When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter.
I signed up, under duress, for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, my 13 grand kids and 2 great- grand-kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.
My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation.
I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.
The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Bluetooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.
I mean, the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating. You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then, if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship...
When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and, while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me
To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions, checking bathrooms, and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.
The world is just getting too complex for me.
They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store.
You would think they could settle on something themselves, but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" Every time I check out, just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them with me.
Now I toss it back to them.
When they ask me, "Paper or plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look
I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do fart a lot."
P.S. I know some of you are not over 70. I sent it to you to allow you to forward it to those who are I figured your sense of humor could handle it...
We senior citizens don't need any more gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle safely.
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Surrey BC
1963 Acadian Beaumont Sport Deluxe http://www.63acadian.com/
Yep, I'm a little ways away from 70 but share many of the attitudes towards social media. Now that we're hearing about how much of our personal data has been mined by facebook, etc., I'm thinking I made the right decision to not be involved with any of it.
This could be a long discussion, but basically I think the extent to which social media has proliferated within our society has done us no favours. There is an entire generation of young people who have never learned how to relate well to others on a face to face level. There are so many people who's lives have become so intertwined with social media that they have a hard time discerning between it and 'real' life. I've witness so many people who are wrapped up in their phones out in public that it appears very few of us are actually aware of our surroundings on a regular basis - like they are living in some kind of virtual life rather than the one that is surrounding them at any given time.
These days, every time I hear the media placing such value on what somebody 'tweets', I just roll my eyes. How did we get here so quickly...
10 and a half years away from turning 70 and i have never used FARCE BOOK and i doubt i ever will. Oh by the way i still have a (flip) cell phone because it does everything i need it to do. Cheers.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Just wait until your turning 80! No I have lived long enough without Facebook etc so why change now! I do own a cell phone but like George it is a phone only, that I use only for emergencies, when traveling. If I want to take pictures I use the item called a camera! Bob.
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1965 Thunderbird Special Landau 10th Anniversary Limited Edition only 4500 built 34,800 miles
My cell phone is a flip phone for emergencies only.
Don't get any notifications after I leave work, my mind stays clear that way, and I don't bug my employees after hours either (too many are married to work 24/7, not for me!)
Have cordless phones at home but also have plug-in phones that work in case of power outage. Neighbors have come to me for this during a hydro emergency!
Camera for pictures, watch to tell the time, outdoor thermometer to check the temperature
Leo, nothing wrong with it at all and as a matter of fact, it is better for you. For those that think different, go to to the corner of the room and turn into a robot.......... NOW !
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
