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Rich Z's Blatherings Since Connie and I have retired the SerpenCo business, topics here will focus on topics of a more personal and general nature.

I surrender to the Borg....
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Old 07-24-2017, 02:10 AM   #1
Rich Z
I surrender to the Borg....

I can recall a long time ago, looking through magazines and newspapers, seeing something curious in ads, and even editorials. Businesses were starting to put odd annotations about "emailing" them and visiting their site at _____.com. I had heard of the internet, of course, in the computer related magazines I was reading at the time. But it seemed like some sort of arcane nerd network where the geeks could hang out by typing messages on a keyboard and watching received messages scroll across the screen through their phone line modems. Now, suddenly, this was becoming mainstream.

I started thinking that perhaps there was something to this, and that perhaps I needed to jump into this myself. It sort of looked like this internet stuff was here to stay. This was back in the mid '90s, and I thought perhaps my SerpenCo business might be worthwhile taking advantage of this new medium obviously gaining steam. I could see the potential of posting pics "online" along with a price list, instead of spending a fortune every year mailing out lists and some accompanying photos. Heck, this could actually be a GOOD thing.

So we fast forward to now. Over the last few years, I have been highly resistant of the "smart" phone generation, because quite honestly, I just didn't see the need for it. Obviously I had been looking at it only from the "phone" aspect, rather than the "smart" aspect. I really don't want to get phone calls when I am anywhere else but in my home. So spending the kind of money these things were demanding for the opportunity to be bothered by a phone call while I am out driving, out shopping, eating dinner out, or even walking the beach, just didn't make any sense to me. Heck, I can remember a time when if someone called you on the phone and asked you "where are you", that would be grounds to throw a straight jacket on them and haul them away. I also remember a time when someone would be walking down the street apparently talking to themselves, that you knew to just give them a wide berth and try not to make eye contact with them. But things have changed.

And to be perfectly honest, from the phone calls I have gotten from people using this cell phone technology, with the conversation breaking up all of the time with only every other word being completely audible, and sometimes making what the other party was saying completely indecipherable, I just couldn't see the sense to it. Seemed like a lot of money to pay for half baked technology. Heck, I still see people who have to walk outside in order to use their phones. Rain or shine. But this technology HAS to have improved, right? RIGHT??

So anyway here comes this deja vu slowly creeping up on me. I start seeing these odd square boxes in magazines and newspapers, saying something like "For more information"..... next to the boxes. Hmmm.... They don't even say what you are supposed to DO with those boxes, like everyone already knows. So yeah, that tingling sensation has started building up on the back of my neck. I can feel the hair growing all over my body as I become a caveman suddenly thrust into the future.

But still I had been resistant, although I could feel the cracks in the armor of my excuses. So the breaking point came back in June, when Connie and I were on Sanibel Island and we took our bikes and rode down to the "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Used to be they would have various signs along the way, explaining the wildlife, or history, or some other aspect of the natural features along the way. Not any more. Know what they have now?



Yeah, that is it. No text for the "smart phone challenged" cavemen. You either have a smart phone to scan that box, or you are just plain out of luck if you want to know what the sign is trying to tell you. A caveman would have felt no less out of his element looking at those signs. They meant absolutely nothing to me. If they had said, "walk forward 4 feet, start digging, and there is a million dollars in the ground", I would have passed it by because I could not have read that message. I will tell you, that was a real smack in the head for me.

So at first I was irritated. How DARE them to treat me like a caveman! So I stewed in silence on that while continuing to ride my bicycle on down the road, thinking hard about what this meant. Then I started feeling worried. Suppose this is the future staring at me. Suppose it is going to become NECESSARY to have a smart phone eventually. Shades of the mark of the devil! I have already had several instances of online verification requiring receiving a text message that I could not comply with. So is this where this is all headed? Eventually you will not be able to accomplish simple basic tasks without having a smart phone in order to do it. Heck, I don't know how many household devices now have apps that will run on a smart phone. A while back I was really interested in getting one of those radio controlled drones to take aerial video, but most of them required a smart phone or tablet as the visual interface. So I lost interest and put that idea WAY back on the back burner. But how long before I won't be able to drive a new car because it too will need to interface with a smart phone? Or I find that I cannot even use the microwave oven without one? Or I come to a door one day that requires the use of a cell phone to provide ID so I can gain entry? Sheesh.....

OK, OK, yeah I know most of you already have your smart phones and probably cannot understand why I don't too, and this is all pretty humorous to you. I'm an old guy, so ease up on me. I am coming around. I finally see no choice but to surrender to the tide. I am going to finally get one of these new fangled devices, because it appears that sooner rather than later, I will have no choice. Of course, I will probably stencil "666" on the back of it, and be damned for all eternity, but what the heck. It's the price I am going to have to pay to come out of the cave, I guess.

But I am asking of you all that if you see me sitting at dinner with Connie, or walking through a mall, or driving, with my nose stuck to my cell phone, oblivious to the outside world, please just SHOOT me. Well, shoot the phone first, please, and if I look like my soul has been taken from me with the death of my cell phone, THEN shoot me. I have seen these things apparently taking over people's lives. Heck, I have been reading up on smart phones in articles on the net, and I actually read one where the author claimed that buying a smart phone is going to be the most important decision you can make in your life. I kid you not. And I seriously hope no one really believes that. Because if it were true, we are in some SERIOUS trouble as a society.

I suppose it's just a matter of time before these things are going to be required to be implanted into our brains and make cyborgs out of us. Of course, I also suppose that a majority of the people thoroughly hooked on their cell phones would welcome the convenience of something like that and fight to get first in line to have that done. It probably wouldn't even have to be made mandatory for most folks.

Oh well... Welcome to the Borg, Caveman.
 
Old 07-24-2017, 04:09 PM   #2
Twolunger
My son stopped over to give me a phone he replaced with the latest smart phone. He said it is 5G whatever that means. Apparently the new phone is better than 5G, so I assume it is 6G. I asked him what was wrong with the 5G phone, since it does everything a person could want. He said I need to move out of my cave and get rid of my old "flip" phone. I told him the 5G phone is big and heavy, and there's no way I want it. My old flip phone allows me to speak to people, and now some have found out that I can text, so I receive texts all day and half the night.
 
Old 07-24-2017, 05:32 PM   #3
Rich Z
Heck, I can't think of a half dozen people who might know the new phone number when we get it. Which probably won't even include me. I've had a flip cell phone for at least 10 years and until VERY recently I couldn't have told you that phone number if my life depended on it. In all the time we have had it, I would bet that we haven't even put an hour's worth of time on it. Most of that time was probably when the power was out here for four days when a hurricane went through. Not sure if anyone ever tries to call that number, as we never have it turned on. We have it solely for emergencies. Like hurricanes.....

The only way the new cell phone will get any sort of "talk" minutes on it is if Connie winds up liking it and uses it to talk to her sisters, aunts, and cousins. Then the minutes will REALLY add up.....

I don't think we will get more than the one cell phone. Connie and I are rarely apart except when she makes the occasional trip up north to visit her family. Sometimes I go with her and sometimes I don't. I think she has a better time with family if she doesn't have to worry about me getting bored up there. It's not her family, it's just me. I just can't work up any interest in family matters, even in my own family. Most of which are gone anyway. In any event she would take the cell phone with her, as I most likely won't need it while I'm at home.
 
Old 07-24-2017, 10:48 PM   #4
Twolunger
My flip phone is also 10+ years old. Half the time I don't know where it is, so my wife calls my number so I can locate it. I didn't know my own phone number so had to ask my wife what it is. I figure if it is important they will call my wife's phone.

My daughter-in-law has a watch, or it looks like a watch, that she talks into and texts. Kind of reminds me of the old Get Smart television show.
 
Old 07-25-2017, 10:14 AM   #5
Dragonling
One of the benefits of being a later generation who grew up with the internet and watched the transition from clunky walkie-talkie phones to slim pocket computers with 100x the power and 1000x the storage of my first PC with youthful eyes is that I've learned it's better to just adapt rather than question. Still, I find myself starting to resist some as I get older. I did think "smart" phones were dumb until I actually got to mess with one and realized that people who were already computer-illiterate would eventually use it as their primary means of connecting to the internet. And they did. Now these smart watches seem pretty cool and useful , but I refuse to get one if only because I think I'd probably break the damned thing like every other watch I've tried to wear (and I'm not sure why I'd need one just yet since I always have my phone on me). I managed to break my FitBit and that didn't even have a screen.
 
Old 07-25-2017, 10:33 AM   #6
Twolunger
My brother, who is the closest thing to a hermit that I know, refused to buy a computer. However, every time he needed to buy something unavailable locally, he would call me to search the web and find him the best deal. His neighbor convinced him that he should buy a cell phone in case of a hurricane emergency. He bought a smart phone with a data plan and now all I hear is how great the phone is, and what he can do with it. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks after all. I guess that I'd buy one if I didn't have my computer.
 
Old 07-25-2017, 11:42 AM   #7
DollysMom
That would be wonderful for additional information and for translations to other languages besides English for foreign visitors. But the basic information should still be on the sign. Whoever did that is ignorant at best.

I recently used a conservation article in Afrikaans for my house snake display at ReptileFest. There was a QR code label for the English translation. However, I did have a print out "behind the table" for anyone who asked. That's a proper way to do it IMO. Maybe I'm an old fogey, but when using a QR code makes information less accessible it is being used wrongly.
 
Old 07-25-2017, 11:55 AM   #8
DollysMom
That would be wonderful for additional information and for translations to other languages besides English for foreign visitors. But the basic information should still be on the sign. Whoever did that is ignorant at best.

I recently used a conservation article in Afrikaans for my house snake display at ReptileFest. There was a QR code label for the English translation. However, I did have a print out "behind the table" for anyone who asked. That's a proper way to do it IMO. Maybe I'm an old fogey, but when using a QR code makes information less accessible it is being used wrongly.

For the curious:

https://youtu.be/ReySrtqyUjU
 
Old 07-25-2017, 04:36 PM   #9
Tavia
Quote:
Originally Posted by DollysMom View Post
That would be wonderful for additional information and for translations to other languages besides English for foreign visitors. But the basic information should still be on the sign. Whoever did that is ignorant at best.

I recently used a conservation article in Afrikaans for my house snake display at ReptileFest. There was a QR code label for the English translation. However, I did have a print out "behind the table" for anyone who asked. That's a proper way to do it IMO. Maybe I'm an old fogey, but when using a QR code makes information less accessible it is being used wrongly.
Exactly my thought on that sign.

I love my smart phone, not for making calls, because I hate talking on the phone and the actual phone feature does kind of suck still, but texting is a breeze and my favorite way to talk to people and I can manage most things with our hobby reptile business with it from nearly anywhere. Being able to Google any random question that darts through the mind is quite addictive as well.

But I know a lot of people that still don't have smart phones, they are expensive enough to be a luxury many of the people around here can't afford and they wouldn't be able to do anything with that QR code either.
 
Old 07-25-2017, 05:59 PM   #10
DollysMom


Funny thing that YouTube video it linked to is not even the sort of thing I go to a wildlife refuge for. I can watch YouTube's all day long on my couch at home.
 

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