Sylphisonic wrote:Yes yes, several medical benefits etcetera. I can tell who would be the first to line up if all this was ever really available (most of the people here, LOL!!)...
I don't know as I would, I was just staking a supporting case.
Sylphisonic wrote:
Well, talking about the current times I wouldn't exaggerate quite that far just yet.
I guess it hasn't moved on quite as far where you are. I was talking as a UK citizen, we are a small island so stuff develops fast once it takes hold.
Sylphisonic wrote:
There is still no computer in my mother's house, unless I am staying there for a while, lol. She does not know how to switch it on, much less feel like she would ever need it (I tried to show her, but I don't think she really liked it or remembered how to do it). This has not impacted her life at all, as far as I know.
Not directly, but many aspects of your life are influenced by computer control somewhere along the line, and most of the time people never even realise.
Sylphisonic wrote:
It seems to be the case that there are many people in their 40s, 50s and 60s like my mother who have little to no computer skills at all.
That is true, but in a lot of cases this is simply because no-one has taken the time to teach them, not because they can't actually do it. I'm not saying your own methods are wrong or flawed, but you need a great deal of determination and ability to explain stuff us younger folk take for granted as 'just knowing' in order to teach them.
Sylphisonic wrote:
And I personally have never had a job or anything like that that ever required me to know how to do anything on a computer (except for get a CV typed up, lol). Granted they weren't jobs that required typing up reports or data entry or anything like that;
Not even an electronic cash register?
Sylphisonic wrote:
but I'm just saying that at the moment there are still plenty of areas in society where a computer isn't really required yet to lead a "decent" life.
I suppose you are right, perhaps I jumper the gun a little. Perhaps I am guilty of a little Shirow-esque timeline compression too
Sylphisonic wrote:
Mind you, you are talking to the girl who still has never owned a cel phone, lol... (I have literally only ever touched one about 20 times in my whole life so far, though admittedly it's on the increase since I finally worked out how to use Jeff's one [to get lifts home from uni, lol]). I will admit that that piece of technology totally took off in a way I'd never have expected it to. It still feels completely unnecessary to me, but then I'm not really a person who feels a need to be constantly socially connected, or to constantly feel the assurance that my phone is 'there' if I need it.
I can understand why people carry a mobile phone, what I can't understand is why they have to have all the crap on it that clogs it up. Even though I have a lot of stuff on my phone most people don't (e-mail, IRC, IMs, GPS) I am not a compulsive user. Truth be told I could do without all that and just have a phone. Why do you needs games, music, TV and all that crap on it (I'm not against cameras, I think people should take more photos)? Are people's attentions spans so short in this day and age they needs such an eclectic mix of attention sapping rubbish on their phones? Whatever happened to carrying a book to read on the train. The point is that 'accessory' features on most phones are gimmicks, made to sell to a young public who need another reason to own a new one. I can sympathize with anyone who doesn't want a mobile phone, mobile phones as they exist today are a scourge of cheap crap and stupid noises. There are at least signs of this changing for the better however.
Sylphisonic wrote:
Perhaps evolution is going to leave me behind- I just can't throw myself behind technology 100%, because sometimes what we think we need seems ridiculous to me (there again, what I think I need in my life probably sounds ridiculous to the next person. I am often in the minority).
There is much confusion between what people 'need' and what people 'want' in todays society. Far too many people substitute want for need, and as a result society is demanding stuff that just is not necessary. A large part of technology marketing is based on this 'see it - need it' ethos.
It's something that personally I find distasteful. To be someone who can appreciate technology, but not end up burying oneself in it for the sake of it, is a state probably much more favourable, and one I could only aspire to, sadly, as I am a long way down that road and only coming to realise too late where it leads. I guess that;s why I cling to forums and contacts through the internet, as a justification for all this madness.
However, I have not sunk so far that I cannot see a life outside. Regrettably some people are so hollow that their life attached to a computer really *is* all they have. In that sense I almost feel in a similar situation to Togusa, in that I put my life, family, and friends before anything else, and refuse to let technology get the better of my principles.
Sylphisonic wrote:
Okay, I definately want that though ^_^. I really want something like Aki's holographic wrist computer from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. That just... looks cool
I can't promise holographic projection, or something small enough to fit on the wrist, at least not in 20 years, but I do see powerful technology getting smaller every day.
Sylphisonic wrote:
Yeesh, he *purred* at me? Wahhh,
kowaii!!
runs away. (LOL, I'm more of a... big dog person, probably
. Cats often hate me for some reason. Except for the nice kitties, of course)
I'm nice, I even smile when I'm pulling up the corners of your carpet, or running up your curtains