I'm so glad you shared Jane's essay. When I read it earlier this week,I loved it.
I am the tech support in our household which isn't saying much. The big difference between my partner and me is that I read the instructions, even if I have to search them out each time the wifi goes down or the phones need a kick in the pants. Printers, however, defeat me. I actually broke mine when I was trying to change the ink. Tore the tip right off. Anger may have been involved.
One of my favorite movies scenes is from Office Space when they destroy the printer. There’s a lot of wish fulfillment there. Also, Christina doesn’t read the instructions. She just gets it, somehow. I read them, but I often get hung up when I find typos or poorly worded sentences, which seems to happen more and more these days.
The easy button was a lie both on the computer and my pants!
I'd think about turning off the internet, but then I'd have to wait days for you to mail Situation Normal assuming you could get the computer and printer to work.
Printers suck because that way they can keep selling you more of them.
CD's aren't gone. I just bought some a week ago. Rip the CD to the computer, load it on the phone and listen to what you really want in the car.
The people available to do more tech support are trying to build the machine to do it at least as badly as the people who do tech support now.
This right here really nailed it: "The people available to do more tech support are trying to build the machine to do it at least as badly as the people who do tech support now."
1. My biggest beef with technology is that it's supposed to be less work/brainload than analog solutions and for me IT NEVER IS!!!
2. I would 100% push that button (after I memorized all my closest friend's phone numbers like I used to in middle/high school. I would move to a quiet place with ample hammock hanging locations and spend my days writing and talking to my closest friends on the phone. There would be dogs and ponies, too. And a rainbow a day, at least.
3. Printers are co-artists designed to bleed you dry paying for ink cartridges. I print about 10 sheets of paper a year and I've spend like $250 on ink. It's possible I'm exaggerating a bit in both directions. But only a BIT.
4. I still play CDs in my car. I miss mix tapes.
5. The machines are smarter than the people who built them is my guess. Or douchier. Either way, machines 1: humanity: 0.
When in college, I digitized old tapes and I cannot tell you how many hours of my life were spent sitting on the floor crying over a betamax player that wouldn't spit tapes out. The only advice "experts" could give was just keep turning it on and off and keep q-tips on hand for cleaning.
Your CDs always worked? No issues with scratches or skips in the Walkman? I love the aesthetic of CDs - the colorful discs - but for physical music media, I’m more nostalgic for cassettes, and I’m most likely to buy vinyl.
When it comes to tech, I think there comes a point in your life where you just decide "this is the tech I am comfortable with and I have no interest in advancing." I worry, that even as a fairly tech savvy person that I've hit my limit at 43. Time has passed me by much sooner than I thought.
2: Am I turning off the Internet forever, or just for 24 hours. Either way, I've always been someone who wants to press the button that says do not press. I think I'd do it. Gotta find out what would happen.
3: Printers suck because there are too many moving parts. Too many little things that can break or wear down. There's probably some planned obsolescence mixed it. The printer companies and engineers should feel shame, but I suspect they don't.
4: You are not the only one. I keep thinking about getting a CD player again. There's lots of bands I liked from the mid 90's through 2010ish that were never big enough to have a release on vinyl and the only way to get own their music is on CD. That is going to be a tricky conversation with my wife, as my vinyl collection is taking up a lot of room...
I think we're both at that same point where we're done learning new tech. The good news is that the next wave of tech is supposed to be able to learn for itself, so maybe we're not needed and therefore can spend more time listening to our favorite 90s bands. that's the dream, anyway.
I feel this, retired last year because I didn't want to learn any new tricks and the new tricks were becoming a weekly thing. I kept a "3 in 1" compact audio system bought in the '90's and it still works so my collection of CDs and cassettes are still in rotation and spend my days reliving the great old ones through music.
Michael, I fear I'm a luddite too. I just bought one of your books and I'm really looking forward to reading it!
Alas, the 'easy button' is a huge lie. Nothing in life is easy, especially tech! Then again, if it was, we probably wouldn't appreciate it.
If I could keep the knowledge base of the internet and get rid of the SM and instant news I think we'd be better off. IMHO Social Media has not improved our lives. Nor has the 24 hour news cycle. Of course, having four or five megaconglomerates owning all of the world media is probably the center of the problem. Substack has been a breath of fresh air and source for original thought. It's a novelty in the media world. If you haven't read John Zada's book Veils of Distortion I highly recommend it.
Michele! Thank you so much for buying one of my books! I hope you enjoy it! Also, I think you're right about the internet. There are parts I want to turn off, but there is stuff I want to keep.
I've always wanted to go to one of those places where they let you destroy junk with a baseball bat. Basically, you pay to rage for like 15 minutes. My dream is to rage against all the printers they've got.
2. Hell yeah. And I think the key here would be having the discipline to keep it turned off for more than like five seconds. I'd turn the internet off for at least six months -- just to give our brains some time to heal. Of course, once I turned it back on it'd only take a few weeks to get back to where we were. See: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
3. Human vs. printer epitomizes the travails of the technological revolution. I think the engineers do it on purpose, to test our resolve.
4. I miss iPods as standalone music players. The OG iPod was pretty dang cool, and I'm hoping Apple cynically makes a new one to capture the "retro market" in a few years.
You just got yourself a job at Apple with this comment. You're now in charge of retro tech. I know you had other plans, but it's not like all the productivity gained through technological innovation actually led to more leisure time anyway.
I would turn off the internet in a heartbeat - so long, not nice to know you - if the cost is nobody ever reads another word of mine unless it’s handwritten in a letter, so be it. This opinion comes from someone who is not a tech-phobe, has run a digital magazine, and knows enough to know how much I hate all the stuff like social media and AI that will soon make everyone tethered to a screen rather than the actual blooming, glorious, falling-to-pieces world around them.
End of rant. By the way, eons ago, before the web, I had a job that would have been perfect for you, Michael: I was a software developer for an educational publisher, and my job was to break programs to uncover all the bugs - basically to do what little kids do, punching random keys or options - I could usually break raw programs in seconds. Programmers don’t think like children or bona fide human beings.
And I definitely prefer CDs - you know, *albums* - to any streaming music system. Have a nice day, says ChatGPT with real authority 😉
You are not the only one who misses CDs and I'm not giving mine up.
I came to the whole tech thing late, and as I like to say, my knowledge is shallow yet narrow, but it's deeper than my partner's, who only joined the 20th century a few years ago. That was not a typo. I still own a dial phone connected to a land line.
Hang onto your land line. the quality can't be beat, the sanity of a leaving your phone behind is nice too. plus, i hear the kids are into retro stuff.
It's almost a necessity here, as we have so many power outages, and have bad cell service when that happens. We also have a locally owned phone company, one of the last independent phone/internet companies in the country, and our lines are buried underground.
Of course I have a cell phone, so I can no longer leave the phone behind, but it's nice to think I can.
Ugh. You sound like my husband. And I am Christina at our house! But I’m more like you trying to help Jane when I’m trying to help him. You can see the problem in our house. We need a Christina. And so does Jane! All hail the tech people. They are the ones with the real power. 💪
Oh my gosh, I'm crying with laughter!! You ARE brilliant!! I don't believe the backstory...you're just being modest. 😸 This is like learning Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy aren't real. I will need some time....
Meanwhile: Thank you for your super kind words about my writing and Beyond. They touched my heart! ❤️❤️❤️ And thank you for sharing my essay. I'm all aglow after being featured in Situation Normal! Thank you, brilliant friend!
I'm so glad you shared Jane's essay. When I read it earlier this week,I loved it.
I am the tech support in our household which isn't saying much. The big difference between my partner and me is that I read the instructions, even if I have to search them out each time the wifi goes down or the phones need a kick in the pants. Printers, however, defeat me. I actually broke mine when I was trying to change the ink. Tore the tip right off. Anger may have been involved.
One of my favorite movies scenes is from Office Space when they destroy the printer. There’s a lot of wish fulfillment there. Also, Christina doesn’t read the instructions. She just gets it, somehow. I read them, but I often get hung up when I find typos or poorly worded sentences, which seems to happen more and more these days.
The easy button was a lie both on the computer and my pants!
I'd think about turning off the internet, but then I'd have to wait days for you to mail Situation Normal assuming you could get the computer and printer to work.
Printers suck because that way they can keep selling you more of them.
CD's aren't gone. I just bought some a week ago. Rip the CD to the computer, load it on the phone and listen to what you really want in the car.
The people available to do more tech support are trying to build the machine to do it at least as badly as the people who do tech support now.
This right here really nailed it: "The people available to do more tech support are trying to build the machine to do it at least as badly as the people who do tech support now."
1. My biggest beef with technology is that it's supposed to be less work/brainload than analog solutions and for me IT NEVER IS!!!
2. I would 100% push that button (after I memorized all my closest friend's phone numbers like I used to in middle/high school. I would move to a quiet place with ample hammock hanging locations and spend my days writing and talking to my closest friends on the phone. There would be dogs and ponies, too. And a rainbow a day, at least.
3. Printers are co-artists designed to bleed you dry paying for ink cartridges. I print about 10 sheets of paper a year and I've spend like $250 on ink. It's possible I'm exaggerating a bit in both directions. But only a BIT.
4. I still play CDs in my car. I miss mix tapes.
5. The machines are smarter than the people who built them is my guess. Or douchier. Either way, machines 1: humanity: 0.
I think your beef is right on the money! As tech removed one task, it opened up a new universe of shit to worry about.
I’ve found that most towns with libraries will let you print a page for less than 25 cents.
When in college, I digitized old tapes and I cannot tell you how many hours of my life were spent sitting on the floor crying over a betamax player that wouldn't spit tapes out. The only advice "experts" could give was just keep turning it on and off and keep q-tips on hand for cleaning.
I recorded a lot of 80s TV onto Betamax. I thought about digitizing them, but chose sanity instead.
Your CDs always worked? No issues with scratches or skips in the Walkman? I love the aesthetic of CDs - the colorful discs - but for physical music media, I’m more nostalgic for cassettes, and I’m most likely to buy vinyl.
My CDs always worked. Granted, I was a little uptight about returning them to their cases. Also, I never used a discman.
I put mine in books, but as a teen, I definitely had some on the floor of my closet and under my bed.
using them as coasters was another common way to mistreat your music
That was the ideal use for AOL sign-up CD-ROMs.
You've got coasters!
When it comes to tech, I think there comes a point in your life where you just decide "this is the tech I am comfortable with and I have no interest in advancing." I worry, that even as a fairly tech savvy person that I've hit my limit at 43. Time has passed me by much sooner than I thought.
2: Am I turning off the Internet forever, or just for 24 hours. Either way, I've always been someone who wants to press the button that says do not press. I think I'd do it. Gotta find out what would happen.
3: Printers suck because there are too many moving parts. Too many little things that can break or wear down. There's probably some planned obsolescence mixed it. The printer companies and engineers should feel shame, but I suspect they don't.
4: You are not the only one. I keep thinking about getting a CD player again. There's lots of bands I liked from the mid 90's through 2010ish that were never big enough to have a release on vinyl and the only way to get own their music is on CD. That is going to be a tricky conversation with my wife, as my vinyl collection is taking up a lot of room...
I think we're both at that same point where we're done learning new tech. The good news is that the next wave of tech is supposed to be able to learn for itself, so maybe we're not needed and therefore can spend more time listening to our favorite 90s bands. that's the dream, anyway.
I feel this, retired last year because I didn't want to learn any new tricks and the new tricks were becoming a weekly thing. I kept a "3 in 1" compact audio system bought in the '90's and it still works so my collection of CDs and cassettes are still in rotation and spend my days reliving the great old ones through music.
I am in awe! Keep that music machines going!
Michael, I fear I'm a luddite too. I just bought one of your books and I'm really looking forward to reading it!
Alas, the 'easy button' is a huge lie. Nothing in life is easy, especially tech! Then again, if it was, we probably wouldn't appreciate it.
If I could keep the knowledge base of the internet and get rid of the SM and instant news I think we'd be better off. IMHO Social Media has not improved our lives. Nor has the 24 hour news cycle. Of course, having four or five megaconglomerates owning all of the world media is probably the center of the problem. Substack has been a breath of fresh air and source for original thought. It's a novelty in the media world. If you haven't read John Zada's book Veils of Distortion I highly recommend it.
Michele! Thank you so much for buying one of my books! I hope you enjoy it! Also, I think you're right about the internet. There are parts I want to turn off, but there is stuff I want to keep.
Printers! It is so crazy!! Why can’t I buy a printer that prints things!?!?
I've always wanted to go to one of those places where they let you destroy junk with a baseball bat. Basically, you pay to rage for like 15 minutes. My dream is to rage against all the printers they've got.
A rage room just for printers would do very well!!!
1. Yep.
2. Hell yeah. And I think the key here would be having the discipline to keep it turned off for more than like five seconds. I'd turn the internet off for at least six months -- just to give our brains some time to heal. Of course, once I turned it back on it'd only take a few weeks to get back to where we were. See: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
3. Human vs. printer epitomizes the travails of the technological revolution. I think the engineers do it on purpose, to test our resolve.
4. I miss iPods as standalone music players. The OG iPod was pretty dang cool, and I'm hoping Apple cynically makes a new one to capture the "retro market" in a few years.
5. Keynesian leisure -- allegedly.
You just got yourself a job at Apple with this comment. You're now in charge of retro tech. I know you had other plans, but it's not like all the productivity gained through technological innovation actually led to more leisure time anyway.
That actually sounds like a cool job. Better than corrupt Wall Street analyst, at least.
I would turn off the internet in a heartbeat - so long, not nice to know you - if the cost is nobody ever reads another word of mine unless it’s handwritten in a letter, so be it. This opinion comes from someone who is not a tech-phobe, has run a digital magazine, and knows enough to know how much I hate all the stuff like social media and AI that will soon make everyone tethered to a screen rather than the actual blooming, glorious, falling-to-pieces world around them.
End of rant. By the way, eons ago, before the web, I had a job that would have been perfect for you, Michael: I was a software developer for an educational publisher, and my job was to break programs to uncover all the bugs - basically to do what little kids do, punching random keys or options - I could usually break raw programs in seconds. Programmers don’t think like children or bona fide human beings.
And I definitely prefer CDs - you know, *albums* - to any streaming music system. Have a nice day, says ChatGPT with real authority 😉
I'm guessing that job no longer exists, but man I would've crushed that gig.
Long live 1998 <3<3
It was a good year, right? I mean, we probably thought it was terrible and couldn't wait for the 21st century, but we were fools.
Wait…what? CDs are not a thing anymore?
That's the rumor. But don't buy the hype. Keep spinning your CDs!
You are not the only one who misses CDs and I'm not giving mine up.
I came to the whole tech thing late, and as I like to say, my knowledge is shallow yet narrow, but it's deeper than my partner's, who only joined the 20th century a few years ago. That was not a typo. I still own a dial phone connected to a land line.
Hang onto your land line. the quality can't be beat, the sanity of a leaving your phone behind is nice too. plus, i hear the kids are into retro stuff.
It's almost a necessity here, as we have so many power outages, and have bad cell service when that happens. We also have a locally owned phone company, one of the last independent phone/internet companies in the country, and our lines are buried underground.
Of course I have a cell phone, so I can no longer leave the phone behind, but it's nice to think I can.
Ugh. You sound like my husband. And I am Christina at our house! But I’m more like you trying to help Jane when I’m trying to help him. You can see the problem in our house. We need a Christina. And so does Jane! All hail the tech people. They are the ones with the real power. 💪
If you can't beat 'em, marry 'em.
As someone currently waiting to reinstall Windows on my crashed laptop, I heart this very hard.
Sending thoughts and prayers, Michael.
😂😂😂😂😂
Oh my gosh, I'm crying with laughter!! You ARE brilliant!! I don't believe the backstory...you're just being modest. 😸 This is like learning Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy aren't real. I will need some time....
Meanwhile: Thank you for your super kind words about my writing and Beyond. They touched my heart! ❤️❤️❤️ And thank you for sharing my essay. I'm all aglow after being featured in Situation Normal! Thank you, brilliant friend!
Also: Mortimer is ridiculously cute!! ❤️
I can assure you the backstory is true and I am by no means being modest.