'Superior' technology that you dislike or find inferior

[Esotera]

Do you find certain modern technologies that are pretty much viewed as the norm these days pretty useless compared to how things were done in days of yore? Do you have a bunch of free time to waste on a gaming website forum? Then this thread needs you!

Basically, what do you not use that pretty much everyone else does, and what do you use to replace it? Maybe you don't buy sliced bread, and prefer baking it yourself - that's a form of technology. My two examples are:

- I use a straight razor rather than disposable razors, as you get a superior shave, the blades last longer, and you can shave off heavy stubble without cutting your face to ribbons.
- I use a manual lawnmower because electric ones always seem to die after about a month.

So escapists, what do you use that is dreadfully out of fashion, and why do you use it? The only thing you're not allowed to post is an old brick phone, because otherwise I foresee half the answers in this thread being the same...

 

[Queen Michael]

I never read ebooks. I actually paid $140 to have my favorite fanfiction printed and bound so I could enjoy it in book form. That's how much I enjoy dead-tree reading.

 

[DefunctTheory]

- I use a manual lawnmower because electric ones always seem to die after about a month.

I assume you mean a combustion lawnmower, and not a manual one.

Because the manual ones are terrible.

As for electric... I think everyone hates electric tools of that nature (Including things like chainsaws, weedwackers, and so on). Short life span, short battery life, poor power... just junk. They're only good for people who don't use them often and not on large areas.

Personally, I'm like Queen Michael.

I never read ebooks. I actually paid $140 to have my favorite fanfiction printed and bound so I could enjoy it in book form. That's how much I enjoy dead-tree reading.

I cannot stand reading books electronically. I need those pages!

 

[Username Redacted]

- I use a straight razor rather than disposable razors, as you get a superior shave, the blades last longer, and you can shave off heavy stubble without cutting your face to ribbons.

I prefer the safety razor as the blades are incredibly cheap (100x blades for ~$25). I agree on the lawn mower unless the lawn is absolutely massive and/or there's been anything resembling precipitation recently.

 

[Mimic]

Real books over ebooks for me too. I personally can't stand wireless game controllers, I much prefer wired controllers. I know there's more freedom of movement without the wires but I get so fed up of recharging and swapping batteries.

 

[SquidVicious]

I know it's already been mentioned but I will take a safety razor or straight razor over a disposable cartridge razor any day. Cheaper blades that do the job just as well as any 3,4, or 5 blade cartridge one.

Definitely not on board with the ebook hate though, I love being able to read in bed at night with the lights out and not disturb my girlfriend, plus if I go away I can take multiple books/comics with me so I've always got something to read. At this point the only physical books I have are ones I feel are so good I feel compelled to lend them out so others can read, or ones that have sentimental value, or are RPG books.

Oh! GPS apps and Tom-Toms. I just have a road map in my car and it's never gotten me lost once, nor does it feel the need to remind me to turn left every 4 seconds.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Fancy, smancy computers. I bought a netbook with a duel core Celeron processor and 2GB of RAM and it basically runs like a dream. I'm tired of looking up reviews on cheaper computers with modest specs for other people and seeing "Now you see, this would be better with an i5 and 8GB of ram". No it would not. I could shit on Windows 8 all day long but in the end, it runs great. Internet browsing is probably the most intense task people do all day which a quad core Pentium and 4GB of ram is plenty. Some ass-hat at Microcenter tried to tell me when I was buying a computer for my mom who only really needs it for Turbo Tax that "a Pentium will really only last you like 2 years before it gets slow. An i5 will last about 5 or 6." Its 2014. A computer will run until it breaks down. Obviously, advanced users will want and need more, but most people aren't that advanced

 

[Dalek Caan]

Anything with touchscreen, especially phones. I hate touchscreen, it's so finicky and barely works.

 

[klaynexas3]

Most touchscreen devices. Granted, it can be used well, but the thing I have most about them is trying to type on them. Seriously, there is nothing good about using a touchscreen to type shit, it is objectively worse. Again, it can be used well, but more often than not, it's poorly implemented.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Ebooks for me with the exception of some things I prefer having a physical copy and the sometime reading little texts hurts my eyes

 

[Alterego-X]

All computing that is smaller than a desktop PC. I need a healthy amount of space for comfortably typing, browsing, or gaming.

 

[Shiftygiant]

Like a lot of the posts thus far, eBooks. I enjoy holding a physical copy, flicking pages, all that fun stuff. I can't stand having to scroll, or to have to charge up. Yeah, okay, weight and space are annoying (I have broken a shelf because of weight and run out of room), but to have that physically in my hand's is more satisfying then to have it on a screen.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I hate the whole hashtag phenomenon relating to twitter, moreso the appearance of hashtag keys at the start of TV programs, Youtube videos, songs or even freaking advertisements. It always comes off as majorly tacky and pretentious in my eyes

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I hate touch-screens. I grew up in an environment wherein touching the TV screen would get me yelled at (not really yelled-at, yelled-at but you know...verbally reprimanded...loudly). Even now that I've had a smart-phone for...a couple of years I think, using a phone with a physical keyboard just seemed a lot more responsive and, accurate. I haven't tried too many games on smart phones or, touch-controlled games but I just have a strong preference to playing games and, using devices with tactile feedback and, physical buttons/sticks/control pads.

 

[epicdwarf]

Social Media mostly.

Most of these damn sites/programs want/require a shitload of personal information. There is a good reason I was raised to NEVER put information like this on the web. Anyone can access this shit. With a few searches on google, someone can get your address, phone number, favorite color, height, age, and ect. It feels like you are being watched and judged by EVERYONE. If there was a more private way to keep in contact with friends/family efficiently over the web, I would have deleted my Facebook years ago.

 

[Fox12]

I hate

I hate

I HATE CGI and 3d animation. They aren't necessarily bad in themselves, but I always found that practical effects looked more realistic. The thing is that, back when CGI was new, directors had to use a combination of practical effects and CGI. Typically they would use practical effects for something like the Titanic, or for Helms Deep, and then all the small people were just animated. The CGI wasn't the best back then, but because the figures were so small you never noticed. In Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park the CGI was used sparingly, and used well, for more difficult shots, while smaller creatures and close up shots were done with animatronix and practical effects. CGI was just one of many tools that, when used together with other tools, could make great films.

Now most films are entirely reliant on CGI. Instead of great set pieces, entire films use green screen. Instead of amazing costume design we get black suits with orange puff balls. Instead of heavily detailed miniatures we get cartoons mixed in with live action. The problem is that, no matter how good, the CGI doesn't really fit in with live action. Our eyes can tell the difference. It also lacks the loving attention to detail practical effects provide. The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are perfect examples of this change. Just compare these two scenes.


As for animation, 3d animation doesn't age well, and it doesn't have the classic artistic style that 2d animation has. 2d animation is basically a dead art form in the West. Whereas 2d animation can emphasize certain aspects of a characters personality, 3d animation always had a certain sterile uncanny valley feel to it. That's not to say that 3d animation is all bad, UP is one of my favorite films, but I can't forgive it for essentially killing off 2d animation in the America.

I think these two trends may have started because they may be cheaper. CGI companies usually have to cover their own costs after a certain point, and computer animation is much simpler for the director to use then practical effects, wardrobe, and sets. Traditional 2d animation is very expensive, so companies may feel that it's cheaper to dish out four or five CG kids films a year, even if it looks crappy. After all, animation is only for toddlers, and those little snot monsters will watch anything with color and fart jokes, right? Why put time and effort into something if you can get the same return for less effort?

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Mainly any new device that doesn't have an immediate benefit shown. Seriously, what is the point of those "smart" watches? They only seem to be really expensive phones that do less.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

HDMI cabling, or at least the male plug ends.

The picture quality is nice but the male ends ( for the brands my work uses at least) are so frigging fragile, there have been multiple occasions where they've snapped or bent beyond uesablity.

DVI leads could handle nearly anything and you didn't have to worry about accidently yanking them out if they were properly secured.

 

[AnarchistFish]

my father always prods my laptop screen if he's on it


can't understand why I don't need or want a touchscreen


many reasons father