Do you think the digital age made life easier or harder

[tistan]

On the banking side, it has made things incredibly hard for self employed people. I used to have established relationships with local banks. Even if you didn't quite qualify, getting loans based on my credit and cash on hand used to be easy since the loan officer was in house. Not bragging but I've had an 800+ credit score for 10-15 years and it is still incredible difficult to get credit. I just switched to a credit union and they offered my a credit limit of $5k for my business. I looked at the business banker and said what the am I to do with that, I just deposited $200k in your bank. Now I have 3 banks because my other banks give me $50k limits. All that to say no one has control, the computer calculation controls everything.

 

[03cobra#694]

You go out to a bar and everyone is in their phone.

Or a restaurant. It really amazes me seeing these people with the phones stuffed in their face even when they're with someone.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Or a restaurant. It really amazes me seeing these people with their phones stuffed in their face even when they're with someone.

Yep, happens at home too. This Christmas all my wife's kids and grandkids came over. My wife was cooking and trying to spend time with her kids and grandkids. I was watching football. Every single one of her kids and grandkids (6 in total) were on their phones.

I yelled out "Family Time" and told them all to put their phones away and spend time with their mother/grandmother. I get it, the phone has become their lives, but damn it you are in my house to spend time with your family, not be glued to your phone 24/7.

When it was time to open presents I told every one of them to leave their phones in the other room. They looked at me like I was crazy LMAO!!!! They said what about pictures? I told them my wife would take pictures and send them out. Back in the day Mom or Dad had the camera, not everyone in the damn house LMAO!!!

 

[Morgan]

Or a restaurant. It really amazes me seeing these people with the phones stuffed in their face even when they're with someone.

On more than one occasion, while eating with my wife and 2 kids, we’ve had strangers stop at our table to compliment us for not using our phones at the table.

We make a point to call it out for the kids hoping that they’ll recognize the behavior and avoid it when they’re older and eating with friends (without us).

None of the remarkable social evolutions are perfect- I mostly despise social media but you can’t deny that it’s been a blessing for women with feet and the men who love them.

 

[tistan]

On more than one occasion, while eating with my wife and 2 kids, we’ve had strangers stop at our table to compliment us for not using our phones at the table.

We make it a point to call it out for the kids hoping that they’ll recognize the behavior and avoid when they’re older and eating with friends (without us).

None of the remarkable social evolutions are perfect- I mostly despise social media but you can’t deny that it’s been a blessing for women with feet and the men who love them.

I find the foot fetish thing a little creepy, now nude wrestling midgets, that makes the Internets worth it all.

 

[03cobra#694]

Lol

 

[ZYBORG]

I think it's (technology) a necessity, and one that peaked around 2000ish. I've been in IT since the late 90's and while I know that a lot of the work we have done has made life better for some people, social media platforms like Facebook, IG, X, etc have given a platform to millions if not billions of people who would have been ignored for their stupidity before that. I genuinely have some regret for my extremely small part in the enabling of everything that has happened in the last 15-20 years.

I keep hearing all the tech "leaders" (execs with an ivy league degree but no sense at all) talk about how AI is our future and I just keep thinking I don't have enough ammo for this... I saw the documentaries in the "Terminator" series, and these clowns are running full speed ahead into the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

110%

Its given extremely stupid low IQ scum, the ability to easily amass and orchestrate “attacks” on society or other people…

There are also a ton of positives, but has definitely been a double edged sword.

 

[supercharged91m]

Or a restaurant. It really amazes me seeing these people with the phones stuffed in their face even when they're with someone.

There's nothing more frustrating than going out to a restaurant with people and them not paying any attention to what you're saying just glued to the phone

 

[Blown 89]

I can't think of a single thing that the digital world has made harder.

I think miserable people will always be miserable. The person who gets jealous today of their cousin's new car that her husband bought her, that she saw pictures of on FB.... that's the same person that in 1980 would have stood outside of church or the grocery store and gossiped with a friend they ran into.

The whole "people are glued to their phones" that so many say... kids were glued to gameboy when I was younger. Maybe comics 10 years before that. My retired grandparents watched the news nonstop when I was a kid, like 6am, 8am, noon, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 9pm, etc. They also read the newspaper daily. Today, the news is in your hands. Different format, easier access.

That gameboy you referenced is technology. Being glued to the TV watching news....technology.

Obesity has skyrocketed. Depression has skyrocketed. General happiness by polling is down. The general connection with society is down. There are very real correlations with the gig economy negatively impacting the middle class. People aren't getting married, they're not having kids. All of that has a very definitive inflection point.

I think there is a misconception that happiness comes from constant entertainment. Go to any park and look around at the parents. They aren't socializing with each other, they're not paying attention to their kids....their heads are buried in their phones. Go to a restaurant or a brewery and look around. How many families are engaged with each other? How many people are looking at their phones rather than talking with each other? Is that a better life? Does going home and binge watching 4 hours of cable TV then doing another 3 in video games improve your life? Are you happier or are you just distracted? Everyone complains that the world is going to shit but all of the sudden we talk tech and it's all rosy again?

 

[Blown 89]

There's nothing more frustrating than going out to a restaurant with people and them not paying any attention to what you're saying just glued to the phone

I took my son to a brewery Thursday night for dinner and looked around. There were 18 groups of people inside and only 4 of them were actually talking to each other. The rest were staring at their phones. I know the numbers because I bumped into a friend there and we actually counted. One of the 4 were two families and the adults were talking but the kids (all under 10) were glued to TV shows on tablets.

The worst is people getting angry that you don't answer their texts of phone calls immediately. It's a Sunday, I'm with my son and I left my phone at home so I could enjoy our time together. I should be angry that you are demanding to interrupt that.

 

[jessie_sanders]

I took my son to a brewery Thursday night for dinner and looked around. There were 18 groups of people inside and only 4 of them were actually talking to each other. The rest were staring at their phones. I know the numbers because I bumped into a friend there and we actually counted. One of the 4 were two families and the adults were talking but the kids (all under 10) were glued to TV shows on tablets.

The worst is people getting angry that you don't answer their texts of phone calls immediately. It's a Sunday, I'm with my son and I left my phone at home so I could enjoy our time together. I should be angry that you are demanding to interrupt that.

Probably all texting each other.

Sent from my motorola razr plus 2023 using Tapatalk

 

[VegasMichael]

I like having immediate access to information at my fingertips rather than having to wait until the next day to drive down the street to ask the bitchy reference librarian.

In the workplace it created more work in my former profession(public education) and didn't make anything easier as promised. Just more time consuming. Emails became rampant and trivial but still had to be answered. I used to get 20-30 a day and supervisors would get over 100.

 

[Morgan]

I've often wondered what it was like to work an office job before there was email.

 

[03cobra#694]

I've often wondered what it was like to work an office job before there was email.

I always said way back, you'll get a smoke signal before an email from me. I do remember faxes and that stupid fax paper that would fade if you didn't make a copy.

 

[Morgan]

I always said way back, you'll get a smoke signal before an email from me. I do remember faxes and that stupid fax paper that would fade if you didn't make a copy.

but you quit smoking so...

 

[03cobra#694]

but you quit smoking so...

Lol, well played.

 

[365 Saleen]

Life was simpler back in the day.
Technology has made life more complex, more expensive, more unsatisfying.
I managed to drive across the Country without GPS, without a cell phone, without a Credit Card and thought nothing of it. Best of all, I lived. And did not expect any other outcome.

 

[C2tuck]

I remember as a kid, before we have GPS and Google Maps, my stepdad would get TripTiks from AAA. Basically maps with the route highlighted and then it had all the stops along the way. And then there was a travel guide book with info on all the hotels and restaurants.

Fun reading in the car if your gameboy batteries died!

Remember Mapsco?

 

[C2tuck]

On the banking side, it has made things incredibly hard for self employed people. I used to have established relationships with local banks. Even if you didn't quite qualify, getting loans based on my credit and cash on hand used to be easy since the loan officer was in house. Not bragging but I've had an 800+ credit score for 10-15 years and it is still incredible difficult to get credit. I just switched to a credit union and they offered my a credit limit of $5k for my business. I looked at the business banker and said what the am I to do with that, I just deposited $200k in your bank. Now I have 3 banks because my other banks give me $50k limits. All that to say no one has control, the computer calculation controls everything.

Seriously? I’ve had good credit like you for years and can call my bank (credit union) and buy anything I want within 5 minutes of being on the phone, but I’ve had several loans through them and paid them all off early.

 

[Tractorman]

Life is easier now.

But it used to be a lot better before digital starting taking over.