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[victoriafinch]

I have some feelings that are pretty unpopular, but I'll confess them. Until a few days ago, I didn't know what texting was, but after finding out, I still have no desire to do it. I hate Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. I haven't owned a cell phone in years. I feel unnerved when I go into any random place and discover I'm the only person not

Comments

[lyndorr]

Yeah, I go on youtube to watch TV show clips and music videos. Sometimes it's the easiest way to listen to music I want to hear and I don't have cable.
I gave in to having a cell phone. I don't have a land line though. I will be especially glad to have it when I start job hunting. I didn't want to get one until this company came along because it's expensive. Canada was ranked 28th out of 30 or so countries as far as cell phone affordability. I don't like texting either. I wonder if when we eventually get cheaper phone plans (a new company is coming), people will text less. Cost is part of the reason people text a lot, though certainly not all of it.

[victoriafinch]

I never realized before that people texted to save money (probably because I don't have a cell phone plan). I always wondered why people wanted to bother with typing out incomplete messages on little phones when they could quickly call somebody or e-mail them later. But that makes sense.

[moreteavic]

I agree with a lot of what you say. I feel my own concentration being fragmented by the constant switched-on and plugged-in-ness of it all. And I know that I am nowhere near as connected as many people are. I don't Twitter, though I do have a facebook account. (Tightly locked down with less than 100 friends, and determined to keep it that way.) I do see some of the profile "cultivation" you mentioned, and it both saddens me and amuses me. I have a cell phone, but it is my only phone and not a "mobile device" with internet, email, and an espresso machine. No "apps" for me

[lyndorr]

I read part of a chapter of a book on IQ changing. Yeah, apparently the average does go up by 3 points every decade so they have to make the tests harder to keep the average at 100. And yet, how accurate can IQ be because I can't imagine our grand-parents averaging 85 on IQ tests. That would mean about 82% of people today are smarter than the average person alive 50 years ago. Then the authors conclude that's evidence that IQ tests are culturally biased because IQ increases as people have more schooling.

Have either of you heard of the book The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! ? I kind of want to read it. It's so easy to look at the old days with nostalgia even if we didn't live in those times and think things are just getting worse. After reading reviews of that book (which is about the late 1800s mainly), I wonder if one of the worst things about our society today simply that we don't know how good we have it and aren't grateful enough. Also, we could be better at building community I think.

[victoriafinch]

I laughed at your espresso machine joke. Like you, I don't totally ignore some of this stuff, because I have found some wonderful things by way of it and some of the technology is pretty convenient and novel. However, seeing the extremes other people go to makes me constantly evaluate the question of the fine line between modernizing and going too far.

There will always be an ignorant demographic of the population, and I feel like the internet has enabled them. This may sound mean, but before the web, there was a certain limit to what stupid people could do. I feel that now, the internet gives them infinite outlets for their stupidity. Like the mother who used the internet to bully her daughter's classmate. In 1991, she wouldn't have had any opportunities to pretend she was a 14 year old girl. Just one example!

It's nice to hear a like-minded person, so thank you for this response. I feel the same way about your posts!