I'm old too. I wouldn't want to live back in the mid last century when I was a kid through to post grad. Despite what I said, the smartphone is an excellent gadget. I feel naked without it when away from my house. You may also have niticed that before cellphones. clocks were ubiquitous in case you were not wearing a watch, and public phones were common place. Both are now long gone except in a few locations. Back then, one carried an address book to use a phone booth for needed phone numbers, plus lots of small change to make a call. Even as late as the mid-1990s, one needed a laptop to access information over the web. I don't miss those days, nor arranging meetings at some place and time in advance, with no way to check on why someone was a no-show (or just very late). Just watching old movies is interesting to realize how much easier it is to communicate by phone, and while moving which was all but impossible without a 2-way radio.
All of which shows that technology has improved and made our lives easier despite the downsides, but I stick by my assertion that truly new technologies have slowed up, especiallly for older technologies, and true technology leaps have moved into new, more invisible domains.
Maybe my different perspective is because I'm old and remember the technology of my childhood. So many things were so different.
I'm old too. I wouldn't want to live back in the mid last century when I was a kid through to post grad. Despite what I said, the smartphone is an excellent gadget. I feel naked without it when away from my house. You may also have niticed that before cellphones. clocks were ubiquitous in case you were not wearing a watch, and public phones were common place. Both are now long gone except in a few locations. Back then, one carried an address book to use a phone booth for needed phone numbers, plus lots of small change to make a call. Even as late as the mid-1990s, one needed a laptop to access information over the web. I don't miss those days, nor arranging meetings at some place and time in advance, with no way to check on why someone was a no-show (or just very late). Just watching old movies is interesting to realize how much easier it is to communicate by phone, and while moving which was all but impossible without a 2-way radio.
All of which shows that technology has improved and made our lives easier despite the downsides, but I stick by my assertion that truly new technologies have slowed up, especiallly for older technologies, and true technology leaps have moved into new, more invisible domains.