5 ms·

Step into the 1970s, and try doing some of these things: - Professional-quality publishing (text, images, printing) - Sending text/images to your friend in

by mcav 16y ago

Step into the 1970s, and try doing some of these things: - Professional-quality publishing (text, images, printing) - Sending text/images to your friend in another state - Looking up any kind of information (Library trip?) - Buying things that aren't at your local grocer (Mail-order?) Try this experiment: Spend a week doing everything without a computer. How productive are you, compared to before? How often did you find yourself wishing you had a computer to help you?

tedunangst 16y ago
Step into the 1970s and not need to do those things. If you had to type stuff on a typewriter, you didn't spend hours picking out a pretty font, you used the one you got: the typewriter font. Nobody cared if your publishing wasn't professional quality, theirs wasn't either. You didn't IM your friends inane updates regarding your current thoughts on whatever Sarah Palin said five minutes ago, you sent them actually interesting letters. For that matter, you didn't have 1000 "friends", you had 10 real friends. When someone asked "Who was that guy, in that movie? You know, the guy?", you didn't look up imdb.com on your smartphone while everyone watches you type on a tiny screen, you said "dunno" and moved on with your life. You didn't spend ten minutes debating between buying the 4ft or 6ft USB cables and finding the best price online because you didn't need to buy USB cables. Yeah, things have changed, but progressed? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to go back, but that's more to do with being accustomed to this lifestyle, not because it's particularly better. We do more because we're expected to do more, and we're expected to do more because somebody else started doing more. "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
- artmageddon 16y ago
  The amount of noise also increases with the amount of signal. I guess it's just a matter of how much you can take before you decide that it's too loud. Your comment about imdb and USB cables reminds me of this post on Penny Arcade: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/3/9/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/3/9/
- ebiester 16y ago
  "When someone asked "Who was that guy, in that movie? You know, the guy?", you didn't look up imdb.com on your smartphone while everyone watches you type on a tiny screen, you said "dunno" and moved on with your life." I specifically remember my godfather running around the house in his underwear yelling "I have shit for brains!" when being proven wrong about a movie after 20 minutes of arguing back and forth. The elimination of that ritual is a net benefit for society.
- blahblahblah 16y ago
  And, in the 1970s & 80s, if you were together in a room with your 10 real friends, odds are that at least 9 of them were actively engaged in some form of meaningful social interaction. In 2011, 4 of them would be checking email, texting, twittering on their smartphones, another 3 are playing Angry Birds, 3 are talking about an insipid reality TV show that they watch in order to avoid contemplating their empty isolated existences, and 1 is waxing nostalgic about how, circa 1982, people used to have genuinely meaningful conversations and how intrinsically rewarding that was. Not all that glitters is gold, including technology.
- bane 16y ago
  "You didn't spend ten minutes debating between buying the 4ft or 6ft USB cables and finding the best price online because you didn't need to buy USB cables." I do specifically remember running around for hours looking for the catalog of office supplies from my local office supply company then spending at least an hour finding the right kind of hanging folders to order (then waiting 6 weeks for delivery). Repeat that exercise for pretty much everything from power cables to underwear and we're definitely in a better place.
  - chopsueyar 16y ago
    Surely you must have enjoyed thumbing through a telephone book sized Computer Shopper magazine before?
    - bane 16y ago
      Ha! I haven't heard that one come up in a while. Computer Shopper used to be my regular Saturdays (and yes I mean the whole day). When I was a kid I used to flip through the Sears catalog to the toy section. I actually really like the catalog that ThinkGeek sends out. It reminds me of all the good parts of the SkyMall magazines, but with funner toys.
jcromartie 16y ago
We're more productive, sure... but we spend just as much time (if not more) working to maintain a "normal" standard of living.

by mcav 16y ago

tedunangst 16y ago

Step into the 1970s and not need to do those things. If you had to type stuff on a typewriter, you didn't spend hours picking out a pretty font, you used the one you got: the typewriter font. Nobody cared if your publishing wasn't professional quality, theirs wasn't either. You didn't IM your friends inane updates regarding your current thoughts on whatever Sarah Palin said five minutes ago, you sent them actually interesting letters. For that matter, you didn't have 1000 "friends", you had 10 real friends. When someone asked "Who was that guy, in that movie? You know, the guy?", you didn't look up imdb.com on your smartphone while everyone watches you type on a tiny screen, you said "dunno" and moved on with your life. You didn't spend ten minutes debating between buying the 4ft or 6ft USB cables and finding the best price online because you didn't need to buy USB cables. Yeah, things have changed, but progressed? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to go back, but that's more to do with being accustomed to this lifestyle, not because it's particularly better. We do more because we're expected to do more, and we're expected to do more because somebody else started doing more. "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat."

artmageddon 16y ago
The amount of noise also increases with the amount of signal. I guess it's just a matter of how much you can take before you decide that it's too loud. Your comment about imdb and USB cables reminds me of this post on Penny Arcade: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/3/9/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/3/9/
ebiester 16y ago
"When someone asked "Who was that guy, in that movie? You know, the guy?", you didn't look up imdb.com on your smartphone while everyone watches you type on a tiny screen, you said "dunno" and moved on with your life." I specifically remember my godfather running around the house in his underwear yelling "I have shit for brains!" when being proven wrong about a movie after 20 minutes of arguing back and forth. The elimination of that ritual is a net benefit for society.
blahblahblah 16y ago
And, in the 1970s & 80s, if you were together in a room with your 10 real friends, odds are that at least 9 of them were actively engaged in some form of meaningful social interaction. In 2011, 4 of them would be checking email, texting, twittering on their smartphones, another 3 are playing Angry Birds, 3 are talking about an insipid reality TV show that they watch in order to avoid contemplating their empty isolated existences, and 1 is waxing nostalgic about how, circa 1982, people used to have genuinely meaningful conversations and how intrinsically rewarding that was. Not all that glitters is gold, including technology.
bane 16y ago
"You didn't spend ten minutes debating between buying the 4ft or 6ft USB cables and finding the best price online because you didn't need to buy USB cables." I do specifically remember running around for hours looking for the catalog of office supplies from my local office supply company then spending at least an hour finding the right kind of hanging folders to order (then waiting 6 weeks for delivery). Repeat that exercise for pretty much everything from power cables to underwear and we're definitely in a better place.
- chopsueyar 16y ago
  Surely you must have enjoyed thumbing through a telephone book sized Computer Shopper magazine before?
  - bane 16y ago
    Ha! I haven't heard that one come up in a while. Computer Shopper used to be my regular Saturdays (and yes I mean the whole day). When I was a kid I used to flip through the Sears catalog to the toy section. I actually really like the catalog that ThinkGeek sends out. It reminds me of all the good parts of the SkyMall magazines, but with funner toys.

jcromartie 16y ago

We're more productive, sure... but we spend just as much time (if not more) working to maintain a "normal" standard of living.