Posted on 04/07/2014 12:35:12 AM PDT by Olog-hai
A retired art teacher committed suicide at the Dignitas clinic because she was frustrated at the lack of interaction in modern life, because of our reliance on computers and the Internet.
The 89-year-old, who asked only to be identified as Anne before her death, was frustrated with the trappings of modern life, including fast food, consumerism and the amount of time people spend watching television.
Anne, a former electrician with the Royal Navy, was not terminally ill or seriously handicapped and traveled to Dignitas in Switzerland last month.
Before her death she told the Sunday Times: “People are becoming more and more remote … We are becoming robots. It is this lack of humanity.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“Probably the same way that my grandparents looked at TV, or my parents looked at video games. :-)”
Bingo.
Send me back to the mid 1860s, war over, wide open country out west. You rode your horse, ate what you hunted, and lived how you wanted with no super cities out west. Wide open sky and land. That’s my idea of living.
If I may toss my $0.02 in.....exactly.
My grandmother learned - LEARNED - how to use a computer in her late 70s. This is a lady who would thought flush toilets were a modern marvel of engineering (and, having grown up on a farm with an outhouse, to her, they might as well have been....). Anyhoo, she used Facebook, email, etc, to keep in touch with all of her grandkids who were scattered all over the country. She was the "nexus" for the family, forwarding this photo, or that comment, along.
Technology was a perfect fit for her, particularly as she aged and was unable to travel to see family.
Me? I don't even have a Facebook account. I was on LinkedIn for about 5 minutes, and in that time had every single person who I'd ever sat across from at a meeting beating on my account for job prospects, or resume reviews, or recruiting. Never Mind. I dumped the account, it was too much of a pain.
And nothing frustrates me more than taking WBill Jr. to the playground and watching a couple of dozen adults sit on their butts, twiddling with smart phones. I'm right in the middle of things....pushing swings, flying kites, having a ball. They've not a clue what they're missing.
However, their kids do. I can't tell you the number of them - bunches, every single time - who come to me asking for help. A boost up. A push on the swing. Whatever. I'm willing to oblige because they're just starving for any attention. It's a little sad, but it also makes me focus on what's important for my kid.
“From my perspective, and this is based solely on your posts on this thread, you’re the one with the old attitude.
There’s a word for people who think everything that is modern is good - progressive. There’s also a word for people who wish to preserve the best of the past - conservative. Guess which type of site you’re on.”
Which is it now, lol. First you accuse me of being the one with the old attitude. Then you turn around and say I think everything that is modern is good (which I never said, actually) and that I’m a progressive. Which is it, old attitude, new attitude? No attitude at all? Make up your mind.
I might add, those progressives you state have the attitude that all that is modern is good aren’t the progressives I know about. Most are Luddites, worshipping the earth mother Gaia, the back to the earth movement and one should go live out in the wild. No one other than on foot should be in the national parks, no snowmobiling, no cars (as they assume no one old might want to motor into a park to see sights they can’t see on foot). No fracking (conservatives want fracking), no use of coal, no exporting of natural gas, no use of anything but wind power or solar power, no women wearing makeup and they must be more on the ugly side.
Only electric cars. No guns. Money is evil (unless it is theirs), no foreign intervention or wars. Jobs are an evil necessity, better to be on welfare. Collectivism good, individualism bad. Less of everything for everyone. You don’t need those modern appliances, back to lanterns. Obamacare good, share the wealth (redistribute by taking from those that work) to give to the “poor” by coercion. Rules and regulations for everyone. So, it appears to me that progressives really are not, and conservatives really are in many areas progressive. It all depends on what your definition of “is” is.
“As for BOR, I don’t watch him, I think he’s an ass. I really don’t think you understood my point if you are comparing me to him, but that requires more than ‘U no WTF sup’ levels of English comprehension.”
Actually it’s you who missed my point. BOR constantly is ragging about the evils of the Internet. However I actually agree with you on one point. BOR is an ass.
“But again, you must be yet another generation or two above mine, as your attitude is old. And elitist”. Your words.”
Both true.
“Joe (and MinuteGal) also didn’t say everything modern was bad. So then what’s your point in disagreeing with them and calling their attitude “old and elitist”?”
LOL, that’s really funny. I disagree with Joe, I was pinging MinuteGal to read this for a totally different reason, not because I disagree with her. She’s not here to disagree with, lol. If you only knew, lol again.
“Joe (and MinuteGal) also didn’t say everything modern was bad. So then what’s your point in disagreeing with them and calling their attitude “old and elitist”? They said, to paraphrase, not everything about technology is wonderful, it has it’s place but can also be a problem.”
You don’t even realize that MinuteGal hasn’t been on this thread, do you. And yet you speak as if she was, “Joe (and MinuteGal), and “They said, to paraphrase...” No, she didn’t say, as she’s not here. Looks like you’re the one who is putting words in her mouth. Someone who’s not even on this thread. Very good. Put your specs on and kick your brain up a notch. I know, it’s early.
There are also very few worth knowing, I know that inhibits my social interactions
Cellphones should never been allowed to go further than being a phone.
<><><><<
I don’t even know what that means, but you cannot really mean that someone (the government?) should be putting limits on the advancement of technology.
I know more than a few octogenerians who are technology whiz kids.
“My apologies for not doing an exhaustive search of the entire history of FreeRepublic to ascertain why you decided to include MinuteGal.”
It was only one short thread you had to do “exhaustive” research on, not all of FR, lol. But that’s okay. Good day.
“Years ago we couldn’t have imagined a microwave oven, now we can’t easily live without them.”
That’s my idea of a nice vacation!
If you have any doubts about that, just go out and look at the serious decline in driving skills these days. The cars are better, safer and more advanced than ever, and yet the drivers seem to get dumber by the minute. This is because the technology has effectively reduced (or eliminated) the cost and/or consequences of driving poorly.
You can say the same thing about almost any amenity that has become commonplace in our modern world.
... as she marched off to the suicide resort like a good little post-modern Euron.
Seriously, 89 years old, no health issues of note, an appreciation of art and beauty, and she has herself killed because of modernity?
No reason to get a new job when the customers and clients are all going down the same road, eh?
File under “First World Problems.”
Considering the direction our society appears to be headed, being cut-off from humanity might be somewhat desirable. At least to me. I’m quite content whether I’m around folks or not. Well, I shouldn’t say that, I’m content around like-minded folks or by myself. When I’m around illogical, irrational lib-tards who demonstrate a complete lack of common sense, I find myself longing for as much solitude as I can get.
Here’s one of the many lessons I learned from my wise mentors: If you aren’t having a good time, don’t just sit there — *DO* something about it! Ms. “Anne” could have found some like-minded company. The world is full of all kinds. The only thing between her and a happier life was air & opportunity. She chose the lazy way out. May GOD have mercy on her soul.
“There are also very few worth knowing, I know that inhibits my social interactions.”
I tend to agree with you on that point. I still live in my hometown but I have lived and worked overseas. I did not socialize much in Germany and I stay close to home now. I love to cross paths with people I grew up with but the newcomers all seem to want to change things to suit their own image of what a suburban Metro Detroit township should be and for that reason, I don’t care to know many of them. If they’re fairly conservative then I don’t mind sitting down for a beer with them but don’t come here expecting to change the world.
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