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Up Hill Both Ways (In the Snow)

July 6, 2009
posted by Andy | View Comments

photoLast night we began our family vacation and my 16yr old niece brought her cell phone to the dinner table and was texting the whole time we were eating.  Out of curiosity to determine how important being connected to the world was, I offered her $50 if she would give it up for the whole week.  She said “Puffa” and then explained that meant “Stick it where the sun don’t shine”.  So I offered her a $100 and told her to let me know in an hour if she was going to take the offer.  She spent the next hour “saying by” to her friends like it was a funeral and with a few minutes to spare, she handed me the phone and agreed no cell phone, texting or internet til we leave on Sunday.

With 3 generations at the table, this launched an entire debate about how we had to live without cell phones, texting and the internet when we were kids.  I think Louis CK sums it up best with his recent appearance on Conan.  Check it out and prepare to laugh out loud:

So it looks like we will get our niece this week and, out of respect, I told her I would go cell phone free with her so she wasn’t alone.
Wish us luck…

What do you miss about the days of limited technology?

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 9:19 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • cherie
    I miss talking with people, hearing the excitement, passion, love or boredom in their voices. I miss the sounds of a great rollicking belly laugh or hysterical giggles. I'm sure there's some symbol for those, but sharing the humanity is what life is all about. I just love hearing the sounds of people being together.
  • Jill Mac
    Andy I am very proud of you. Come over to the techno hold outs dark side. Carla, I'll race you to be the last hold out!
  • Diana
    I just got back from a 4th of July camping trip from an area I camped at since I was a little kid. This place was and still is pure magic to me. I'm sad to report that I can now get (limited) cell phone service in the middle of no-where and it actually makes me a little sad. Granted it was nice to send my Uncle a text asking him to bring more tarps for the monsoon we were getting but otherwise I put my cell-phone where it should be, off and lost in my car.
  • There is nothing like being out in the woods where cells phones don't work even if you wanted them to. It's refreshing, even if only for a day. It's good to "connect" with yourself every now and then! :)
  • Carla
    Even though I'm really not *that* old, I must say, I LONG for the days of tech free living. I am a total luddite and I always will be. I still write letters for pete's sake! And it just drives me crazy when my friends cannot give their undivided attention to the moment at hand because they are too busy obsessing over their devices.
    I will be the last of the Blackberry/iPhone hold outs-guaranteed!!
  • Maryellen
    Being 53, I remember starting my adult life as a legal secretary, using carbon paper, some sort of new fangled device called a "telecopier" and also messenger services. I agree with Kappy about the e-leash. I just refuse to wear it. I think it's absolutely rude to text in the company of people you're supposed to be spending time with. I miss the days when you could say to someone "I mailed that yesterday, you should have it any day now." Yes, technology helps make our world smaller and has other benefits I can't think of right now, but do we really need to know everything and do everything RIGHT NOW????? I love nothing better than leaving the cell phone home and spending the day at the pool, talking and laughing with my friends in real life. And whoever posted this blog, I'm dying to know how the experiment turns out. I fear I'm sounding like an old fogie, which, despite my age, I'm not. I just think that your generation has gotten so swept up in the technology, it has lost something. I guess every generation says the same thing though?
  • KAPPY
    I love turning it off when I can, but we have become addicted to information... readily, accurate, fast information. It is almost like a drug. When I go to Camp Sunshine, I turn it off until the late evening or break times, and nothing feels better to not have it on, but then there are times I feel lost. If "society" didn't expect such quick response, then there would be no need for the e-leash around our necks. I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin....
  • I miss having to make concrete plans with people - like, "I'll meet you at the movie theater at 7pm." You'd have to be there, none of the "I'll just be 30 minutes late, let's do something else" crap.

    Also, I miss cell phones not being permanently attached to your hand.
  • Stephanie Berens-Snell
    You know what I miss about limited technology? The joys of prank calling people in the summer time when you are bored out of your mind. Now with caller id, *69 and the ability to pull off anyones address off the internet, you are screwed. My kids will never know the joy if picking up the phone, dialing random numbers and asking people 'Hey is your refrigerator running?'. Even still there are days when I am stuck inside with the kids...bored out of MY mind and wanting to prank call someone........
  • But, what if I NEED you? I'm kidding. These days, while I am guilty of being connected with regularity, I find that days or nights, when I forget the phone in the car, I am fairly productive.

    It is hard to miss the days of no technology, but if there is one thing it is having the attention of the people your are with. I am also guilty of not giving my full attention to people I'm with...I was told by a good friend that the top of my head was not what he had invisioned while dining with me. So it is an example of "bad manners" or maybe just to us old foggies.

    For my life, it means, I can be productive whereever I am and not chained to an office. Like, right now, if I look up, there is the Gulf of Mexico...
  • That is amazing. More and more, we don't actually live in reality, but in relationship to our deVICEs. I have to remind myself of this all the time. Interesting to think how to handle this issue as a parent, I have about 10 more years and who knows where technology will be then...
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