Technology just gives us more choice, we can if we want choose not to take those routes...
Either do something, or don't. Its your choice.
Either do something, or don't. Its your choice.
A longing for simpler times?
- Thread starter Harmonica
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Spend my working life teaching kids to program microchips and use hi-tech CADCAM machines. Love it.
Spend my free time in the woods or on the hills wherever possible using kit I have made myself from natural materials with traditional methods. Love it.
Spend my free time in the woods or on the hills wherever possible using kit I have made myself from natural materials with traditional methods. Love it.
I am not saying do away with H&S, I did say some of the more ridiculous H&S. My post was supposed to be light hearted.
A longing for simpler times is very much a cyclical ideal. Look at the Romantic period, any time there is great social and technological "improvements", people will yearn for a less involved and seemingly simpler time. But I think Scoman's post is very pertinent, it's far too easy to look back on your ideal period in time.
For me, the 1950s seem like quite a favourable era to return to. But, please, without the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, modern distractions like TV, satellites and the solar cell. The avian influenza A virus that killed millions worldwide in the 1950s and TB with 20 million cases worldwide, bit of an inconvenience.
Wasn't it Billy Joel that sang:
For me, the 1950s seem like quite a favourable era to return to. But, please, without the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, modern distractions like TV, satellites and the solar cell. The avian influenza A virus that killed millions worldwide in the 1950s and TB with 20 million cases worldwide, bit of an inconvenience.
Wasn't it Billy Joel that sang:
Yearning for a simpler time is self-delusional. Each era no doubt appeared more complex than the one before it. Having said that, simplifying your life is a good thing imho.
pfft
Smartphones? Brilliant. In my pocket I have a book, maps, music, films, access to technical info. I can talk to my brother on the other side of the world, take a picture. I can even make a phone call. I can turn off the 'phone' bit and the battery lasts for days.
Smartphones? Brilliant. In my pocket I have a book, maps, music, films, access to technical info. I can talk to my brother on the other side of the world, take a picture. I can even make a phone call. I can turn off the 'phone' bit and the battery lasts for days.
I check my mobile phone about once a week when it starts bleeping to tell me the battery is getting low. It makes and receives phone calls and that is about it.
I do use technology where it is useful. I use digital cameras and I use an Ipad to carry pictures, maps and information around with me but I can live without it.
I have a very realistic view of the past, I teach history for a start but I can also remember back far enough to know what life was like before all the gadgets.
There are bits that I miss and bits I don't. The great advantage is that we now have a choice. I have lots of "old school" kit because I like it but I also have some high tech bits because they work better.
In photography, people often harp on about Ansel Adams never needing digital cameras and computers to make wonderful images. Very true. What he did need was a heavy camera and tripod, lots of time and a darkroom that would have taken up half of my house. Adams himself is also on record saying that digital photography had huge potential which has proved to be true.
I think the trick is to take a step back every now and again and decide what you like and what you don't. I like natural materials so I favour that in my kit but I also don't like walking far with a heavy pack so I look for light multi purpose equipment if I'm heading off into the wilds.
[video=youtube;08NlhjpVFsU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpag e&v=08NlhjpVFsU[/video]
It would be nice to do it like Baloo but I prefer to be comfortable so it's always going to be a compromise.
I do use technology where it is useful. I use digital cameras and I use an Ipad to carry pictures, maps and information around with me but I can live without it.
I have a very realistic view of the past, I teach history for a start but I can also remember back far enough to know what life was like before all the gadgets.
There are bits that I miss and bits I don't. The great advantage is that we now have a choice. I have lots of "old school" kit because I like it but I also have some high tech bits because they work better.
In photography, people often harp on about Ansel Adams never needing digital cameras and computers to make wonderful images. Very true. What he did need was a heavy camera and tripod, lots of time and a darkroom that would have taken up half of my house. Adams himself is also on record saying that digital photography had huge potential which has proved to be true.
I think the trick is to take a step back every now and again and decide what you like and what you don't. I like natural materials so I favour that in my kit but I also don't like walking far with a heavy pack so I look for light multi purpose equipment if I'm heading off into the wilds.
[video=youtube;08NlhjpVFsU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpag e&v=08NlhjpVFsU[/video]
It would be nice to do it like Baloo but I prefer to be comfortable so it's always going to be a compromise.
I think we're all making good points some polarised but hey that's healthy. I spent 22 years serving at sea in 'sleek grey messengers of death' ;-). Joining at a young age I was always reminded 'it was better when....', 'things were easier when......'. I eventually learnt, within this context of rolling personnel changes and so focus, that it was peoples resistance to the changes going on about them meant they couldn't engage with the present.
Mitchell and Webb did a great sketch where bronze is introduced to a flint knapper, within the sketch, wiping out his livelihood and standing, he's unable to cope. Progress happens, technology through the ages hasn't always meant electronics.
That being said I still love learning about skills and through reading these forums have learnt that no shiny geegaw is a substitute for the knowledge you hold and skills you possess.
Mitchell and Webb did a great sketch where bronze is introduced to a flint knapper, within the sketch, wiping out his livelihood and standing, he's unable to cope. Progress happens, technology through the ages hasn't always meant electronics.
That being said I still love learning about skills and through reading these forums have learnt that no shiny geegaw is a substitute for the knowledge you hold and skills you possess.
Yesterday I went back up three flights of stairs to fetch my phone, realising I had left home without it.
Where was I going? - the allotment.
Did I once use the phone while I was down there? - No
That being said it has been handy at times to report when something is amiss down there.
Where was I going? - the allotment.
Did I once use the phone while I was down there? - No
That being said it has been handy at times to report when something is amiss down there.
There are a lot of good uses for mobile 'phones without a doubt. What annoys me about them is that they seem to have taken over some peoples llives. It is hard to have a conversation sometimes because people are so preoccupied with their 'phones. And the amount of times I have seen people walk across the road whilst texting or talking on the 'phone, completely oblivious to the traffic!
Everything, from the tiniest particles to the largest objects in the universe, are in a constant state of flux. Change is a natural condition of life. The problems come when we expect things to stay the same.
No such thing as simpler times, more times when we did not have as much available. Look back over the last hundred years and at all the families who saved their money for the latest gadget, hoover, wireless, TV, fridge etc.
The vast majority of humans embrace technology as and when they can, if not we'd still be using stone axes.
The vast majority of humans embrace technology as and when they can, if not we'd still be using stone axes.
Perhaps:
The Last Shanty - Tom Lewis
Well me father often told me when I was just a lad
A sailor's life was very hard, the food was always bad
But now I've joined the navy, I'm aboard a man-o-war
And now I've found a sailor ain't a sailor any more
Don't haul on the rope, don't climb up the mast
If you see a sailing ship it might be your last
Just get your civies ready for another run ashore
A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor anymore
http://shanty.rendance.org/lyrics/showlyric.php/lastshanty
I think all is well as long as you can achieve a balance you are happy with.
I have plenty of technology. TV, PS3, DSLR, Laptop, Walking and Car GPS to name but a few.
But i don't slave myself to them. Yes this contract i got an i-phone 4S as did my wife but this was due to her mother dying of cancer this year and we could find ourselves in an unfamiliar area. Access to the internet and GPS supported maps was invaluable finding our way round an area where we didn't know. Now she is no longer with us my next phone will go back to be a simple pay as you go because that all i need now.
I love the flexibility of digital photography over film
I like plenty of choice on my TV
However i do think too many people are too reliant on tech. Mobiles that seem to be stuck to peoples ears even when in the car. Having to navigate round (or into depending on my mood) folks blindly wandering down the street gazing into their phones. Everyone seems to be so rushed and had no time for other people and don't get me started on driving etiquette or lack of therein.
Change can be good but needs to be tempered with common sense
I have plenty of technology. TV, PS3, DSLR, Laptop, Walking and Car GPS to name but a few.
But i don't slave myself to them. Yes this contract i got an i-phone 4S as did my wife but this was due to her mother dying of cancer this year and we could find ourselves in an unfamiliar area. Access to the internet and GPS supported maps was invaluable finding our way round an area where we didn't know. Now she is no longer with us my next phone will go back to be a simple pay as you go because that all i need now.
I love the flexibility of digital photography over film
I like plenty of choice on my TV
However i do think too many people are too reliant on tech. Mobiles that seem to be stuck to peoples ears even when in the car. Having to navigate round (or into depending on my mood) folks blindly wandering down the street gazing into their phones. Everyone seems to be so rushed and had no time for other people and don't get me started on driving etiquette or lack of therein.
Change can be good but needs to be tempered with common sense
Try getting on the tube or a commuter train and count the number glued in some way to their phones, either making calls, texting, emailing, listening to music or playing games. The vast majority in my experience.
Yeah, people used to have conversations at home instead of being huddled round the computer.
Oh, hang on a bit...
Oh, hang on a bit...
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