Posted on 01/26/2019 11:03:23 AM PST by Menehune56
And when he did, I could ditch my pager, which I hated, forever
I also hated my pager, with a passion. In the late 1980s, the boss wanted us to respond immediately and call him back, which wasn't always possible. He ordered us to drive around and find a public phone, which were usually broken and non-op. He finally got us portable phones which were larger than a shoebox with a massive battery and cables (I still have one, it turns on but there is no support for it). Finally got cell phones in early 1990s, but still had to carry pagers (on 24/7 support) for a while (still got a couple as a reminder of the hassle).
Everything has a duality to it.
A hammer can build a beautiful house, or it can smash a person’s brains in.
A knife can create a delicious meal, or it can be used to murder your fellow man.
A bottle of whiskey can lubricate a wonderful atmosphere of bonhomie amongst friends, or it can destroy a life with alcoholism and death by drunk driving.
That same pocket carried device that can provide light, communication, music, alarms and reminders, GPS mapping, camera functionality and access to much of the knowledge collated by mankind, can also be used to rob homes, steal music, organize destructive flash mobs, get taken by GPS to places you shouldn’t go, make people slaves to the communication whims of themselves and others, and open them up to information that is both ignorantly and malevolently created.
I find threads like this irritating.
I am fully on board with those who see the negative aspects of smart phone technology and are repelled by them, but I view their blanket condemnation (or, even more stupidly, blaming one manufacturer out of many) in the same light I view leftists who blame guns for murdered humans instead of the people that used the guns to do it.
If is fine to eschew technological advances because you don’t like the unexpected effects they have had on technology, but to make a blanket condemnation of all applications and users repudiates the concept that we as conservatives must embrace (otherwise we are NOT conservatives): People are responsible for their own actions.
I am a conservative. I can use a smart phone without becoming a slave to it. I don’t tether myself to people with it. I don’t use it to spy on people. I don’t obsessively use Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or any of those things. (I don’t use any social media at all, I don’t even have accounts)
I can still use a map. I can still read a clock. I can still turn off all the alarms and reminders and use my brain. If someone sends me a text or an email, I don’t have to answer. I don’t talk on a phone and drive, and I don’t text and drive. I pull over if I have to.
But if I am driving and want to listen to an audiobook, I can safely do that. If I want to walk on a beach and listen to John Coltrane, I can. If I need to take a picture of a document or product instead of scribbling it on paper, I can. If I need a calculator or flashlight, I have one. If I need to find a restaurant to stop and eat when driving in an unfamiliar location, I can easily find one. Directions are almost always available and accurate. If my hospital’s computer systems are down, I can be contacted easily and coordinate a plan of action to continue to deliver high quality patient care. And if I am walking in a historic graveyard and see the resting place of some person, I can instantly find a good deal of information about them to provide context...
If I want to. If I don’t...I don’t. The choice is mine. MINE. If I choose to use my smart phone as a tool to suit me rather than allowing myself to become a slave to it...that is my choice.
So I find it astonishing that conservatives would blame a tool or a brand of tool rather than the weak minded person who chooses to become a slave to that tool. It is the same as blaming a murder on Smith & Wesson or an automobile accident on an SUV.
If someone is too weak or stupid to own a device that they think will control them, I have no problem with that, I even respect it. “A man’s gotta know his limits” and that is a valuable thing.
But condemning everything and everyone because of your own weakness, stupidity or ineptitude is not a feature of conservatism.
My iPhone has a rotary dial app. Sounds pretty much like the real thing.
Gotta stay grounded in... something.
I later corrected my comment after I talked to my son. They did have computer classes, mostly DOS based, and he wasn't interested in that stuff back then. In a way it worked out, because whatever he would have learned would have been obsolete eventually anyway. He just went on to teach himself as systems and programs have progressed.
See my recent comment at #37 on this thread.
I still have to carry a pager, I have for nearly 35 years, and I despise and detest it. But I accept it because that is a requirement, and my choice. I could find another job if I wished. But it is my choice to stay. (As an aside, I find it amusing that many people don’t understand why certain professions such as medicine still use pagers instead of cell phones. They don’t understand why we don’t issue cell phones and use them. And many of us HAVE been issued cell phones. But a significant drawback in cell phone technology (Simultaneous delivery of a message isn’t possible with cell phones) means we still have to use the hated pagers)
I was one of the last peopleI held off getting a cell phone, because I was waiting until there was a device that could do all the things I wanted in one package (all the usual, music, cell phone, PDA…)
But what finally drove me to get a cell phone was the fact that payphones became almost nonexistent. It’s about an 18 mile drive to work for me, and I knew where every payphone was along the way, and I do mean every single one of them, including the ones inside stores, that kind of thing. I once thought it must have been the same with primitive men who knew at all times where every climbable tree was in case a saber-toothed tiger came along, in the same way, I had to know where all the pay phones were)
So, the cell phone has made my life much, much easier in that respect. When I get paged, I don’t have to accelerate my car to get to the next payphone, I can simply pull over and talk.
I have always been an early adopter and advocate of technology. I used a computer, a digital camera, Photoshop, iPod, digital assistant, and such long before most people did. And I do detest what computers and cell phones have negatively done to large swaths of society. I bristle when I see people talking on phones in cars, in restaurants, and walking down the street.
Seeing a family at a hotel having breakfast, all of them on their phone and not even looking or talking to each other is completely appalling to me.
Because we have a tool does not mean we have to become a slave to it, though many do. In the same way alcohol is wonderful, but you don’t have to become an alcoholic. You have a choice.
I showed a 1965 Nickel to the 12 year old Grandson one day.
His response: “Gosh that thing is ancient !”
I told Him thanks I was Born in 1961...
Started wearing pager in 1980, 3rd yr medical school
When it went off, it was like being hit by lightning.
Variant on PTSD
Still got a few yrs of work in me
But I’m never going back to wearing a pager
Texting is so much more... civilized
LOL.
As a young’un, I’d occasionally ask mom what she remembered about the Civil War. :-)
Children find time irrelevant.
What?!?!?!?!
Denzel Washington on cell phone addiction. Lots of other good stuff here. FReepers will really enjoy this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKd2QVrQVIM
If I want to use a computer I will use my PC with a 17 inch screen and a key board. I just don’t get the fascination with a tiny little screen. I want a bigger screen, heck I want an 80” screen if I could get one.
I overpay a lot because my wife insists she be able to reach me “in case an emergency arises”....I log about 25 minutes a month of calls, about 15 texts and maybe 100kbs of internet with mine....she makes up for it though......
“What?!?!?!?!”
What?!?!?!?!
You went to FSU?
I have an 82” but it doesn’t fit in my pocket.
Two at FSU and four at UF
Ahhh, ok.
” (Simultaneous delivery of a message isn’t possible with cell phones) “
Not sure what you mean.
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