Do you think you'll be able to keep up with technology as you get older?

[vulonkaaz]

now that i think about it i may already be in a refusal to adapt mindset, I literally can't buy any modern smartphone because they all have notched non rectangular screens which I can definetly not tolerate (that plus non removable batteries, no sd card slot, no headphone jack(???) )

 

[manpaint]

now that i think about it i may already be in a refusal to adapt mindset, I literally can't buy any modern smartphone because they all have notched non rectangular screens which I can definetly not tolerate (that plus non removable batteries, no sd card slot, no headphone jack(???) )

Wait modern phones do not have micro sd card slot? The fuck?

 

[JupiterJazz]

I already find it overwhelming to learn how to use more recent applications, like Discord. I refuse to switch to Windows 11. And don't get me started on "Smart Home" devices. You can call me set in my ways, but why try to overload something as simple as a messaging app or search engine with so many distracting features?

 

[starbreaker]

In my very subjective observations, there seems to be an age where people stop being able to catch up effectively with new trends, behaviors, and technologies. At around 50-60, people seem to crystallize and begin to either refuse or struggle to adapt.

Do you think this will happen to you too?

I hope not, beause my livelihood kinda depends on me being able to adapt and stay current. If I lose that I'm fucked.

 

[Pangolin]

Depends on the cost benefit ratio. But I will always keep a clear line between self and machine. Meaning no neuralink, nothing wired directly into my nervous systems, nothing physically connected to me. Only things via keyboards, buttons, levers, switches, touch panels, screems. Etc.

I've studied enough computer science for a life time, (Bachelors, Masters. Random Schizoid-tier browsing) to know that I really don't want to integrate myself with technology. It should only function as a wrench on a particular task. But to merge my life with it? Absolutely not.

But opinions can change. Currently on the horizon all I see are privacy invading technologies and even the smartphone is a step too far past my red line. Ideally, I should have a pocket computer that isn't a phone. Sending and receiving messages across the broader internet, but wholly disconnected from the cell network. And all on custom firmware on chips that have been thoroughly investigated for backdoors, roots, and hardware level "features".

I don't want any Alexas, Google spy boxes, or TVs that listen in. I don't want to hook into the metaverse. I don't want a digital twin. I don't want home automation that ties into some corpo-server that will most certainly 100% either go down eventually leaving you without features in your own home (server outage, internet outage), or the corpo just randomly decides to stop supporting your hardware. Just buy the new X + 1 version! This one actually works! WOAH.

 

[Some_porcupine]

But opinions can change. Currently on the horizon all I see are privacy invading technologies and even the smartphone is a step too far past my red line. Ideally, I should have a pocket computer that isn't a phone. Sending and receiving messages across the broader internet, but wholly disconnected from the cell network. And all on custom firmware on chips that have been thoroughly investigated for backdoors, roots, and hardware level "features".

pager?

 

[Pangolin]

pager?

yeah a pager would be awesome except I'm too young to know how to use them.

 

[Sketch Relics]

In my very subjective observations, there seems to be an age where people stop being able to catch up effectively with new trends, behaviors, and technologies. At around 50-60, people seem to crystallize and begin to either refuse or struggle to adapt.

I wonder if it's less about adaptation and more so that that is around the time that people retire. Once you no longer have that sort of income source and have to rely on savings it becomes cost prohibitive to chase trends for minimal benefit. Thus you adapt slow so you know that what you're picking up is worth the money you put into it. Once you become detatched from advancement trend it is also probably easy for most people to continue living in semi stasis since they would already be used to that level of tech.

 

[starbreaker]

I wonder if it's less about adaptation and more so that that is around the time that people retire.

Retiring between 50 and 60? In America? ROFLMAO

 

[Sketch Relics]

Retiring between 50 and 60? In America? ROFLMAO

It would be more accurate to say getting ready for retirement wouldn't it? , though the same forces should be at work either way.

 

[gsyme]

i feel kinda two-edged on this.

On the one hand, I feel honestly like the "core" tech is stagnating. Like at the end of the day, we're still using a lot of the same basic software we were 10-20 years ago, but we're just doing things to larger scales now because compute and bandwidth are cheap.

Like for real, the only thing I think that's pretty new since I first started studying tech has to be containers. That's really it.

But most change has been little shit. Like I have to say sudo systemctl start apache now instead of sudo service apache start. I'm still just running a daemon though. Or, it's ip -a now instead of ifconfig, but I'm still just looking at network interfaces. sudo apt install instead of sudo apt-get install, but I'm still just pulling from the repo. Shit like that is piddly and easily adapted to.

On the other hand, there's a lot of what I'll call "trendy shit". Like the specific sub-language of SQL you're using may not have existed when I was a kid, but it's still SQL, can still face SQLi, the basic syntax is the same, and there's a doc reference I can look at to see how it's different from something like MySQL or something more my era. Or yeah, I don't write python, but you can't write perl. I don't know nginx, but apache does the same things and is still supported. I don't write in meme languages like rust or go, but you're just reinventing C with retarded shit like that anyway.

So it's like there's this endless treadmill of slightly different tech solutions and products that effectively just reinvent the wheel of shit we could do 20 years ago anyway. I don't tend to learn that stuff unless I have to, and it's not really consequential most of the time because it's all the same as shit I already know anyway.

 

[Blockhead]

I agree with others in this thread that the development of tech in the last years for the average consumer/user has been far more gradual than the development of tech in the decade preceding it. Feels like there are obviously changes but they are far less radical and easy to keep up with. Even with AI I feel like it is slowly going to be integrated into the average persons use. However my perspective is a little different as I do not work in tech or even in an office setting, I am a bartender lol (so I feel like I may not come face to face with this kinda stuff as much as many of the rest of you do). 1990-2010 was a two decade period where we saw explosive development in the tech space, the following years have been far easier to keep up with.

Also in general I feel like there has been a dumbing down of user interfaces over the years that has made it far more accessible

 

[Some_porcupine]

Also in general I feel like there has been a dumbing down of user interfaces over the years that has made it far more accessible

for better or worse
everyone and the dog
or -
everyone and the dog
(meaning, it is very simple -but then- so simple it shits the experience - see what happened to net since the 80s vs nowadays)

 

[Blockhead]

for better or worse
everyone and the dog
or -
everyone and the dog
(meaning, it is very simple -but then- so simple it shits the experience - see what happened to net since the 80s vs nowadays)

Case dependent. The embracing of minimalism from a design perspective of user interfaces is something that is in some cases appealing and satisfying, I also think that things should be intuitive because that makes tech more accessible to all social groups which puts people at a more level playing field. On the other hand sometimes things are needlessly dumbed down to the point of decreased functionality

 

[Dr. MacGutsy]

No. It moves too fast and the improvements in day to day technology are so small that they're meaningless, at least in my opinion. Hell, most improvements seem to just be gimmicks and the removal of anything tactile/rooted in real life. Think how voice recorders on phones used to look like an actual tape recorder. If anything it's getting worse with just how much stuff there is prepackaged in every piece of technology. I mean, lets be real. Has your workflow really improved in an meaningful amount in the past ten years or so? I'm not much of a technology guy outside of making some silly little websites here and there so my assessment of this might be way, way off. To me it just seems like it's not worth putting the energy into keeping up with it.

 

[Some_porcupine]

Think how voice recorders on phones used to look like an actual tape recorder

this artstyle is called skeumomorphism

 

[Dr. MacGutsy]

this artstyle is called skeumomorphism

I wasn't aware it was an art style. Neat. I figured it was just the path of least resistance since most people know how to use a tape recorder, or at least did at the time.

 

[manpaint]

Yeah I really think technology has stagnated in recent years. The only improvement I can think of is the invention (or democratization) of portable hard drives, but ofc that just an iteration of an existing thing.

As you guys know, I am the local Windows 7 chill. As far as I can tell the only things that dosen't work on Windows 7 aside for modern video games are:

• Modern Adobe applications
• USB-C
• Discord screenshare (it used to work)
• Soon Steam will be unusable

That's it. Everything else is perfectly fine. It really feel like that we reached the apex of computer technology, at least design-wise.

 

[Dr. MacGutsy]

Yeah I really think technology has stagnated in recent years. The only improvement I can think of is the invention (or democratization) of portable hard drives, but ofc that just an iteration of an existing thing.

As you guys know, I am the local Windows 7 chill. As far as I can tell the only things that dosen't work on Windows 7 aside for modern video games are:

• Modern Adobe applications
• USB-C
• Discord screenshare (it used to work)
• Soon Steam will be unusable

That's it. Everything else is perfectly fine. It really feel like that we reached the apex of computer technology, at least design-wise.

I've always thought that Windows peaked with seven. Maybe that's because that's what I used the most, but I really do feel like it can't get much better, if at all.

 

[manpaint]

I've always thought that Windows peaked with seven. Maybe that's because that's what I used the most, but I really do feel like it can't get much better, if at all.

Yeah, legit the only things that suck is Windows Media Player, but that's easily substituable with a third party application such as Foobar2000 or VLC.