds of times a week!

I worry for my teenagers & kids now in this age where your every move is recorded and stored to potentially be used against you. Kids can no longer make mistakes without it being on someone's device with the potential of it being spewed out at any given time. My son was bullied at school on an occassion. It was humiliating enough for him without it also being on social media.

I had to talk to my thirteen year olds about the danger of sending selfies and nudes - how it's out there forever, you lose all control in an instant.

TikTok is brain-meltingly addictive and throws 10 seconds of instant gratification at them which means they lose perspective for playing the long game in life.

I control devices and access to apps etc but it's a sad reality that when they walk out my door all of their friends have these things anyway and so my kids still have access. I really do wish there was some proper regulation around SM and I wish my kids could have experienced a childhood without the insidousness of it all.

I don't think it's possible to go back to a "simpler time" just by take a step or two backwards with technology. The whole political and social atmosphere would need to be taken back too.

For instance, I sometimes dream of having a log cabin in the woods without modern technology, living off the land. I could theoretically aim to achieve the "log cabin in the woods without modern technology" part, but the "living off the land" part is outside of my control. For example, the law would need to change before I could hunt and kill animals for meat. Likewise I'd need a change in the law to buy firearms to support the "off the grid" lifestyle. And society would need to change too, because clearly there are too many people in this country for us all to live in this manner, if we chose. So there would have to be a massive population reduction - again, this is out of my control. And there are ethical questions as to whether it's right for me to aim for a drastic reduction in our population just to be able to fulfil my ideal lifestyle.

Would people be happy for us to go back to "old ways" of thinking? Stuff that was edgy and progressive when I was growing up in the 1990s is offensive and needs to be "cancelled" today. Sexism and racism were more prevalent back then, homosexuality was still widely frowned upon - even if we could go back to those times, should we?

Stripping back technology will have other negative consequences too. Why is it there don't seem to be any serial killers these days? Technology means they get caught sooner. The days when a Fred West could offend over a period of decades are over, and many people would argue this is a good thing.

Should we really go back to generating our power through coal? Should we give up the medical advances of recent years? Most people wouldn't think so.

Well I don't miss dial up internet and the webpages taking 5 minutes to load for a single page or that annoying noise!

But I do hate smart phones, I only got a smart phone 5 years ago after DH insisted I joined the 21st century and quite honestly I'm addicted to it and check a fair bit I miss the days of Nokia phones and snake!

Not really, I’m quite in awe of a lot of technology and what is capable nowadays. Things like google earth really are incredible tools for looking at the world. But I once heard someone describe the iPhone as the crack cocaine of computers- far too quick and immediate, always with you and addictive if you’re not careful, so I think there’s some truth to that statement.

What I really dislike is how cars have become so computerised, I far prefer having an actual knob for things, rather than having to scroll through menus on a touch screen for things like air con or basic stuff like that.

Life wasn’t simpler then. Your life was simpler because you were a child and you’re erroneously equating simpler technology with a simpler life. Life is all around much easier with the technology we have now - although it is somewhat intimidating to feel overtaken and outdated whilst still actually in youth.

Digital cameras are great. But before I didn’t have millions of photos that I hardly ever looked at. I had them in albums that I’d get out and browse periodically. Strangely we seem to have gone full circle and people are now having their photos made into photobooks!

I preferred having a phone that only did text and calls, but with a camera, alarm clock, calculator and torch. It was small, and if you dropped it, didn't break or crack, and it kept going for several days without having to recharge it.

So many places these days don't have an alternative to revert to if their systems fail or there's a major power outage.
I used to work for a utility company supporting the control room (so a 24/7/365 manned department). If the logging system for the customer calls went down we reverted to paper documents and literally ran into the control room with emergency incidents and handed it to the appropriate controller.

I even remember the call centre telephone system crashing and the calls coming in through a payphone in the staffroom with a queue of staff lined up to take calls in turn.
Nowadays if somewhere like Sainsburys has a systems failure they have to close.

The only disadvantage was that the screen was tiny, if you wanted to really see the photos you had to download them to a computer.

Nowadays if somewhere like Sainsburys has a systems failure they have to close

We were having little blips in the power here a couple of weeks back- it would just go off for a couple of seconds then back on again. I was in my Tesco while one happened, guy behind the till said it will take 20 mins for the system for the tills to come back online!

There's good and bad.

Being able to search online for a location or opening hours of a restaurant or shop for example, when you've been stuck in traffic (as a passenger)... Good.

Taking photos of happy times... Good. Posting that damning video online while drunk... bad. (Having to wait until the next day to upload photos at home on to early Facebook for example gave us time to filter out the embarrassing stuff. Glad a lot of the stupid shit I did is all forgotten!!!)

DDs maths homework is an App... it adjusts the questions depending on what she's right or wrong. Actually helps them understand their mistakes. Thats brilliant.

But screens are addictive and can have negative mental health effects. Very bad.

Its more about how we use things... and remembering just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Never having to miss a TV programme, and always being able to find something we want to watch and engages us, actually means we watch less TV overall and never have it on as background.