Techno-Culturally Faking It

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 2, 2013

I don’t know if everybody is this way, but it seems that in many ways I still expect the world to be pretty much the same as it was when I was a teenager. It’s always a little surprising to me to see how my favorite actors and rock stars have aged. I mean, especially since I haven’t aged at all… 🙂

It’s true on a cultural & technological level as well. And hey, I’m a tech guy – I should be up on these things. But I still have a “dumb phone” (as opposed to a “smart phone”), and even that was only obtained grudgingly several years ago when I’d had a couple of employers who’d decided they could economize on office phones by simply assuming all the employees had their own phones and didn’t need one.

My wife and I were discussing a phone upgrade, and balking at the price of going on a data plan. Do we really need to spend $360+ more a year now just to get a ‘modern’ phone? That’s enough to pay for my daughter’s college dorm for a month… I mean, as a game dev, sure, I need to have access to these phones for testing if I’m gonna support ’em (and right now, for Frayed Knights 2, that may not be too likely… the screens are just too small). But as a guy who spends 80%+ of his waking hours either in front of a computer or in a place where it’s not too hard to have access to one, it’s not much of a necessity.

One thing we discussed in our “how will we afford it?” list is cutting the old umbilical – our land line.

This is weird to us both. We were raised in an era where phones called a place, not an entity. Increasingly, that’s no longer the case. In fact – and this is something I’d call a Bad Thing – our kids’ friends are actually afraid of calling the house, because they might *gasp* have to talk to someone other than the person they want to talk to. What? Talk to an ADULT for five seconds? Forget it! Nothing can be important enough to be worth that risk!

(And I can go on a giant rant on tangents to this subject for another five blog posts, but I won’t. I’ll just say, “Get offa my lawn, you kids!” and leave it at that).

So yeah – do we get rid of that old standby, the land line? We still use it a lot – but consequently, we rarely use up our allocated minutes on our cell phones. But then, unless it’s a time-pressure thing, I’m more inclined to contact people via email or IM than by phone, anyway. That way they can communicate with me at their leisure, I guess, without it being such an interruption. Which is perhaps only a couple of steps removed from being afraid to talk to a stranger at somebody’s house…

But it really is something of a holdover, I guess. It’s like the old party lines way back in my grandparents day – where several houses might be hooked up to the same telephone line, and you could tell if it was for you or not based on the ring pattern. In fact, the way I heard it, Alexander Graham Bell originally envisioned the telephone as more of a broadcast medium – you’d get a nightly call and listen in. You don’t have to squint very hard to see the trend. One phone per house? That’ll prove to be just a blip in technological history. Like the “home computer” – that was another one from my era. Funny how quickly they decided to rebrand the devices “Personal Computers.” And now, you have both, fitting in your pocket.

I don’t think it’d be hard to get used to it.

I mean, I used to laugh at the idea of “TV on demand.” Of course, part of the reason I’d laugh was because the people proposing it were the main broadcast networks, and their opinions on how it ought to work were pretty asinine, rooted deeply in the way they traditionally did things. But today? It’s a little different for the rest of my family, but I personally rarely use the TV as more than an output device for my game consoles or my Roku player. (Yes, I said “consoles”, plural). I am Mr. On-Demand Entertainment.

A little tougher thing for me to get my head around is the “decline” of the PC (and consoles!) in favor of mobile devices. But I expect that is largely a matter of how I use my computer. The input capabilities of tablets and smart phones is limited (short of plugging in a “real” keyboard) and designed to be as simple as possible. This makes them suck for content creation – which is the bulk of what I do on a computer. I write, I program. But they are great for content consumption. Wanna watch a video? Chuck birds at pigs? You don’t need a bulky keyboard for that! And now that “broadband” is becoming so common in developed nations, there’s really not much need for removable storage devices either – goodbye disc drives of any kind! If you really need it, plug something external into the USB port. It’s cool, and perfect for a lot of people, but it doesn’t mesh with my lifestyle.

So in spite of historically being something of a technophile, I can’t quite match step with the rhythm of the changes in culture from technology. (Sometimes ‘cuz they are just plain stupid! And didn’t I tell ya to get offa my lawn!?!?) I’ll just go on faking it, I guess.

But yeah, the land-line umbilical? We’ve still got it. But I think its days are numbered in our household…

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

Bad Sector said,

It might be because i’m younger or because i live alone, but i never saw the need for a landline – even in the 90s when i was living with my parents, me and my sister had our own devices (connected to the same line, of course, just if someone was calling whoever picked up the phone first would notify the others) in our rooms.

Today i barely even use my mobile phone. I only have it because some services (like courier) need a phone to contact you, but otherwise i don’t even carry it with myself. If someone wants to contact me, email is *much* faster since i check it both at home and work. If i go out… well, i’ll see the message once i come back (no interruptions to whatever i’m doing! :-P)

About decline of PCs… i don’t know. Last time i checked PC sales were increasing, not decreasing and this decade there was a HUGE increase of PC sales. It might be that PCs are so commonplace that everyone is expected to have one and most people have a good enough system that they don’t need to get a newer. I mean, my aunt for example has a ~6yo computer that can surf the web just fine, including Facebook and YouTube. She doesn’t see the need for buying a new one. At the past, computers were mostly bought by techies so naturally they wanted to get the best, but today there are people who have little technical idea and little desire to use their computer for more than visiting Facebook and YouTube (none of which work that good even on the latest and greatest iPad).

Personally i my biggest issue with how things are going is the trend to put everything online and inside a web browser. There are so many wrong things with that, from privacy, ownership and control to even performance and availability.
Don Jordan said,

I second the younger generation thing. My wife and I haven’t had a land line yet and I barely use my phone at all. Sometimes it even becomes a hindrance because people get all upset that they can’t get a hold of me at any given instant.

However, soonish I will be getting a landline because my wife and I decided that there was no sane reason for giving our children their own phones until they are much older. People can get a hold of them through a standard phone. Call us old fashioned but the only time a kid will have a cell it will be one of ours that we’ve loaned them for when they will be attending an event.
Rampant Coyote said,

We ended up giving them a pay-as-you-go cell phone that they share. But our oldest is 18 and getting ready to go to school, so she’ll be getting her own.
Anon said,

@Bad Sector
PCs aren’t selling well at the moment (at least in Europe) – most likely because of Windows 8.
The same situation happened with Vista back then but when Win7 came along and got recommended lots of people and companies finally upgraded from XP. A boost in PC sales was the result. The same will happen with Windows 9 if Microsoft isn’t completely daft.
So what I see is more or less a stable situation with some ups and downs but not a general trend in one direction.

It’s also true that tablets are cutting into the PC market but it’s laptop sales that are suffering the most.
Remember laptops cutting into the PC market? Same thing is happening with tablets right now as the tablet is a lighter alternative to a laptop. Replacing a PC with a tablet is less likely even though it certainly does happen in some homes.

Console sales on the other hand are going down right now for the simple fact that the next generation is coming soon and lots of people wait for it.

Mobile consoles or phones don’t replace a stationary console for most “hardcore gamers” – they complement them.
On the other hand the casual crowd that already has a smartphone or tablet uses them for their limited gaming needs because they don’t need to spend extra money.

@Jay
I fully understand you – I had a dumb phone until last October. But I also had Palm organizers since 2001: A Palm IIIc for three years and then a Tungsten T3 for a whopping eight! So I carried at least two gadgets with me and sometimes my compact camera, too.
I always wanted to get an all-in-one device but something was always missing or just not good enough.

Then my eye-sight degraded noticeably around 2009. Because of this small hi-res displays aren’t very comfortable for me. Anything less than 4″ which my Palm had wasn’t acceptable.
I also always favored the pen of the Palm organizers and wanted something similar so I couldn’t really convince myself to simply get a phone with a big display.

When my Tungsten limped on its last leg in 2012 I finally decided to let go and instantly grabbed the biggest and baddest smartphone available at the time: The Galaxy Note 2 – with a fantastic 5.5″ display, more than enough speed and memory, a pen and also a decent camera it is exactly what I wanted.
But do I use it as a phone? Yes, occasionally, but mostly as an organizer, a messager (via “WhatsApp”), an internet browser, a navigator, a compact camera (and image manipulator), a mobile game console, an ebook reader and movie player – in exactly this order.
I now not only have a phone, an organizer and a camera but also a tablet computer in one device.

Because of my usage of the device my contract is leaning heavily on data transfers and not telephony – and I pay around 20 Euros/month.

The phone is unlocked like many in Europe and therefore was a bit more expensive (around 460 Euros last October) but in my mind clearly worth it. I would even go so far as calling it my best investment of 2012 as my experiences with both the hard- and software have been overwhelmingly positive. Of course there’s always something that can be improved but the basics are all covered well for me.
VK said,

“In fact – and this is something I’d call a Bad Thing – our kids’ friends are actually afraid of calling the house, because they might *gasp* have to talk to someone other than the person they want to talk to.” – Actually, this may have nothing to do with the cell phones. I for example had this sort of phobia since waaaaay before they were invented. It’s just some people feel uncomfortable talking to strangers, and over the phone it’s twice as bad as you can’t see the one you talk to. Cells make coping with that a bit easier – exactly because you’re calling a (known) person and not a place.
Xian said,

I can’t see me getting rid of the land line anytime soon for a couple reasons:

1) I use DSL for Internet access, and while I can buy DSL without phone service, it costs more if it is not bundled. I could switch to cable, but our DSL has been very stable, compared to the frequent outages we when previously on cable. Cable is faster, but it is more expensive too.

2) We make frequent overseas calls since my wife’s family lives in Thailand, and have not been able to find a comparable rate on cellular than what we get on our land line.

I have avoided getting a personal cell phone until just recently. Work provides me with one, and as long as I don’t abuse it, I can make the occasional personal call. My wife wanted a newer model so I got her old one after getting her a new one for Christmas last year. Our provider lets you pay $100 and you get 1000 minutes that don’t expire for a year, which is usually more than enough to last all year for us.
Avatarsofsteel said,

I’ve been trying to get rid of my landline for years but my friends and fam did blue murder when I tried. Not sure why they thought it was end of world. Maybe this year.
CdrJameson said,

I’ve got a dumb mobile + ipod combination, backed up with a mobile wifi hotspot when I need it. Somewhat clunky, but good value.

Phone is unlocked pay-as-you-go. Cost: £15 purchase, and £20 top-up every six months or so.

IPod was about £200, no ongoing charges.

Mobile WiFi was £60 with £10/quarter data charges (cheaper than on a phone, for some reason).

Ongoing cost about £80/year (roughly $125) for mobile and more data than I can use.

I’m not sure PCs are dying either, they might just be not selling.

I’m a developer but my current home PC is now six years old, with a graphics card upgrade 2 years in and an SSD. Just moved from XP to Win 7 and it still absolutely flies, and runs the latest games (Bioshock Infinite at the mo) on very good settings.

Until I’m prevented from playing a game then there’s no call for a new PC, so this might be my last ever.
Maklak said,

I still have a “dumb phone”, but I had to replace the battery this year. For me the mobile phone is to be used mostly in emergencies and only 4 things are important: making calls, answering calls, reading text messages and battery life.

I used to have a few hand-held game consoles, but I grew out of it, I guess. Gaming is something I do on the PC and I believe keyboard and mouse are superior controllers, at least for the king of games I like (RPGs, simulation, strategy).

I wanted to get some kind of PDA for years, but am not so sure anymore. It would probably have to be like kindle, but with solar panels and keyboard. On top of that efficient, light, as durable as possible and priced at 500$ tops. I looked at a tablet, but to me it’s just a toy that could be used for some emergency web browsing, but holding it with one hand and typing with another just doesn’t work for me. I considered buying a netbook for my mobile device, but in the end decided that it’s too expensive for the performance it offers. Laptops are horribly inconvenient to use instead of PCs – I know, because I was forced to use one at work. Besides, they’re too heavy and bulky to carry around. This makes me scratch my head at why they are so popular. More expensive and less convenient than a PC, not suitable to carry around, moderate performance and yet so many people want them.

Windows 8 is a deterrent, but for me it works differently: I’ll simply buy the parts or a computer without an OS and install Linux Mint. Thank you Microsoft for encouraging me to finally go Linux, a lot of programs, including games, work under WINE anyway.

I agree that PCs from a few years back still offer good enough performance, so we don’t really need replacements. Last year I was still using a Pentium 4 with R300 graphics card and 1 GB RAM (after an upgrade) as my secondary computer. My primary is still a Core 2 Duo (but I did replace the processor to E8400, paying 100$ for it, which was not worth the price and put some more hard drives into it too). I finally bought a Sandy Bridge for 300$ last year to replace my P4 and it is sluggish at some things, but gets the job done. Plus Dwarf Fortress runs longer on it before things grind to a halt.

I think that the consoles are driving the PC sales down. The current generation is 5 or so years old and AAA games are usually multiplatform, so they have to run on 1 GB RAM and what have you. To me the biggest downside is that consolized games come with fundamentally broken user interfaces, but I don’t play them that much anyway. Im pretty sure that after the new generation of consoles is introduced, games will require more resources to run, which in turn will drive the PC sales up.

I’m rather sceptical about having www access in my phone, because it is so very expensive compared to a cable or phone company.

While I admit that some mobile applications, like www, a crappy but small camera, games, the ability to check city transport routes on the go, or to display a map oriented north, centred on my location and with the zoom level I want would be handy, but I may be too old and grumpy to enjoy them. If I were younger, they would probably get me excited.
Rubes said,

I’m still getting over the fact that you have a daughter old enough to go to college.
Rampant Coyote said,

Mike, I think she’ll be long gone from college before I finally come to grips with that. Sheesh.
Incindium said,

We switched our landline home phone over to VOIP(Vonage) to keep the number but reduce the monthly bill a year ago and have been happy with it. So we still have a house phone number for the kids to learn and to use for bills and accounts. The VOIP features like voicemail to email with transcription and call forwarding, simultaneous ring, with the ability to configure it whenever via the web is pretty nice.
Rubes said,

She’ll definitely be long gone from college before Vespers is released!