Retired art teacher committed suicide because of frustration with modern life

I was at the doctor's office. EVERYONE was staring at their tiny screen with just their thumbs moving. Yup,robots.

I brought a book. I feel so dated.

Ever hear of Kindle? I have it on my phone and read books on it. I might have been one of those "robots" of whom you speak. Hell, I might have been reading FreeRepublic (pissing off any liberals of any age). I used to bring books, too. My handheld serves that purpose nicely.

I think this computerized age is hard on the old timers. I know it's difficult for me.

Cellphones should never been allowed to go further than being a phone.

Then it would have been difficult for you and everybody else (your doc and staff may very well exchange important alerts via handheld devices).

Your age, whatever it is, is no excuse for violating the Biblical injunction against bearing false witness.

I'm just glad you weren't around to arbitrarily stop the age of digital computing prior to the advent of the Colossus codebreaker.

Yes; that’s serving modernity rather than rejecting it.

The world is an increasingly strange place to me at a little over half her age, so I can only imagine how odd it seemed to her. But this is the case with every generation. There is the good and the bad, you take the good, learn to avoid or work around the bad and keep on going. Her mental state can’t have been good, she was depressed. And instead of helping her they were ideologically predisposed to just accomodating her suicidal ideation. This aspect of modernity to me is chilling and one of the worst aspects. But, she didn’t see that and got sucked into the meat grinder.

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.

Wouldn't have worked. You'd have probably accidentally shot your own great great great grandfather for daring to invent something (phonograph, induction motor, cathode ray tube, who knows?) and then you would have disappeared.

By the way, make sure that the geek who invents your time-machine calibrates it right. You might have ended up as part of the British light cavalry in 1854. That would have been an abbreviated trip.

See my #64. Make sure that the tech geek who builds your time machine calibrates it right. :-)

Lol, I should rephrase, I’m not talking time travel, I was just saying I should of been a young man about that time.

No property taxes, over regulation, etc

A mysanthrope with conviction.

You really did miss my point. The internet just is. It is neither evil nor righteous, it either functions or it doesn't, but it is a tool. It is incapable of being evil or righteous, in and of itself. It can be a source of amusement, of provision, of information, or vehicle of mayhem: it is a tool, and the hands which wield it will determine what it is.

That said, the technologies I seem to be railing against are not what I am railing against so much as the time and place of their employment.

I would no sooner be texting while driving down the highway at 70 than I would target shoot in church. Neither is the appropriate venue for the use of the respective technology.

People are showing signs of addictive behaviour when you see young men in their twenties blow off the responsibilities of a $30/hr job to be goofing off with the smartphone.

People have also lost communications skills as a result of being able to hide behind the electronic buffer that insulates them from consequences of and for their comments.

And the technology which should make people more careful what "information" they disseminate has instead enabled the careless and malicious to smear others (especially kids--teens) with incredible efficiency, while it has removed from their reality so much as a smack in the face for derogatory or slanderous remarks (which would have been a likely result if the remark had been made in person).

So yes, I think the use of the technology has in many cases led to a more crass, uncaring, and vicious version of humanity in the circles which use it thus because they suffer no direct or immediate consequences for the character assassinations they perform.

If you do not see that, you are indeed fortunate. But no one has to be a Luddite to decry the cultural coarsening which has resulted. It isn't the internet which is evil, it is a number of its users which put it to evil use.

And once again, I ask you to please quit comparing me to someone I am not, if for no other reason than it coloring your interpretation of my comments.

“That said, the technologies I seem to be railing against are not what I am railing against so much as the time and place of their employment.”

I think you paint with too broad a brush when you rail against the behavior of the younger generation and their use of modern technology and media and where they use it. And part of the reason is that you are not of their generation. You said in a prior comment:

““We needed neither radio, microwave, cell phone, or computer to do that, and if the power went out, we’d just light a lantern or two and keep going.
I know what people don’t even know they are missing.
Maybe y’all wouldn’t have liked it anyway. ...”

Not to state the obvious but with the exception of the radio, the rest didn’t exist yet, so of course you didn’t need them for entertainment. Modern technology is this younger generation’s form of entertainment, just as singing around a piano and playing instruments was our form of entertainment when we were young, because nothing else was available. People created their own entertainment out of necessity.

There also were larger families back then, and there were stay at home moms whereas now both parents work, so indeed there is less parental involvement and parents have less time for themselves as well. So they sneak in their computer/tablet/cell phone use when they can. It’s this generation’s form of communication, and it is no better nor any worse than how we entertained ourselves when we were growing up. It is adapting to the environment one finds oneself in.

One thing I think we would agree on is that as far as the internet is concerned, it is easier to be anonymous while taking potshots at others, but the internet is so much more than the blogs and forums like FR that allow you to post comments. Few young folks are on these political forums, they are surfing the latest movies, fashions, going on facebook and twitter to share with their friends, playing games, watching movies and TV programs on-line, etc.

In today’s much more hectic world, unlike how ours was when we grew up and communications weren’t so instant, kids fit in their entertainment and talking to friends often on the fly. There’s nothing wrong with that, it is just different than what were our forms of entertainment when we were young. We didn’t have instant communications across the world to have to deal with, or to utilize to our benefit.

I think nostalgia drives many in the older generation to crave a simpler time, with simpler entertainments, but the kids of today don’t have that choice as modern technology has far outpaced anything else in their lives and everyone needs to try to deal with it as it is today’s reality. And actually, the young folks I know thrive on it, understand all of the computer advances, how to use cell phones and tablets, and actually love it.

It’s not easy for someone who is older to understand today’s technology, to embrace it, to not be afraid of it, and therefore many end up resisting it or thinking it is unnecessary. That too is natural, but one should avoid knocking it, discounting it, condemning it, or calling young folks out for avidly pursuing it. If they want a decent job in today’s business market, they must know how to use the available technology.

There are many in the older generation that have learned how to use today’s technological advances also, and as I have stated earlier, I suspect most of those on FR are probably 50 years and older in age. I love using the computer, my tablet, my cell phone, and having the ability to instantly communicate with people all over the country, and all over the world. I have a good friend over in London that I email with all the time.

I love modern technological advances in the medical world as well as it will extend my life as well as that of everyone else. The few negatives that come with modern technology are a small price to pay for all of the positives to be had. And now I am going to go use my microwave to warm up some leftovers. Bon appetit.

Not to state the obvious but with the exception of the radio, the rest didn’t exist yet, so of course you didn’t need them for entertainment.

I'm talking about 1979. Shows what you know.

Keep trying to put one of my feet in the grave if that suits you, I'll outlive the ones 'keeping up with their fast-paced world' when they are so busy keeping up with their latest yap on facebook they pull out in front of a truck. It happens around here.

Like I said, there is a time and place for everything, but if your sense of instantaneous gratification is so intense you think it is a good idea for a driller on an oil rig (no longer employed thus) to be texting on his phone at 3 AM instead of paying attention to what is happening on the rig, let's just say I'm happy not to work with you. You must sell this stuff, you're so drooly over it.

If you are so addicted to your virtual world have fun.

One thing I think we would agree on is that as far as the internet is concerned, it is easier to be anonymous while taking potshots at others, but the internet is so much more than the blogs and forums like FR that allow you to post comments. Few young folks are on these political forums, they are surfing the latest movies, fashions, going on facebook and twitter to share with their friends, playing games, watching movies and TV programs on-line, etc.

I was specifically referring to the use of Facebook posts to perform character assassination, but maybe you missed that.

It’s not easy for someone who is older to understand today’s technology, to embrace it, to not be afraid of it, and therefore many end up resisting it or thinking it is unnecessary. That too is natural, but one should avoid knocking it, discounting it, condemning it, or calling young folks out for avidly pursuing it. If they want a decent job in today’s business market, they must know how to use the available technology.

Ho hum, you again show lack of comprehension. I have been using computers since the '70s, and still use them extensively in my work. I like the GUI more than paper tape or punchcards, and if I didn't keep on the cutting edge of technological developments, I'd be unable to perform my work at the pace required by the technological developments in other areas of my field.

to reiterate (again) I am NOT knocking the technology. I am knocking the use of that technology when one should be paying attention to other things, like the oil rig they are operating or the operation of the vehicle they are driving. Big messes and dead people can result from such lapses in attention to primary tasks. You laud the ability to send medical data, and that may prove a good thing, but it may be moot if the EMT who scoops you out of your half of the car you were driving while on your phone is keeping up with Facebook while you are in the meatwagon instead of paying attention to you.

Every technological sword has two edges, and you refuse to see the ugly one, or even admit such misuse exists.

I am happy for you, and hope your delusion is organic, not induced by expensive medication so you can afford it all your days.

Enjoy your leftovers.

One more question, oh master of technology. Why do you keep pinging MinuteGal to your responses to my posts? MinuteGal has made no posts on this thread. Is this some weird compulsion to share, or do you have two nicknames here?