This generation hates new technology as much as your grandad

[Hunter65416]

We will..we do already, we hate kinect and most other forms of motion control, most of us hate 3D TV or 3D technology like the 3D tech in the 3DS, Not all of us but a lot of us hate new music and the list goes on..are we the grouchy men and woman of the future? Will gaming become known as something that only old people enjoy? you might say we hate these things because theyre impractical, unperfected or just "gimmicky" but that's probably what your great-grandfather said when the first tv sets came along and if he lived into the present where we have perfected tv's he'd still hate them just as much if not more.

This has been a bit of a rambling post and there are probably grammar mistakes and shite but that's because my $1000 laptop I brought a year ago just crapped out and I had to type this on my iPhone..anyway..thoughts?

EDIT: if anyone's in the market for a laptop DO NOT buy an acer aspire.

 

[MrTub]

I do not hate 3d tv, I do not hate motion control (as long as they find a good way to use it, which sadly I do not think they have done yet) I have no problem with new music.. sure some suck and some dont same way with old songs..


But perhaps I am the exception..

And this is escapist so Im quite certain you will get some responses where people just seem to hate stuff simply cause its popular...

 

[him over there]

Well obviously it's easy to say that because the march of technology is always ongoing nobody is ever totally satisfied. However I think there is a difference between wishing for more and being an unappreciative little shit who is unhappy with everything. Usually about the same time that it stops being "Well in a few years that will no longer be impressive" and into "My internet takes five whole seconds to load google first world problems baaaaw".

Also relevant:Another part of the problem is thinking about things and what they objectively are and how you experience them. Flying like in the video is the miracle of human flight and the ability to travel across the ocean in 2 or 3 hours. But in a plane your ears pop and your seat is uncomfortable and the food is garbage and you sit doing nothing for like hours... It seriously sucks.

 

[Saladfork]

I do not hate 3d tv, I do not hate motion control (as long as they find a good way to use it, which sadly I do not think they have done yet) I have no problem with new music.. sure some suck and some dont same way with old songs..


But perhaps I am the exception..

And this is escapist so Im quite certain you will get some responses where people just seem to hate stuff simply cause its popular...

Or possibly just hating things because they exist.

Remember, though, that not all new technology catches on with younger generations.

You know betamax tapes? (I don't, I wasn't even born yet)

They didn't catch on when they were supposed to, and the next generation was even less interested in the than the previous one.

 

[Suicidejim]

Really? I love my 3DS (although I guess I keep the 3D off when I play it, so that's kind of a gray area).

I think it comes down to the fact that people never want new things, they just want the same things, but better. Then they resist and fight the new things tooth and nail, before you skip ahead a few months and they're used to it and fighting some other new thing instead.

 

[VincentR]

You may be right, but I'm not sure your comparisons are entirely accurate. Not least simply because I don't know many old-folks who inherently hate new technology as it is. Most of them I've met are/were simply fascinated by new things - whether they understand how to use them or not.

As for 3D Technology, kinect, etc. I would first like to point out that I think you're generalizing quite a bit with the whole "you all hate these" stuff. I don't enjoy all of the 3D gimmicky stuff - but I don't hate 3D as a whole. I dislike my 3DS because it's bloody worthless and I have never gotten it to work properly, and even if I did, THAT is just a gimmick. It doesn't change the gameplay or story-telling or anything in any way.

On the other hand, the AR stuff on the 3DS is pretty cool, and that COULD be useful in many ways perhaps. Maybe using the same kind of technology to implement HUDS in military/civilian glasses/helmets, etc.

In regards to the 3D TV's - I don't hate them, I just don't feel a need to purchase them until they're both cheaper, and don't require stupid-looking glasses. However, I definitely don't hate them outright. I hate how they're being abused as gimmicks to increase prices on movies. However, it CAN be done amazingly - look at Avatar. Whether you enjoyed the movie's story or not, I will simply not believe you if you didn't think the 3D was fricking AMAZING. I think I watched that movie in 3D a dozen times while it was in theaters - and it was just so cool.

Bah, I can't keep a response flowing with a single thought unless I have an outline written up ahead of time, so I'm going to end this now with a final thought before it gets too... all over the place.

In regards to your question: "Do you think gaming will becoming something that only old people enjoy" I'd have to say no. Once again, Gaming is a pretty general term, but I don't think any form of gaming will ever be "just for old people". Gaming with cards, boards, or even just the human body itself, have been around for as long as those things have existed. But you wouldn't say Black Jack, or Uno, or even Go-Fish, are only for old people would you? Nor would you claim that Monopoly or Dungeons & Dragons are only for old people.

Same thing with video games - I'm going to ROUGHLY guesstimate the first Video game was sometime in the 70's (without looking up any dates - so feel free to throw in a correct date if you want to), probably Pong or something similar, and point out that Video games have only changes and improved (in some ways, depending upon who's being asked/told) since then. As with any form of entertainment, it just changes with each generation - it doesn't really get stuck with any previous one.

 

[lRookiel]

Funny, I have an Acer Aspire, and no problems at all so far, bad luck for you I guess.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I love new technology. I absolutely adore my iPad. I like 3D movies, but don't watch enough TV to make use of a 3D television. Heck, my TV is the same TV/VCR combo I had in high school, which is closer to 15 years ago than I really want to admit. I've got a Blu-ray player in my PC tower, and watch almost everything from the computer. If book publishers offered a trade in deal to get Kindle/iBooks versions of my library, I'd have about five empty bookshelves as soon as I could find enough boxes. Technology is great.

The only part of that list I really agree with is the distaste for new music. And that has nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with not liking most of the new stuff I hear.

 

[Philol]

Meh, I don't really mind any of those things, ok so they're not items I'm currently looking to partake in, but still I certainly don't hate them.

 

[Esotera]

No...those things just suck and aren't mature technologies. Very few people used computers until the 90's because there was a massive entry barrier. The products described in the OP just aren't that useful/entertaining enough for everyone to want to use them.

It's all about the right tool for a job. If I just want to edit some text, then I'll probably drop down to a command line interface, because it's quick, has no distractions, and gets the job done. If I want to email someone whilst I'm travelling, I'll use a smartphone to access the internet. The vast majority of tasks I need to complete on a daily basis can be done with a PC. These new technologies have very little advantage to me.

 

[isometry]

A lot of people only learn new things when they are young because of peer pressure. When they get older, they care less what their peers think, so they become close-minded and inflexible.

It's easier to keep up with the times if you are naturally curious and follow your own direction instead of listening to peers and media. Here's a fun comic to illustrate what happens when people are less self-conscious of their peers:

You see, these graduate students have more self-confidence than the average person because they've developed exceptional skills in advanced mathematics. That frees them up to admit that they like things which are frivolous and childish, even when it's not popular to do so with the broader culture of geeky posers (i.e. most of this site).

In other words, the consensus of geeky posers is that pop culture sucks, and caring about these Britney Spears type of people is consider embarrassing on e.g. this website. They may think they are independent thinkers but they are being strongly effected by peer pressure. They don't have enough self-confidence to admit to liking something that they like.

Over the course of years, peer pressure can change. It used to be more common to "grow out of videogames" because of the peer pressure that it is childish. Now it is less embarassing to be a gamer in your 30s, so we have more of them. But the ultimate solution is to leave peer pressure behind and genuinely stop caring what other think - it's something that many think they have achieved when they really haven't.

 

[realist1990]

And this is escapist so Im quite certain you will get some responses where people just seem to hate stuff simply cause its popular...

so what you are saying is that the escapist is full of hipsters?????

I don't want to browse this website anymore...........

 

[Vault101]

I dont care if technology is new or not

it deprends enirly on what it offers me

like would I want a 3D tv? no..I havnt been impressed by 3D yet

do I want an Ipad? NO what the hell am I going to do with it? I can use my laptop for those things (and play games)

so I want an iphone? no...not really I only use my phone for a phone

do I want an Ipod? YES because I can have all my music with me..do I use I tunes? YES because its easy/convinent

 

[Soviet Steve]

To be fair we've had 3D since the 1930s.

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni7787142/

 

[Smertnik]

But... my granddad loves new technology...

 

[LoFr3Eq]

Says it all really...

Things change, not get better or worse.

 

[Montezuma's Lawyer]

We will..we do already, we hate kinect and most other forms of motion control, most of us hate 3D TV or 3D technology like the 3D tech in the 3DS, Not all of us but a lot of us hate new music and the list goes on..are we the grouchy men and woman of the future? Will gaming become known as something that only old people enjoy? you might say we hate these things because theyre impractical, unperfected or just "gimmicky" but that's probably what your great-grandfather said when the first tv sets came along and if he lived into the present where we have perfected tv's he'd still hate them just as much if not more.

This has been a bit of a rambling post and there are probably grammar mistakes and shite but that's because my $1000 laptop I brought a year ago just crapped out and I had to type this on my iPhone..anyway..thoughts?

EDIT: if anyone's in the market for a laptop DO NOT buy an acer aspire.

You bought an Acer too, eh? Everyone makes that mistake at least once.


Dear lord Acers are terrible.

 

[DoPo]

Yes, as has been pointed out already - the things you said we hate we don't actually hate just don't find useful. There is a difference. For example, I don't feel it justified to pay for stuff in 3D now, because 1. 3D media is still not that much 2. 3D stuff is really expensive. I'd buy a 3D TV if I feel I'm not going to waste lots of money. But I don't hate 3D media in general.

Same thing with motion controls, I suppose - I don't feel it justified to own any. But I don't outright hate them. In fact I'm quite interested and I may get some motion control to play around with (will have to settle down on what I want to use it for). There are really cool things you can do with them. I may hook up a Wii controller to my fridge just for the hell of it. Or I can get a Kinect (a bit more expensive, though) and hook it up to a stereo and lights so I can control them with gestures. In fact, if I keep adding more and more appliances to the Kinect I will be a wizard at home - I will wave my hands and stuff will happen! You can't tell me that's not cool.

New music? I have no problem with any music really. Most of my music is, in fact, old but that does not matter, as I'm really open to any music.

And about gaming dying - I really had a laugh at that one. Gaming has managed to survive until now, I'm not sure but I guess it might live for a few more years. Like a thousand or so.

I find it really funny that you start off with a statement that we all hate new technology and finish by saying that you used your phone as nothing else but a substitute to your computer. And you just accessed the Internet, went on a forum and posted a new thread using something smaller than your palm. Ten years ago mobile phones were out there but not anybody and their dog had three. I can go right now (OK, not right now - it's 2 in the morning but I can generally "go") and buy a mobile phone with more computing power than the first PC I had - really close to 10 years ago. And lots of people have those and are so used to it that they could lose it and still go "meh, whatever". Ten years ago, I was still trying to come up with something I could use DVDs for besides movies - it was simply too much storage. Now I have two devices on my keychain, each of which is as big as my thumb and each of which can hold twice as much data as a DVD, and most of the times they do. Ten years ago the Internet was making weird noises at me when I turned it on, now I don't need any wires to connect to it and I almost expect to have it everywhere I go.

Why do you think we hate new technology? We keep up with it all the time. And it's great for the most part. The fact that there are some disappointments and some things don't have immediate usefulness right now does not make us hate all new technology.