{"id":6042,"date":"2020-05-22T07:40:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T11:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=6042"},"modified":"2020-05-22T07:40:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T11:40:03","slug":"im-not-really-a-luddite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2020\/05\/im-not-really-a-luddite\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m Not Really a Luddite"},"content":{"rendered":"

My kids complain because I seldom turn on my smartphone. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not true. I turn it on whenever I\u2019m expecting a call. But they don\u2019t get that. Apparently, they\u2019re on one side of a generational divide, and I\u2019m on the other. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve explained to the kids (all in their 50s) that I spend most of every day sitting at my computer with the landline phone 12 inches away. It\u2019s always on, so why would I need to turn on the cell as well? If they want to talk to me on the cell (why would they?), they can always call me on the landline and ask me to turn it on. <\/span><\/p>\n

They insist that a smartphone will do all kinds of useful things. I agree that its ability to turn into a flashlight is useful, and if I ever need a flashlight (besides the three regular ones I\u2019ve squirreled away), I\u2019ll figure out how to turn on the one that\u2019s in my cell. <\/span><\/p>\n

I agree that the GPS in the smartphone is useful, but I seldom drive unfamiliar roads these days. When I do, I prefer to go online to Mapquest or Google Maps before the trip. They show me where I\u2019m going in a way I can visualize. I get the whole picture on my desktop computer and print out the driving instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m more comfortable with that than with listening while some woman\u2019s recorded voice dictates, turn by turn, what I\u2019m supposed to do. I have no idea whether she\u2019s right or not. I\u2019ve been a passenger in cars when the onboard GPS provided wrong directions. And repeated them when asked to try again. We\u2019d have done better with a fold-out map and a compass. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not totally a Luddite (that\u2019s someone who\u2019s opposed to technology). I don\u2019t reject all digital technology out of hand. My computer feels like an extension of my body. I can type at the speed of thought, or at least at the speed of my own thoughts. I\u2019m in and out of my email account dozens of times a day. I FaceTime and Skype. I\u2019ve Zoomed. And when my computer crashes, I feel as if half of my brain has been disconnected. I\u2019m not okay until both the computer and the brain are up and running again. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, when I\u2019m outside my apartment, I like to be phone free. It seems to me that, if you let it, a smartphone can dominate your life. I don\u2019t want that. And if everything personal that you need to know is in your phone and it stops working, where does that leave you? <\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s all relative. I have friends who are even less evolved technically than I am, and they sometimes frustrate me because they don\u2019t own a computer and don\u2019t have email. They\u2019re only reachable by landline, and that\u2019s inconvenient for me. If they\u2019re not home, I have to leave a message or call back. Email is easier. <\/span><\/p>\n

So to some extent I understand when a member of my family insists it\u2019s inconvenient for <\/span>her<\/span><\/i> that I don\u2019t leave my smartphone turned on and carry it everywhere with me. And I get it when my teenage grandchildren roll their eyes because I\u2019m reluctant to text. But when I try to do that, I keep fat-fingering letters and numbers. With practice, I suppose I\u2019d get better at it, but when you\u2019re used to typing as fast as you can think, texting seems like a terribly cumbersome, time-wasting process.  <\/span><\/p>\n

It strikes me as ironic that my grandkids have email accounts but use them so rarely that if I want to send them something, I have to call them first on their smartphones and tell them to check their email.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the reverse of what they have to do with me: call me on my landline or email me to warn me that they\u2019re about to call on my cell. <\/span><\/p>\n

We live in different worlds. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My kids complain because I seldom turn on my smartphone.  Not true. I turn it on whenever I\u2019m expecting a call. But they don\u2019t get that. Apparently, they\u2019re on one side of a generational divide, and I\u2019m on the other. …<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more I\u2019m Not Really a Luddite<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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