Question for those always on their cell phones

Well thats good to know. That was the main reason I deleted that thing after about 3 days. I got one and all I saw were pictures of peoples food, pre gym selfies, random philosophy quotes someone googled, and people crying about how bad their life sucks.

I was like yup....don't need this thing anymore lol. I don't really have a reason to get another account I guess, most of my family are anything but technologically savvy, they can barely even turn a computer on. My father is still amazed that he can play snake on his 2001 flip phone lol.

 

I believe it's both isolating and extremely opening. It opens up the world like nothing else we've had in the past. Friends and family can say something like "Hey look I'm having dinner in Rome!" then post a picture of themselves in real time sitting in Rome having dinner and you can see it sitting at home in the US. Stuff like that is cool. It also lets you keep in touch with friends and family without actually talking to them. Just read their Facebook page and see what they've been doing lately which is also cool.

I think the isolating part comes when people seemingly rely on that thing. I think it just might be a personal preference or a generational thing or something. I know plenty of people who haven't talked to each other in months or even years who are still great friends through Facebook because thats all they use to communicate. I just sort of find that a bit too impersonal, I don't want to read a blog about your vacation I'd like to hear you tell me about it.

I might just be weird lol. My best friend is like that she loves her Facebook to death. She always fusses at me when I call her on the phone like I did the other day and ask her how shes been doing lately because I hadn't heard from her in a few. I was greeted with "Well if you would get a damn Facebook then you'd see how I was doing lately! I've been in Cancun for the past week with my boyfriend silly!" I'm sitting here like what? I didn't know you were planning a vacation, and what do you mean boyfriend? When the hell did you get a boyfriend? "We've been together like 3 months"

Oh lol

Yeah I tend to miss out on a lot of things I guess without having social media. I'm just not accustomed to it I suppose. I'm used to people giving me a call to keep in touch. Once Facebook became popular and people stopped calling me as often I thought people were just growing up and doing the normal life thing and didn't have as much time to talk to me anymore. Then I realized that they just don't call anymore they all use that Facebook thing now, most of them don't even have my number anymore and for about 2 years a lot of my old childhood friends literally thought I was dead because nobody could find me on Facebook LOL.

 

I think thats just the way it is between the generations. My grandmother was a huge baseball fan, never missed a game and would sit there each and every night while the games were on in her favorite chair. When I went to visit her with my father a few years ago I saw that and I felt horrible inside. I knew she loved baseball so much but my poor grandmother didn't even have a TV to watch it, I felt terrible and was a bit upset that none of my uncles and aunts who live around her ever helped her out all these years. She seemed happy and she was smiling sitting there listening attentively to the game. Then father showed up and when he walked in I kinda got a bit upset and said "Dad, none of you guys could have gotten grandma a television? She lives here all by herself and none of your brothers or sisters who live like 5 mins away even thought to come check on her and see that she might need something like a damn TV in here? Lets go get her one, I'll buy it".

He looked at me and just laughed and said come here let me show you something. We walk to her bedroom and sitting in there is a huge ass 50" flat screen TV, unplugged and on the floor covered in clothes. He looks at me again and laughs and says "Son we've been trying to get mom to watch a television for the past 50 years, she won't even plug the thing in"

I go back in the living room and see her rocking back and forth in her chair and throwing her fist up cheering just as excited as can be.

I guess thats how it goes sometimes. She didn't have TV when she was young and she loved baseball then and listened to it on the radio. Fast forward 70 years where we have ultra HD televisions and surround sound and my grandmother wanted no part of any of that nonsense. Just let her have her old single speaker radio and her chair lol.

 

I think I'm starting to get that way myself. My father sure has thats for sure. My friends and family all call me "old man" as a nickname. An old war buddy of mine called me the other night and said "Hey man, I was watching the movie Gran Torino and thought about you and had to give ya a call" lol. I don't think I'm THAT bad...

I walked around with the first generation Samsung smart phone for years. One day the thing was just too slow to turn on so I went to the store to ask them if they could fix it and the kid behind the counter grabbed it and laughed at me. He said sir this phone is just old as hell, this is like the first smartphone they ever made, you can upgrade you know...you've been eligible for the past 7 years to upgrade...I say no thanks just fix it if you don't mind. He says the upgrade is free sir...So thats how I got a new smart phone. A smart phone that i still have no idea how to do anything with but text and call people and get on the internet.

All of my friends ride around in new cars and new trucks and always give me crap about my old Ford Ranger. They'll drive by the house and see me under the truck fixing things and they always laugh at me saying just buy a new damn truck. I'm like well no there's nothing really wrong with this one it just needs some new parts, things wear out ya know. Having older vehicles does have its perks though. I always love driving the old mustang around town. I'd be able to retire tomorrow if I had a nickle for every time somebody rolls their window down at a stoplight and says "Nice car!"

Everyone knows I love working on my vehicles, especially the car, but I just don't understand these new spaceship cars they have out now. All the touch screen stuff and push a button to start it and all that. If that thing broke down I wouldn't even know where to begin. I had to take an out of town trip for work and they supplied me with a car. It was one of those hybrid cars. I sat there in the parking lot for 20 minutes like an idiot literally trying to figure out how to turn the thing on. A guy walks by and sees me with the hood popped in the parking lot and asks me if everything was ok. I said no man I can't get this stupid car started. He hops in and says "Um, its on". I say what do you mean its on? No, how do you turn it on? He just laughs and says "No man it is on, it's running, its just on battery power now, the engine doesn't turn on until you start going like 20mph"

What kind of stupid crap is that? What kind of car is on but not on, stupid battery toy box cars I hate that thing lol.

But yeah I think that's my issue with the social media thing and this new era of online interactions and whatnot. The social media thing to me is what the internet itself was to our fathers. I didn't have any of this stuff when I was young, I'm used to talking to people on the phone and having them tell me about their day or their vacation or something. I'm not used to logging on to a profile and seeing their life play out step by step with pictures and status updates and all that stuff. When I met a woman I was interested in I'd invite her to lunch or something and get to know her, not go on her internet profile and read her various lists of hobbies.

I don't understand half of this new stuff they have now, I'm always at a loss when I hear people talking about things at work. They always look at me crazy like "you've never heard of this?". Um, no what the hell is that?

Yeah I'm done with technology, give me a real car with an actual engine in it not all this electronic crap. Give me a phone to call people and a bar to meet people. Give me a glass and whiskey and pour it in there, I don't want no weird named super crazy drink with 15 flavors and all that nonsense lol. Young folks can keep their constant updating technology, I'd lose my mind trying to keep up with all this crap lol.

Ah I sound like my father now, this is exactly what he used to always say to me sitting in his chair when I was growing up. Damn kids nowadays lol

 

No I actually have a smartphone lol. I might as well have a flip phone because I don't do any of the "smart phone" stuff that my smartphone can do...