Like a bolt from the blue, it hit me the other day…I’m a throwback.
When did that happen?
I’ve always considered myself to be, if not on the bleeding edge, at least far enough ahead of my peers to still feel “cool.” I mean, my god, I still wear jeans and Vans to work every day, have had the same haircut since 4th grade, and can even scan the little menu barcodes on my phone to order dinner…score!
But sometime in the last few months, I’ve realized that, gulp, I’m nostalgic for things past. While I am mostly competent with modern technology, I use it when it makes sense to do so. Will it save enough time, including learning how to do it, or improve the previous circumstance, to make sense to replace what I was doing before? If not, simple, just don’t do it.
I’m pretty much at a tipping point with the way the world is moving, and I just want to hold on to the bedpost and make it stop spinning so fast.
Digital music? Give me my turntable and vinyl records, that’s the way music was meant to be listened to.
Ebooks? Hate ‘em. Give me a paper book if you want me to read it.
Email blasts? Nope, if you email me something longer than a paragraph to read, I will print it out and read it some other time if it’s not an ad (that gets deleted immediately).
Zoom? That’s a hard no too. I tried, and on a good day, all I could think about was the opening credits of the Brady Bunch. On a bad day, it just gave me headaches.
Meetings over the phone? It’s just not for me. I like looking someone in the eyes who is sitting directly in front of me. I forwent that during the pandemic as did most of us. I’m ready to pick back up now. There is no substitute for face-to-face interactions when the matter is important.
Tech-talk? I’m middle-aged, I’m not an engineer, and I like using and hearing real words that most people who were born in the last century could identify and use in a sentence. Don’t dazzle me with your grasp of tech terms, it will only make me feel badly about myself.
Cryptocurrency? Jeez, it took me long enough to feel safe buying stuff online with my credit card. I see a bitty chance of my using bitcoin in my lifetime.
It’s not that I’m against change (well, mostly not), but I do believe strongly that you don’t necessarily throw out the “old” if the “new” isn’t superior.
