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An old Luddite shows his age


Delmont

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What's the difference between going to an acoustic jam and getting together with friends to play some music?

 

When I go to an acoustic jam, everyone else has a guitar with onboard sliders and knobs, and someone always pulls out a smartphone to see how someone online plays something.

 

When I get together with friends, the guitars are just wood and strings, and no one cares what Google and Youtube think.

 

Yup. I'm a never-adopter. I had to retire before turning 65 because no one wants to hire anyone who doesn't multi-task, "reach out," or have a cell phone. Their loss, my gain! I get to do a lot more playing now, both of the acoustic jam and play-with-friends varieties. Happy ending: Luddites 1, world 0!

 

PS - I just read that removing the slider panel from the top side of an acoustic guitar creates and EXCELLENT sound port!

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I don't even know what a smart phone is. I know about cell phones but I don't own one, smart or dumb(?). I did try to keep up at one time but found myself becoming a slave to it. Nope. As my son is a witness, I dropped it down a storm drain and have been fashionably archaic ever since.

 

Nah, when I see grown men being lead around by their digital appendages I have to disconnect and turn my eyes away.

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I was involved in a bleeding edge mobile technology project for 2 years and various others before that. I'm by definition a "smart phone" guy as part of my service catalogue and I invest time staying current with the products and strategies of Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, etc.

 

I rely heavily on being available to my clients via any channel they want (phone, txt, email, Skype, GoToMeeting, etc) at any time, so I love that I can do that from anywhere. :)

 

At a jam I'm just a guy with a guitar. I even caved in and bought a Snark tuner (after giving everyone here crap about them) :) - so I don't have to use my tuner app on my phone. Perfect tool for acoustic jams.

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My Thai bride gave me a smartphone, so in interest of peace haven't chucked it off the balcony. I like my old Nokia: can make phone calls, SMS and even occasional photo. Oh well.

I don't care all that much how someone else played song X.... unless they are present in the flesh. I tell folks "If you want to hear like CD, go home and play the darn CD". I do use a tuner. Have some Snarks but climate here somehow turns plastic into sticky goo mess....? Have tried international jam with friends back in states. About a sec and half delay. Start counting "1...2...3.... etc" and have buddy start counting in unison. Unless you want to play some sort of rockabilly ping pong... oh the latency.

Do have German friend here who fits stereotype control freak: Trying to play "You gotta move" he said "You must play it this way it is written down!". Calmly said "No not really", packed my git in bag and walked home....

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I don't even know what a smart phone is. I know about cell phones but I don't own one, smart or dumb(?). I did try to keep up at one time but found myself becoming a slave to it. Nope. As my son is a witness, I dropped it down a storm drain and have been fashionably archaic ever since.

 

Nah, when I see grown men being lead around by their digital appendages I have to disconnect and turn my eyes away.

 

Whoa! Cool! I'm fashionably archaic? How often does THAT happen?!

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Technology is useful but not during a jam. My jam group prints lyrics/chords and we use music stands but that is all the cheating we do. I actually created a website that helps musicians form jam groups that has a page for storing the chords/lyrics/tabs etc but we seldom use it during the jam. Too much of a distraction.

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for my birthday i unplugged facebook... it has been a wonderful gift! i dont text. i leave my old style flip phone in the car when im mobile and check it when i need to use the phone most of the time. technology is a wonderful thing but then again, so are chains if used properly...

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for my birthday i unplugged facebook... it has been a wonderful gift! i dont text. i leave my old style flip phone in the car when im mobile and check it when i need to use the phone most of the time. technology is a wonderful thing but then again, so are chains if used properly...

 

:rawk:

 

summed up quite nicely.

 

I just haz a dumb phone.

 

 

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For me, it was useful when my board of directors at work wanted a page. It turns out you can't make a page for your job except by opening a personal account and creating a work account that's linked to it.

 

The problem is that then work and home stuff cross over into each other. You can't create a firewall.

 

Now that I've retired, I've kept my account to give my band a page: facebook dot com slash neonleonfullerton. Same problem. My politics are to the left, some band members' are to the right. So the page gets posts that annoy some of my band buddies - videos from the women's march, refugee support rally announcements, that kind of thing.

 

Oh, well. No one ever said that Facebook doesn't suck.

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TV! Now you've got me started! I got married about ten years ago, and my wife moved in with a TV. We don't have cable (I had it removed when I bought the house) or a dish. We rent movies or get them from the library. During election season she hooks up an antenna so we can watch debates.

 

We only get one station, which, as far as I'm conerned, is one too many. One wife, however, is exactly the right amount.

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No smartphones here, either. We both have €29 Nokias. It's funny, when I go out biking, I take my mobile phone, camera, and an MP3 player. I could have all that in one unit, but I prefer a camera that is a camera, a phone that is a phone, and a music player with better sound quality than any iToy. So, I must look like a bit of a luddite on my bike, but I don't particularly care. As for FB, I closed down my acc't that had me connected to friends and acquaintances back in my home country, and use a backup acc't for just my family, in case something happens to me health-wise. Since I made the change, the amount of time I spend there is cut from over an hour a day (very minimalist estimate) to a few minutes a day. I am happy to unplug and simplify. These machines are meant to serve us, not the other way around.

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Naw, you don't come close to Luddite material (to your credit). My last job (three years ago) made me keep a flip phone. It sucked. Good riddance. My camera uses 35mm film. I don't know what an MP3 player looks like - I'm picturing a Walkman without a window to watch the cassette spooling.

 

Meanwhile, I stay off my bike. Nothing ever happens to me health-wise.

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