I have been pondering this subject for several days. We (those of us who were born before the mid-'80s) remember that there was a period of several years between the time that the internet went mainstream in the '90s and the average person could access it either from home, school, the library and other places and the time that smartphones became ubiquitous in the early 21st century. In 50-100 years will anybody realize that there was a gap between the time that the internet became mainstream and the time that smartphones became common or will they believe them to have been invented at the same time? Will they be able to fathom that at one time you needed a computer (or Web TV and other methods that are best forgotten) to access the internet and that phones did not have internet capability or will they think the smartphone and the internet were developed at the same time and that phones have always been internet capable? Will they know about dial up? Historians and geeks will know that the gap existed, but what about the average Joe Blow or Soccer Mom? Those of us who lived through that era (which is most of the members of this forum) lived in a very unique time in history. Smartphones are still in their infancy, and internet access through computers is still superior than on mobile devices but the gap is narrowing. Then again, who knows what technology will be like in 50-100 years? There may be ways to access the internet by then that we can't even fathom today, but for the near future the smartphone and the computer are going to be the main ways to get online. I consider the smartphone to be the most important invention since the automobile, and that the internet is an integral part of the smartphone. If the smartphone did not exist I would say that the internet was the most important invention but since smartphones feature the internet among many other things, I consider the smartphone #1. The cell phone in general is one of the 2 or 3 most important inventions in the second half of the 20th century, and the internet is also probably the most important inventions of the 20th century and the smartphone combines the internet with the cell phone (and the smartphone can be used for many different things such as a camera, a calculator and an alarm clock.) Mobile device are wonderful things and it boggles my mind that something so small can do so many different things. A typical cheap prepaid cell phone has far more processing power than an old mainframe computer from the '50s and '60s that were gigantic. Technology is amazing. I cannot fathom what technology will be like in 50 or even 25 years.
Got an idea for a museum exhibit, then: Let people download Doom through a 56k modem just like most of us had to.
...
(for those who are too young to remember, it took all night long)
I had no idea smartphones were even common now.
I remember 300 baud modems and the old-style BBS's. I had a 300 baud modem for my Atari 800 in 1987.
I was born in early '04, which is enough to know that smartphones were something to laugh at, and computers were still 56k modems running on Windows '95. Seven years later, now technology got a serious upgrade. Yes, I saw the gap, and it still has its mark on the world. Innovation is everywhere my friends. Innovation is everywhere.
this comment was a better love story than Twilight.
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 18, 2015, 08:24:56 PM
I was born in early '04, which is enough to know that smartphones were something to laugh at, and computers were still 56k modems running on Windows '95. Seven years later, now technology got a serious upgrade. Yes, I saw the gap, and it still has its mark on the world. Innovation is everywhere my friends. Innovation is everywhere.
this comment was a better love story than Twilight.
I was born in early '03 so my view is pretty much the same as yours. I remember my parents having fliphones and transitioning to smart phones. I still have their old Android Smartphones before they bought iPhones. I have a modern Android phone actually.
I had a flip phone until Feb. 2014 actually. Before that, I had to use a computer to access this forum. I recall first using my computer with my dad's old work laptop sometime around 2004, 2005. Ask Jeeves, Netscape Navigator, you know the good old days!
Nowadays, I rarely post on my phone. I don't use it much (I charge it once a week) and I much prefer typing on a computer.
Unless something radically changes on smartphones, desktops will remain the primary method of doing actual work on computers for a long time. Smartphones and tablets are only ideal for passive consumption (reading but not writing).
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 18, 2015, 08:45:59 PM
Unless something radically changes on smartphones, desktops will remain the primary method of doing actual work on computers for a long time. Smartphones and tablets are only ideal for passive consumption (reading but not writing).
Especially with screen sizes. Also laptops are becoming more mainstream then desktops and that is a more active change. I still love my desktop for screen size and expandibility compared to a laptop
Despite being born in 1991, my Dad was a bit of a pioneer with desktop computers and the internet. I grew up on dial up and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. It certainly was interesting to watch the internet evolve from ISP-based search engines and Geocities to RSS feeds and forums to Facebook and apps. IMO the middle period was my favorite.
Ironically, despite being a pioneer with desktop computers, my Dad wants nothing to do with smartphones (he still has a flip phone; Mom and I have phones with a physical keyboard). I still don't have one either (see previous sentence - though I'm considering upgrading to a smartphone).
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 18, 2015, 08:45:59 PM
Unless something radically changes on smartphones, desktops will remain the primary method of doing actual work on computers for a long time. Smartphones and tablets are only ideal for passive consumption (reading but not writing).
Don't forget about the humble laptop. I use my laptop much like I would a desktop: I have a separate keyboard and mouse that I use. I built a stand for it where there is a shelf that the laptop sits on, and the stand has a flatscreen monitor above where the laptop sits. I set the laptop on the stand and use the monitor and the laptop screen as a dual monitor setup. I only open and close the laptop when I'm taking it somewhere. It functions as a desktop the majority of the time. I only use it as a laptop when I go out of town and when I do I take it with me along with my mouse and keyboard.
Here's a diagram for the computer stand: The metal base of the stand is made from a ruined old folding leaf table my great grandmother used to have. You can see the opened laptop sitting on the shelf in the diagram. The flatscreen monitor is attached to the back piece of wood at the top of the stand with long screws with the same threads as the shorter screws that came with the monitor. The gap between the top of the laptop and the bottom of the monitor is perhaps six inches, but you could make the gap as big or small as you wanted it to be. You could even mount a second monitor on the stand, turning it into a triple monitor setup. The bottom part is made of some sort of metal while the top is made of scrap plywood. I actually designed it in my head at the hardware store when I went to to purchase the items necessary to build the stand. My mom gave me the scrap wood, and while in the store I thought of what kinds of bolts and nuts to use and how they went together and saw it in my mind's eye and I bought everything I needed to finish the project. Everything is bolted together with high quality hardware and it was overbuilt and overengineered to be honest. The top portion of the stand is detachable from the metal base and can easily be removed by removing 4 wingnuts. In fact, right now I'm not using the metal base at all. It was simple to make and works very well for what I use it for. It didn't take long to put together, and I probably have $10 in it, all in hardware. It's ugly as shit but I don't care. On the end of the shelf that the laptop sits on, I screwed some hooks into the wood which I use to hang my watch and some other things. I also have my iPod mounted on the end of the shelf that the laptop sits on. I had to do some trial and error with some of the parts like the piece behind the laptop that the monitor is attached to which was originally much shorter and wider.
Another way to build it would be to use the lower half of an old computer chair to mount the stand on instead of the old table legs. You could the wheel the stand around and rotate it as well as adjusting the height. I haven't tried using the chair as the base so I don't know how well it would work or how steady it would be but it is rock solid the way I built it. I would be interested in how well it would work with a chair bottom as a base. It is cheap and ugly but it works very well for what I use it for. It came in really handy when the screen on one of my older laptops decided to keep working.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi167.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu126%2Fbugo348%2Fcomputer%2520stand_zpsrr7gsmvf.png&hash=e21c8a9002fcea46739306226f66d1c0870eaa4e)
Laptops are fine, and I have one, but I find them a little confining to work on for too long a time period. Your setup seems like it would work well for me, but if I'm using a separate monitor, mouse, and keyboard, a desktop is a cheaper purchase, and easier to upgrade.
I find myself appalled every day at how poorly the power of computers is being used. I get worse productivity now than I did with a lot of 1990s apps, because today most of the bandwidth is wasted on layer after layer of corporate spyware, cookies, advertisements, flashing and moving everything, pictures that aren't important to the point being made... It feels like Gutenberg coming back 10 years after the printed Bible and saw nothing but advertising circulars.
Anyway. I like a full-size keyboard so I can touch-type, and a large screen, so I don't use a smartphone and I am happy with my flipphone to carry around.
My primary method of access is a laptop. I haven't owned a desktop since 2006. I am wirelessly connected to my printer, and when I want a very big screen to look at I simply plug the HDMI from my Samsung 46 inch LED TV into my laptop and viola, instant supersize monitor. Even without doing that, my last 2 laptops had 17 inch monitors anyway, how much bigger does one need?
I also find my recliner to be a lot more comfortable than that dining room chair I hijacked to sit by my computer desk back in the day LOL. Plus could you imagine the headache of trying to drag the entire desktop and all of it's peripherals into the bathroom for time spent in the "law library"? :-D
I also have a Galaxy s5, and I do occasionally access the internet from it while on a smoke break at work, or the few times I am riding in the car while my wife is driving, but the computer is still the way to go for me. It always will be.
All that said, I do remember fondly the time I spent on the computer going way back even to the pre-internet days.
On the phone side, do y'all remember when cell phones were called car phones? (I laugh because of the constant push now-a-days to have phones removed from cars altogether).
I had a bag phone that I had removed the working parts out of the bag, hid them between the front seats, and the receiver portion was sitting on a cradle down on the "hump". The phone never came out of the car. I had that arrangement until the early 2000's when I finally got a flip phone. My plan was 30 minutes a month for like $30 and a nasty penalty amount per minute over that (I forgot what it was, but needless to say I didn't go over 30 minutes a month).
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 18, 2015, 08:24:56 PMI was born in early '04, which is enough to know that smartphones were something to laugh at, and computers were still 56k modems running on Windows '95.
I had broadband and a Windows 2000 PC well before then. The PC was a throw out from my dad's work and was pretty old (so I avoided ME. Though sadly not '98 which is what the home PC ran on before I got the 2k one) - I got a new one in late '04 as the old one didn't satisfy my mid-range desires.
Smartphones weren't something to laugh about then either.
But of course, babies aren't really on the pulse of culture or good at remembering...
I find it amusing how many posts in this thread take mobile phones (not necessarily smartphones–any mobile phone) for granted.
I remember what a novelty it was in the late 1980s when my dad got a "car phone." It was one of those mini-suitcase type things. Maybe not quite that big, but if you stacked four or five iPads together (not the iPad Mini or the iPad Air), you'd probably approximate its size. No voice-dialing and the phone was connected to the base via a conventional coiled cord, though the buttons were on the part you held in your hand (but on the side away from your ear, unlike many conventional home phones). I guess the idea was to let you dial without picking it up, then pick up when the call connected.
This thread is making me remember how on the Dukes of Hazzard (the real TV show, not the more recent movie with the wrong actors), the federal agents always had "car phones" that were very obviously just part of a conventional Ma Bell—issued home phone.
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
Quote from: vdeane on June 18, 2015, 09:08:49 PM
Despite being born in 1991, my Dad was a bit of a pioneer with desktop computers and the internet. ....
Your dad was born in 1991 yet you're 24? Damn, he got started early! :bigass:
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
I find it amusing how many posts in this thread take mobile phones (not necessarily smartphones—any mobile phone) for granted.
I remember what a novelty it was in the late 1980s when my dad got a "car phone." It was one of those mini-suitcase type things. Maybe not quite that big, but if you stacked four or five iPads together (not the iPad Mini or the iPad Air), you'd probably approximate its size. No voice-dialing and the phone was connected to the base via a conventional coiled cord, though the buttons were on the part you held in your hand (but on the side away from your ear, unlike many conventional home phones). I guess the idea was to let you dial without picking it up, then pick up when the call connected.
This thread is making me remember how on the Dukes of Hazzard (the real TV show, not the more recent movie with the wrong actors), the federal agents always had "car phones" that were very obviously just part of a conventional Ma Bell–issued home phone.
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
My first car phone was when I started driving in 1992. It was a bag phone; mostly stayed under the seat, and any phone call was 45 cents a minute. Calls had to stay in the local area because of routing issues and such. You couldn't carry it around - you had to plug it in the car's cigarette lighter socket (which meant you had to remove the cigarette lighter) if you wanted to use it.
I was born in the 1970's. While I don't recall my parents renting a phone, my grandparents did have Bell phones in their houses.
I remember when I worked at bowling centers, my one boss had a AOL account, and an internet addiction. After those first 10 hours, he would rack up $300 bills a month for all the additional time spent on it!
I remember our home phone actually belonging to the phone company up until the mid-'80s. Then the phone industry was broken up, and my folks buyed a combination phone/radio for the bedroom, but it was the same line as the phone in the kitchen. This phone/radio was destroyed a few years later when the electric company sent a surge through the house that shorted out many of our appliances, most notably a perfectly good TV.
The sound of an '80s phone ringing still scares me, because oftentimes it was my school principal calling my parents and lying about stuff I allegedly did at school.
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
This thread is making me remember how on the Dukes of Hazzard (the real TV show, not the more recent movie with the wrong actors), the federal agents always had "car phones" that were very obviously just part of a conventional Ma Bell—issued home phone.
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
Watch Banacek sometime. The lead, played by George Peppard has a radio telephone in his limo. That's from 1972.
Quote from: bandit957 on June 20, 2015, 10:16:42 AM
I remember our home phone actually belonging to the phone company up until the mid-'80s. Then the phone industry was broken up, and my folks buyed a combination phone/radio for the bedroom, but it was the same line as the phone in the kitchen. This phone/radio was destroyed a few years later when the electric company sent a surge through the house that shorted out many of our appliances, most notably a perfectly good TV.
The sound of an '80s phone ringing still scares me, because oftentimes it was my school principal calling my parents and lying about stuff I allegedly did at school.
I detect a corrupt school principal
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 20, 2015, 10:32:00 AM
I detect a corrupt school principal
He was.
He was absolutely one of the most despicable human beings I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.
Quote from: bandit957 on June 20, 2015, 11:05:27 AM
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 20, 2015, 10:32:00 AM
I detect a corrupt school principal
He was.
He was absolutely one of the most despicable human beings I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.
I have had bad expirences with people in my school as well. Both teachers and students. Also no one in my school can shut up.
I still prefer to do the vast majority of my internet browsing and email from my pc.
I only use my iphone to access weather radar, and to access FB to get weather, traffic, and emergency info.
The reason I only use the iphone to access the info that I really need when away from home is that the iphone is really inconvenient to use compared to a PC. Also, there is no reason to pay for a huge data plan just to access info that can wait until I get home.
I think it is ridiculous that people try to do so much on a tiny phone. Watching a baseball game on a phone at work? Really?
The only thing I don't like about pc's is that they take too long to start up. I wish they would get rid of P.O.S.T( which, to me is not totally necessary), and just let them start up as fast as iphones.
Also, I don't like laptops. The keyboard is unconformable and awkward to use. And don't get me started on those shitty trackpads.
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 20, 2015, 11:33:23 AM
.... Also no one in my school can shut up.
This has been true of kids, especially kids in their teens, for years. It always amazes me that anyone in a high school is ever stupid enough to vandalize something. Invariably the idiot can't keep his mouth shut and he tells a friend, who tells someone else, and eventually someone honest or someone who is a friend of the person whose property was vandalized hears about it. I remember when I was in high school some idiots decided they didn't like a guy in the class two years younger than mine and they took baseball bats and smashed up his mother's Jaguar and burned a profanity into his front lawn. Of course, they couldn't keep quiet and within two days everyone in school knew who did it. Within hours several of us had contacted the affected parents, who pressed charges (good for them).
Still, I'm glad I grew up prior to social media. Kids have always been nasty to each other, but social media makes it far easier to spread ridicule far more widely than was ever the case before.
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 01:13:46 PM
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 20, 2015, 11:33:23 AM
.... Also no one in my school can shut up.
This has been true of kids, especially kids in their teens, for years. It always amazes me that anyone in a high school is ever stupid enough to vandalize something. Invariably the idiot can't keep his mouth shut and he tells a friend, who tells someone else, and eventually someone honest or someone who is a friend of the person whose property was vandalized hears about it. I remember when I was in high school some idiots decided they didn't like a guy in the class two years younger than mine and they took baseball bats and smashed up his mother's Jaguar and burned a profanity into his front lawn. Of course, they couldn't keep quiet and within two days everyone in school knew who did it. Within hours several of us had contacted the affected parents, who pressed charges (good for them).
Still, I'm glad I grew up prior to social media. Kids have always been nasty to each other, but social media makes it far easier to spread ridicule far more widely than was ever the case before.
I can't wait for my house to be burned down by @sshole kids in high school! (Sarcasm alert)
Why are kids so hateful towards each other?
Chances are, it's because they learn that behavior and attitude from their parents.
Parents often say hateful things about other people in front of their kids, which teaches the kids that it is okay.
Quote from: Brian556 on June 20, 2015, 12:51:49 PM
I still prefer to do the vast majority of my internet browsing and email from my pc.
I agree. I have fat fingers and it's hard to type on tiny keyboards.
Quote from: Brian556 on June 20, 2015, 12:51:49 PM
The reason I only use the iphone to access the info that I really need when away from home is that the iphone is really inconvenient to use compared to a PC. Also, there is no reason to pay for a huge data plan just to access info that can wait until I get home.
I think it is ridiculous that people try to do so much on a tiny phone. Watching a baseball game on a phone at work? Really?
When you don't have access to a large screen television set, the cell phone comes in really handy.
Quote from: Brian556 on June 20, 2015, 12:51:49 PM
Also, I don't like laptops. The keyboard is unconformable and awkward to use. And don't get me started on those shitty trackpads.
Buy an external USB keyboard and mouse. Problem solved.
I was bullied relentlessly from 1st grade (I skipped kindergarten because I was so far ahead of the other students) to 12th grade so now anytime I think that somebody is bullying me or disrespecting me in the least, I get very defensive and I don't tolerate it. I have PTSD because of the bullying that I went through,That's why I stand up to certain moderators when I feel they overstep the boundaries. Now nobody gives me shit in real life because I'm 6'4" and weigh 240 lbs and have a shaved head. I've been told that I'm intimidating many times. I know nobody on this board would treat me in real life like they treat me here, not because they're afraid that I'll beat them up even though I'm a pacifist and don't get into fights unless I'm defending myself or my friends and family. They think they're badasses behind their computer screen but they change their tune when they meet me in person. That's the reason I act like an asshole sometimes. I get irate when somebody gets put in a position that they don't deserve when I am denied the same position.
Quote from: Brandon on June 20, 2015, 10:28:58 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
This thread is making me remember how on the Dukes of Hazzard (the real TV show, not the more recent movie with the wrong actors), the federal agents always had "car phones" that were very obviously just part of a conventional Ma Bell—issued home phone.
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
Watch Banacek sometime. The lead, played by George Peppard has a radio telephone in his limo. That's from 1972.
The old pre-cellular high-powered mobile radio-telephones. Batman had one in the Batmobile in the mid-late 1960s.
I do recall a cover article in an early-1970s issue of Popular Science where they discussed the then newly proposed cellular telephone concept.
This does kind of 'date' me, but when I was very young (I barely recall Star Trek in its original run) thinking about the gizmos that they were using and that many are now in use. One thing that I sometimes thought would be the ultimate thing to have at the time was a hand-held gizmo, a little smaller than a TV tray (remember those?), that showed a weather radar readout. This was at a time when the most complex electronic anything that might be found in the average house was a vacuum tube powered, point-to-point wired analog color TV set. THOSE THINGS WERE COMPLEX! 30-35 tubes and an ultimate rats' nest of wiring and components under the chassis. To this day I sometimes wonder how they were made to actually work. Anyways, I'd then start thinking about how I'd achieve such a kewl gizmo, giving up after about 20-30 seconds and going on to other things.
WE NOW HAVE THAT!!!!
(Still though, it hasn't justified my laying out the extra monthly cash for a cell-phone data plan, but we do have that technology and the iPad Mini is the exact size of the gizmo that I was thinking about back then.)
Also, one thing that I do miss from the late 1990s and early 2000s are the old IRC chatrooms - I am extremely shy (heavy social anxiety and some level of high-functioning autistic) and it is very difficult, pretty much impossible, for me to get to know people when first greetings are 'in person' as well as in group situations and to date my closest approaches to relational success were in them.
I also still happily use a desktop machine (Apple Intel Mac Mini) with a Hewlet-Packard vs15 flatscreen monitor and an old DSL connection (may be upgraded in the foreseeable future). I also still have my 1998 model Apple G3 Power-PC that still has uses left in it.
:nod:
Mike
I am 18 and have never owned a cell phone. :wave:
I was 33 when I got my first phone and 40 when I got my first smartphone.
Quote from: mgk920 on June 20, 2015, 04:02:00 PM
Quote from: Brandon on June 20, 2015, 10:28:58 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
This thread is making me remember how on the Dukes of Hazzard (the real TV show, not the more recent movie with the wrong actors), the federal agents always had "car phones" that were very obviously just part of a conventional Ma Bell—issued home phone.
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
Watch Banacek sometime. The lead, played by George Peppard has a radio telephone in his limo. That's from 1972.
The old pre-cellular high-powered mobile radio-telephones. Batman had one in the Batmobile in the mid-late 1960s.
I do recall a cover article in an early-1970s issue of Popular Science where they discussed the then newly proposed cellular telephone concept.
This does kind of 'date' me, but when I was very young (I barely recall Star Trek in its original run) thinking about the gizmos that they were using and that many are now in use. One thing that I sometimes thought would be the ultimate thing to have at the time was a hand-held gizmo, a little smaller than a TV tray (remember those?), that showed a weather radar readout. This was at a time when the most complex electronic anything that might be found in the average house was a vacuum tube powered, point-to-point wired analog color TV set. THOSE THINGS WERE COMPLEX! 30-35 tubes and an ultimate rats' nest of wiring and components under the chassis. To this day I sometimes wonder how they were made to actually work. Anyways, I'd then start thinking about how I'd achieve such a kewl gizmo, giving up after about 20-30 seconds and going on to other things.
WE NOW HAVE THAT!!!!
(Still though, it hasn't justified my laying out the extra monthly cash for a cell-phone data plan, but we do have that technology and the iPad Mini is the exact size of the gizmo that I was thinking about back then.)
Also, one thing that I do miss from the late 1990s and early 2000s are the old IRC chatrooms - I am extremely shy (heavy social anxiety and some level of high-functioning autistic) and it is very difficult, pretty much impossible, for me to get to know people when first greetings are 'in person' as well as in group situations and to date my closest approaches to relational success were in them.
I also still happily use a desktop machine (Apple Intel Mac Mini) with a Hewlet-Packard vs15 flatscreen monitor and an old DSL connection (may be upgraded in the foreseeable future). I also still have my 1998 model Apple G3 Power-PC that still has uses left in it.
:nod:
Mike
Never saw the mobile radio telephones in the Batmobile when I watched a mid '60s series (1966-1967).
I grew up without social media due to my family restarting their lives in the U.S. (the last times they lived there were late 80s to early-mid 90s) and thus, grew up as a loser, a moody person, and a lonely one. Even up to now, I'm still a loser. But still, living without social media for about 7 or so years has basically...well it's done some good stuff.
One thing I miss from the mid 2000's were the upgraded computers from the early 80s-90s (box computers as I call them). They could run a ton faster (now remember, this was before 2011 when computers got a massive upgrade), play some cool new games, and overall were just simply better.
I have never owned a cell phone (and it's good I don't own one yet).
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 20, 2015, 05:45:37 PM
I grew up without social media due to my family restarting their lives in the U.S. (the last times they lived there were late 80s to early-mid 90s) and thus, grew up as a loser, a moody person, and a lonely one. Even up to now, I'm still a loser. But still, living without social media for about 7 or so years has basically...well it's done some good stuff.
Stop it. Now. You're not a loser. If you believe you are a loser, then you will lose. If you believe you have a chance to succeed then your chances are much better. I've had self esteem issues my entire life and it took me until I was almost 40 before I became more outgoing and I'm still pretty shy and awkward in some social situations. I'm very moody (you can tell by reading some of my posts) and I like to be by myself much of the time but I do feel lonely a lot. Quit beating yourself up.
Quote from: bugo on June 20, 2015, 05:51:34 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 20, 2015, 05:45:37 PM
I grew up without social media due to my family restarting their lives in the U.S. (the last times they lived there were late 80s to early-mid 90s) and thus, grew up as a loser, a moody person, and a lonely one. Even up to now, I'm still a loser. But still, living without social media for about 7 or so years has basically...well it's done some good stuff.
Stop it. Now. You're not a loser. If you believe you are a loser, then you will lose. If you believe you have a chance to succeed then your chances are much better. I've had self esteem issues my entire life and it took me until I was almost 40 before I became more outgoing and I'm still pretty shy and awkward in some social situations. I'm very moody (you can tell by reading some of my posts) and I like to be by myself much of the time but I do feel lonely a lot. Quit beating yourself up.
No, I still believe in myself in trying to win, but fail about half the time, or my luck decides to slap me around for a bit. The latter is more true, but the former is also true to a lesser extent. It's side effects to being lonely, I beat myself up. This isn't anything new, it's just my past catching up to me (seriously, I am pretty lonely in real life).
On topic, another thing I missed from the mid 2000s is...well nothing else I can think of.
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 20, 2015, 05:45:37 PM
I grew up without social media due to my family restarting their lives in the U.S. (the last times they lived there were late 80s to early-mid 90s) and thus, grew up as a loser, a moody person, and a lonely one. Even up to now, I'm still a loser. But still, living without social media for about 7 or so years has basically...well it's done some good stuff.
As a kid, I wasn't allowed to really go outside thanks to my overprotective mother. As such, I stayed indoors all day watching TV or playing video games. This in turn allowed me to live without needing much social contact, and to this day I have become one of the most anti-social people you will ever find. It also has turned into a moderate awkwardness when I am at social events (such as family events), and a lot of the time I'll be away from everyone else, just trapped in my own world. If that makes me a loser, I guess I am one. But you aren't one, and don't think you are. You're still young enough to experience a lot of things I never did, and even if you don't want to, that's fine. Whenever someone called me something I didn't like, I ignored them. That philosophy was how I made it through high school without much bullying. And believe me, I was weak in school, if not the weakest in my grade, and even as a 21-year old, I am still considerably weak. But when people talked to me, they found I was enjoyable, despite being the secluded person I oft appear as.
More on topic, I've been on the Internet since 1999, and I remember the old HTML webpages that took a lot of work to look good. I remember building some of my own sites when I was as young as 11, and that may be what inspired me to take on web design courses as an adult. One thing I dislike about this smartphone era is how EVERYTHING looks the same - minimalist design seems to be the norm nowadays.
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
And now we don't own the cable modems and digital TV converters, we rent them from our ISP/cable provider.
Quote from: Zeffy on June 20, 2015, 06:16:43 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 20, 2015, 05:45:37 PM
I grew up without social media due to my family restarting their lives in the U.S. (the last times they lived there were late 80s to early-mid 90s) and thus, grew up as a loser, a moody person, and a lonely one. Even up to now, I'm still a loser. But still, living without social media for about 7 or so years has basically...well it's done some good stuff.
As a kid, I wasn't allowed to really go outside thanks to my overprotective mother. As such, I stayed indoors all day watching TV or playing video games. This in turn allowed me to live without needing much social contact, and to this day I have become one of the most anti-social people you will ever find. It also has turned into a moderate awkwardness when I am at social events (such as family events), and a lot of the time I'll be away from everyone else, just trapped in my own world. If that makes me a loser, I guess I am one.
Very similar to me. I was (and still am) quite antisocial. I'll just stay up in my bedroom and go on the computer all day. Public events aren't that easy for me to attend, I don't really talk to people easily (only once I get to know them).
Anyway, I remember the days of Netscape and AskJeeves. I was so relieved when we ditched dial up in 2003/4. I don't remember computers until at least 2002. One of my first memories of a computer is the one time when I came home from school (I was 6) and my brother was playing
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed on my dad's work laptop. We didn't own a computer until 2004.
Smartphones are just "clunky" in my mind. You have to zoom into a tiny webpage that is slow to load. The links on the page are super small, and you can end up clicking the wrong one (at least I have). The battery on your phone doesn't last long and typing (and spellcheck) is pretty bad at times. I think Blackberry would have been better, but they're going bankrupt soon (maybe).
Quote from: Jeff Morrison on June 20, 2015, 09:48:05 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 09:17:39 AM
(Some of you kids won't remember that until the 1980s, you did not own the phones in your house, you rented them from the phone company.)
And now we don't own the cable modems and digital TV converters, we rent them from our ISP/cable provider.
Gah. Don't do that. Buy your own router, at least, and stop renting your box to save lots of money.
Ah, the March Of Time! I find this thread to be an interesting read. Communications and transportation were what caught my eye from the earliest years of my life. They were a real miracle compared to what had gone on for most of human history. Imagine being in a powered vehicle with a radio that could keep you up to date on local goings on while entertaining you and at night being able to listen to stations from 500 to 1000 miles away!
From there to now, wow, what a journey and to think of all that will be coming along including the Law Of Unintended Consequences, some positive and some negative. Go back to the first decade of the 20th century, when a new technology called the automobile was just coming around but had not hit the mass market, radio and heavier than air flight were invented, iron hull ships were recent innovations, transcontinental railways only existed in the USA and the Panama Canal was under construction. We can read books about those halcyon days and see the parallel in today's advances. Those stories will repeat in the centuries to come.
Enjoy the ride!
Rick
P.S. This is my 666th post. Helluva deal...LOL!
Quote from Zeffy:
Quote
As a kid, I wasn't allowed to really go outside thanks to my overprotective mother. As such, I stayed indoors all day watching TV or playing video games. This in turn allowed me to live without needing much social contact, and to this day I have become one of the most anti-social people you will ever find. It also has turned into a moderate awkwardness when I am at social events (such as family events), and a lot of the time I'll be away from everyone else, just trapped in my own world. If that makes me a loser, I guess I am one. But you aren't one, and don't think you are. You're still young enough to experience a lot of things I never did, and even if you don't want to, that's fine. Whenever someone called me something I didn't like, I ignored them. That philosophy was how I made it through high school without much bullying. And believe me, I was weak in school, if not the weakest in my grade, and even as a 21-year old, I am still considerably weak. But when people talked to me, they found I was enjoyable, despite being the secluded person I oft appear as.
More on topic, I've been on the Internet since 1999, and I remember the old HTML webpages that took a lot of work to look good. I remember building some of my own sites when I was as young as 11, and that may be what inspired me to take on web design courses as an adult. One thing I dislike about this smartphone era is how EVERYTHING looks the same - minimalist design seems to be the norm nowadays.
The overprotective mother comment made me think of Freddy's mom on iCarly. I you have not watched that show, you should. You will probably we able to relate to Freddy's character.
Also, this is why boys need their father. Women often screw up boys like this. A father is needed to bring some common since to the situation.
My mother was like this. Threw a fit when my father got me my first swiss army knife.
It seems like a lot of women want to act like they have a 10-inch dick swinging between their legs, and they want to beat down the males of the species.
Quote from: Brian556 on June 20, 2015, 11:33:53 PM
The overprotective mother comment made me think of Freddy's mom on iCarly. I you have not watched that show, you should. You will probably we able to relate to Freddy's character.
Also, this is why boys need their father. Women often screw up boys like this. A father is needed to bring some common since to the situation.
My mother was like this. Threw a fit when my father got me my first swiss army knife.
It seems like a lot of women want to act like they have a 10-inch dick swinging between their legs, and they want to beat down the males of the species.
I love(d) iCarly, so yeah, I know all about Freddy and his mother. Kind of odd I never saw the similarity... maybe I was just oblivious to what was happening when I was younger. If I asked to go outside, I was told I couldn't go far. By far - I mean out of my parking lot. WTF? I could only walk to school because there was no bus to take me to it since I lived less than a mile. Since my parents separated, my dad even told me he wishes he would've stepped in and told my mom to fuck off - but he didn't want me to incur the wrath of my mother's fury. Even my mother admitted that she made a mistake when I was younger - which depressed me more, but I already knew it at this point. Oh well. I'm trying to change, but honestly I don't think I can. I can only hope that I can secure a job whom I have an interview with to help me along. Even then, being asexual pretty much is a relationship breaker, and I don't really relate to people when I talk to them, plus I
HATE parties and other things like that, so I probably won't change, which I'm fine with.
Quote from Zeffy:
Quote
I love(d) iCarly, so yeah, I know all about Freddy and his mother. Kind of odd I never saw the similarity... maybe I was just oblivious to what was happening when I was younger. If I asked to go outside, I was told I couldn't go far. By far - I mean out of my parking lot. WTF? I could only walk to school because there was no bus to take me to it since I lived less than a mile. Since my parents separated, my dad even told me he wishes he would've stepped in and told my mom to fuck off - but he didn't want me to incur the wrath of my mother's fury. Even my mother admitted that she made a mistake when I was younger - which depressed me more, but I already knew it at this point. Oh well. I'm trying to change, but honestly I don't think I can. I can only hope that I can secure a job whom I have an interview with to help me along. Even then, being asexual pretty much is a relationship breaker, and I don't really relate to people when I talk to them, plus I HATE parties and other things like that, so I probably won't change, which I'm fine with.
It is possible to change. I have. A lot. You just have to want to change enough to be motivated to make it happen.
Getting a job at at TxDOT helped me to become stronger, and a harder worker, and to tolerate unpleasant situations
.
Also, I made it a point to make sure I didn't let my mom turn me into a pussy. I naturally liked tools, and fixing and improving things, so I found a ways to learn how to do a lot of that.
When I realized that I wanted and needed to learn more about computers, and make more money, and work inside with more educated people, I went back to college and got an IT degree at age 35. When I was 20, I was too lazy and undisciplined to go to school.
At the same time, I made a effort to improve my diet. I seriously cut back on fast food. This significantly reduced the frequency of my diarrhea and gas.
When I was 20, I could not make it through a class without passing gas several times. When I worked at TxDOT, a coworker counted 45 farts from me in one shift.
The one thing that I missed out on learning is how to get a girl. Too bad they don't have a class for that. I'm 35, and never had a girlfriend. Talk about being behind your peers.
I have made an effort to change the things that I wanted to change, and there was a way that I knew of to change.
I have come to realize that I have more in common with the general population than I first thought.
Quote from: Jeff Morrison on June 20, 2015, 09:48:05 PM
And now we don't own the cable modems and digital TV converters, we rent them from our ISP/cable provider.
Well, I have a DSL modem that I bought for myself, and no TV, just DVD/Blu Ray player.
Quote from: Brian556 on June 21, 2015, 12:14:28 AM
At the same time, I made a effort to improve my diet. I seriously cut back on fast food. This significantly reduced the frequency of my diarrhea and gas.
When I was 20, I could not make it through a class without passing gas several times. When I worked at TxDOT, a coworker counted 45 farts from me in one shift.
This is a personal question and you don't have to answer it if you don't feel comfortable talking about it. You talk about farting (bunking is what the cool kids call passing gas) an awfully lot. Is this something that can't be controlled or are you doing it on purpose because you don't want to hold your bunks in?
Quote from: Brian556 on June 21, 2015, 12:14:28 AM
The one thing that I missed out on learning is how to get a girl. Too bad they don't have a class for that. I'm 35, and never had a girlfriend. Talk about being behind your peers.
Don't give up. I didn't think anyone would ever come along for me, and even though they're all gone now I know that I am capable of being in a relationship. If I can get girls, anybody can. Trust me on that one.
Quote from: bugo on June 21, 2015, 10:14:07 PM
Don't give up. I didn't think anyone would ever come along for me, and even though they're all gone now I know that I am capable of being in a relationship. If I can get girls, anybody can. Trust me on that one.
This has to be true of a lot of us.
Quote from: Rothman on June 21, 2015, 11:54:59 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 21, 2015, 10:14:07 PM
Don't give up. I didn't think anyone would ever come along for me, and even though they're all gone now I know that I am capable of being in a relationship. If I can get girls, anybody can. Trust me on that one.
This has to be true of a lot of us.
It's extremely hard to even conversate with someone of the opposite sex (in a 'relationship') when you physically aren't attracted to them. I've basically come to grips with the fact that I may be alone for the rest of my life. Who's going to want to live with someone who can't even show affection because their mind is fucked? Oh well. I'm not worried.
Jumping back to something not my time, there is a late 90s phone that my dad used to have. It was one of those old Nokias (and those are practically brick phones). It had some basic tools (calculator, stopwatch, etc.) but not like early 2000s phones with physical keyboards.
Quote from: Rothman on June 21, 2015, 11:54:59 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 21, 2015, 10:14:07 PM
Don't give up. I didn't think anyone would ever come along for me, and even though they're all gone now I know that I am capable of being in a relationship. If I can get girls, anybody can. Trust me on that one.
This has to be true of a lot of us.
I really only dated 3 girls before I met who eventually became my wife, and that's probably an exaggeration (I can't really call one of those relationships 'dating'). And even then, I dated her for 3 years and we were engaged for 2.5 years. Got married when I was 25; she was 21. We'll be celebrating our 15th anniversary this week. Haven't killed each other yet!
If I went back to high school and one of the options for the yearbook was "Guy who will never date anyone and never be married", I would've been chosen for that. So, yes, it can truly happen to anyone. Never push yourself. It just happens.
I bought my first PC in 1988; a 386DX-33 with 4MB of RAM and about 100MB of disc space. It was very expensive, but I never regretted it. My first modem was a 1200 bps, but I quickly upgraded to 2400. Almost as soon as I bought the PC I joined Compu$erve. That 2400 bps got old quickly and I remember paying about $400 for a 9600 bps.
I've used every version of Windows all the way back to 1.0, but the first version I had on my own PC was Windows/386 (I think the version number was 2.1). I didn't use it much at all until 3.0 came out, at which point I fell in love with Klondike Solitaire. Then 3.1, then Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I worked in an office during that time, and on Friday afternoons we actually used the network version of 'Hearts'. I miss that
MS-Dos was the real OS, and I remember spending countless hours tweaking the memory settings to get the best performance I could possibly get out of it. Some games, like Quake, would respond very well to even a few extra bytes squeezed out of the lower RAM space, below 640k. Anybody remember HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE?
Since the internet wasn't public, it you wanted to have fun online you paid the fees to join CompuServe. You'd use automated programs like TapCIS to log on for you, download new messages and descriptions of new available downloads in all your favorite forums and libraries, then log off as quickly as possible. You'd then browse through the forums offline, read message threads, respond wherever you wish, browse the libraries and select any new files you'd like to download, then run TapCIS (or other, similar programs) to log back on, post your responses, download any files you want, then log off again as quickly as possible. Speed was important, because connection fees were high, about $12 an hour at 2400 bps or $22 per hour for 9600 bps. In order to realize anything close to 9600, I'd have to connect long-distance through Atlanta or Columbus, as Jackson's node's maxed out at 2400. With a program like TapCIS, it was worth it to pay the long-distance fees.
I got my first cell phone, a bag phone that was pretty much just for my truck, in the early 90s, at about the same time Compu$erve began dropping their access rates dramatically, as the internet went public. By then, 9600 bps was quite slow, and I remember upgrading to a 56k for a year or so before DSL became available.
Quote from: bugo on June 18, 2015, 07:28:42 PM
In 50-100 years will anybody realize that there was a gap between the time that the internet became mainstream and the time that smartphones became common or will they believe them to have been invented at the same time? Will they be able to fathom that at one time you needed a computer (or Web TV and other methods that are best forgotten) to access the internet and that phones did not have internet capability or will they think the smartphone and the internet were developed at the same time and that phones have always been internet capable? Will they know about dial up? Historians and geeks will know that the gap existed, but what about the average Joe Blow or Soccer Mom? Those of us who lived through that era (which is most of the members of this forum) lived in a very unique time in history.
Thinking back to my first uses of the internet, I had to start up a DOS program called Telex, where you had to input the correct modem settings (stop bit, anyone?) to communicate with the modem, and the outside world. At that point you could fire up gopher or Lynx or whatever you needed to use. My point is, it took some manner of competence to use the internet, and once online, it seemed most people were there to learn something. Whether that something was via discussion on Usenet or IRC or just looking for a paper, there was a purpose to being online. In addition, as mentioned earlier, there weren't any distractions, spyware, etc. to worry about because everything was text based, so in many ways the entertainment value wasn't quite there in today's standards.
In the time after that and before the smartphone, personal computers obviously became more popular and things like AOL made it easier and more attractive to be online. For better or worse. I remember the change at the time - I'd gotten pissed off in a Usenet debate (say it isn't so) and told someone "when any old fool got the ability to use the Internet, any old fool did." An old timer contacted me privately to ask my permission to use that quote in his signature. That, to me, was the break between old and new.
(Edit: when reading this I wanted to clarify - at the time, there was a considerable perceived difference in style, protocol, and intelligence of the "new people" that discovered Usenet/the internet via AOL and those that were there before.)
So you had today's parents using the internet recreationally as a habit. They gave birth to kids who grew up both with that and the technology to make it portable. Growing up with a constant ability to both speak your mind to the entire world and receive feedback from said world just as quickly has a real effect on a person's mindset. To use a current event or two, as a kid something like the recent gay marriage decision would have made the nightly news, where the bulk of America would learn of it for the first time. The Charleston church shooting would probably have been in the newspaper the following morning. Today we learned of these things as they happened, with an innumerable amount of first-hand accounts (again, for better or worse) with video and commentary. In the case of the gay marriage debate, it's even possible the increased ability to communicate changed the general consensus of the country in a decade, which is remarkable.
So yes, I do think there will be a noticeable break from a historical perspective. It coincides with other things like 24 hour cable news, but even that has been drastically affected by smartphones.
To all the youngsters (all of you of college age and younger), let me make one thing abundantly clear: you really haven't started yet. Things will work out. The opportunities of adulthood get better and more fun, and you realize, as someone said upthread, that in the ways that make the most difference, people are more the same than they are different.
As for those feeling romantically hopeless, the very best advice I know is to remember they're as insecure as you. When you reach out and make someone more comfortable, they'll probably return the favor. You can't grow the perfect body or an expensive car, but you can learn to make someone smile. The rest, as they say, is gravy.
^^ Too late for me, as i am too old but some of you still have time for that.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on June 27, 2015, 08:10:29 PM
To all the youngsters (all of you of college age and younger), let me make one thing abundantly clear: you really haven't started yet. Things will work out. The opportunities of adulthood get better and more fun, and you realize, as someone said upthread, that in the ways that make the most difference, people are more the same than they are different.
As for those feeling romantically hopeless, the very best advice I know is to remember they're as insecure as you. When you reach out and make someone more comfortable, they'll probably return the favor. You can't grow the perfect body or an expensive car, but you can learn to make someone smile. The rest, as they say, is gravy.
+1,2,3,4 AND 5 to this!
I'm living proof it does get better. I was as awkward as they come (still am in some situations) but I have been happily married for 16 years now (and I had to wait until I was 29 for that to happen).
Quote from: bugo on June 21, 2015, 10:14:07 PM
Quote from: Brian556 on June 21, 2015, 12:14:28 AM
At the same time, I made a effort to improve my diet. I seriously cut back on fast food. This significantly reduced the frequency of my diarrhea and gas.
When I was 20, I could not make it through a class without passing gas several times. When I worked at TxDOT, a coworker counted 45 farts from me in one shift.
This is a personal question and you don't have to answer it if you don't feel comfortable talking about it. You talk about farting (bunking is what the cool kids call passing gas) an awfully lot. Is this something that can't be controlled or are you doing it on purpose because you don't want to hold your bunks in?
I'm not Brian, but people with GI issues often fart a lot because their digestive system isn't able to properly digest the food. I have gastritis right now and if I eat fast food, I will fart and burp constantly for hours.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on June 27, 2015, 08:10:29 PM
To all the youngsters (all of you of college age and younger), let me make one thing abundantly clear: you really haven't started yet. Things will work out. The opportunities of adulthood get better and more fun, and you realize, as someone said upthread, that in the ways that make the most difference, people are more the same than they are different.
As for those feeling romantically hopeless, the very best advice I know is to remember they're as insecure as you. When you reach out and make someone more comfortable, they'll probably return the favor. You can't grow the perfect body or an expensive car, but you can learn to make someone smile. The rest, as they say, is gravy.
Yes, this. I was bullied in school, and it sucked. In elementary school, a boy bullied me and the teachers thought it was "cute" and didn't do anything about it. In middle school, two girls who I thought were my friends backstabbed me. That hurt the worst, knowing that all of the bullying was behind my back. In high school, a boy thought I was a lesbian (I had short hair and was a tomboy) and that it was funny to call me "Lesbianca" because my last name is Bianca and lesbianca is the word lesbian in Russian.
However, I couldn't let these people hold me back. I could let them ruin me, or I could learn lessons from the situations and move on. The "secret" to ignoring people who make fun of you isn't about the actual ignoring part - it's about having the confidence to not care. Trust me, just simply ignoring with your head down doesn't work, because then they find it funny and keep going. It's when you ignore them with your head up that gets them to stop. Once they realise you have more confidence than they do, then they stop.
As for romance, there is no one-size-fits-all equation. Perhaps you'll meet another asexual person that you'll enjoy living life with. Maybe you'll meet another road geek in real life and then realize that you've been reading their website for 12 years (not that I would know...) Said roadgeek husband got married (to me) for the first time at age 41, and I to him at age 26. His last relationship with a girl was when he was 26.
Same with careers and life! At a previous job, I worked with a guy who retired from the company at age 70. I figured he had to have been with the company forever...turns out he was there only 24 years. So I figured he was at least in the publishing industry for the rest of the time...nope. He was in a band and then worked in landscaping. He reinvented himself in his mid-40s. There is still time.