Is technology making your life better?

[XXX-er]

There has always been those guys whose job it was to answer the phone any time of day or night especialy on mainframes, I would be calling some country support dude sitting in condo in Toronto with an LT surrounded by screaming kids who did huge amounts of OT and had no life

but nowdays everybody does it

[alias_rice]

I enjoy the entertainment aspects for sure. The biggest downside for me is that my attention span has been destroyed. I spent the first 30-whatever years of my life constantly reading books -everyone I know used to give me shit about reading all the damn time- and I basically can't do it now. I can read a couple pages at a time is about it. There's definitely been a change in my brain that I regret...

...hey look, a butterfly!

I noticed this has happened to me as well. Not just reading less, but I find myself having a hard time watching sports without messing with my phone. I have to remind myself to put the phone away and focus on what's in front of me at the time.

On the plus side I probably got 20 extra "on the clock" ski days this year that there is no way I could have escaped the office without easy email and phone access.

[mall walker]

On the plus side I probably got 20 extra "on the clock" ski days this year that there is no way I could have escaped the office without easy email and phone access.

Yeah that's a good point. Without my phone (and living in Wasangeles where you have reception even when backcountry skiing) I wouldn't have been able to have some ahh, extended lunch breaks, we'll say...

[stuckathuntermtn]

Windows update is killing me right now.
And why are there still so many systems for sale with 4GBs of RAM and 5400rpm hard disks?
Fuck you.

[MontuckyFried]

Windows update is killing me right now.

And it always seems to happen when you need to access something quickly. Client calls and asks a question. You say, "let me pull up your file." Go to boot up computer and "Windows is updating." AAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!

Also likes to update when you're like 99% done rendering a long video file and automatically reboots. Like 10 minutes before the meeting you needed it for your presentation. I have since turned off the automatic application of updates. Too many lessons learned.

[old goat]

A cell phone is absolutely useless for meeting up with people at Squalpine--by the time you have reception and get the message the person who sent it is no longer there. I think I may try learning to yodel--seemed to work for the Swiss for centuries for communicating in the mountains. Or is there a yodeling app I could use?

[TahoeJ]

On the plus side I probably got 20 extra "on the clock" ski days this year that there is no way I could have escaped the office without easy email and phone access.

This. Some parts of technology I hate but this benefit makes up for all of the bullshit and it's not even close.

[Meadow Skipper]

Does this include tech bindings?

I only get one or two emails a week from work, but I like reading the interwebz shit during downtime at work.

[fastfred]

It is certainly a challenge to make technology work for you. We, the humans, are generally the problem. I had a moment of clarity a couple of years ago when one customer called me at 6am and another called me at 10pm. Neither issue was important.

You have to set your own boundaries because there is no agreement on what is acceptable. I'm somewhere in between Fast Fred and the 21st Century Digital Boy. I would like to have a full integrated e-calendar but haven't been able to figure that out. I do no Facebooks or the like.

I base how available I am to a customer by how much money they give me. When it's over 100k I'm pretty available, when it's less, not too available.

Would like to learn how to use computer programs for drafting stuff, but my head is shot and I can't figure it out even though it's pretty simple. Have an accountant that keeps track of the money cause printing a check on a computer is difficult to do, I'm good a signing though. Good with a spread sheet though for some reason, xcel, I should take a class, I can do thirty pages of bullshit on one, don't know how or why.

no facebook or nothing for me, don't really get it

[plugboots]

Oh, it's better for sure. It's a problem right now, because so many of the dumbshits I have to deal with don't have lives, so I have to respond to them at all hours, but c'est la vie.

There was a sweet spot in time when cell phones just got pretty good, and because I was an early adopter, where I could be standing in a river fly-fishing, and everybody assumed I was making sales calls. That's kinda over, but not quite.

I just hide the "friends" that post political BS on FB, etc. You don't HAVE to get all pissed off.

I watched La La Land on my phone an hour ago. On a plane. For free. Nobody dragged me off.

[skaredshtles]

My answer, for the most part, is a resounding NO.

Ever since I could get e-mail on my phone, I work day and night, weekends, holidays, etc.

This is not a technology problem.

I WFH, pretty much 100%, even though my office is 25 minutes from the house. Playing "hooky" while being able to answer a few emails, taking meetings in the hot tub, 90 minute mountain bike lunches... none of these would be feasible without the tech.

Turning off the push notifications is where to start. No work bullshit outside of work hours unless I'm on call.

Technology rules.

[warthog]

Really, that started with cell phones. As others have said turn off your notifications so it's not constantly demanding your attention. If your employer expects or requires you to answer emails at all hours, vibes and try to find a new job. Though that is becoming more and more pervasive which is messed up.

For me, smartphones are fucking awesome. For a couple hundred dollars you get a phone, digital camera, GPS, portable TV, Roku, access to the entirety of the internet, et al. in a single sleek package. All that shit would have cost thousands of dollars a few years ago, none of it worked as well or didn't even exist, and would have required a backpack to carry it all around in. Besides TGR I've never done social media so that issue is moot for me. Learn to embrace Airplane Mode and the "Off" button. People seem to forget that you can turn the damn thing off whenever you want.

I am kinda my own boss. I run a sales territory. I want to slack, I slack. I want to work, I work. My customers have become more and more demanding though. It might be because they know I will go above and beyond. I am probably doing it to myself, but the theme since 2009 has been "do more with less", and I don't see that changing. Cell phones were the start, but the e-mail on the phone was what pushed it over the edge.

It is really nice not having to go to an office though. Only did that for 2 years in my 20's, and tech has really made it even easier to fuck off and still work. So that is good.

[mecc69]

My answer, for the most part, is a resounding NO.

Ever since I could get e-mail on my phone, I work day and night, weekends, holidays, etc.

Anyone else feel like a non-tech renaissance is needed?

I just watched a great 60 minutes piece on tech induced anxiety, and how it is designed into our phones and apps. It was depressing. I was an advertising major, and I don't even recognize that "industry" anymore. We are all their focus groups now. Total control of your buying habits is the goal.
Can we drop a MOAB on Silicon Valley before it is too late?

I so far have managed to get away with not having my work email on my phone.

1) Most email I get is non-urgent. If it is urgent, I usually get a phone call.
2) Many email responses require referencing other files, attaching files, etc. Can't efficiently do that from my phone.

Thus, no point in having it on my phone. I even turned off the notifications for non-important senders for Outlook on my laptop. I get 20 emails a day that I don't need to read, so why have a notification for them?

Tech in general is awesome. Car braking technology, lane warning, blindspot warnings, etc. On demand entertainment (netflix). Mini computers for 30 bucks. Weather apps. Access to any information I want via a 4G connection. Collaborative electronic document sharing (google Doc, drive, Dropbox, etc) On and on. Consumer tech via time wasting apps and social media is stupid.



There are a dozen things everyday that make my life much, much more efficient.

My struggle is getting people on board with some of this stuff at work. "Hey, you have an Ipad, why do you need a 400 page paper plan set in your truck?" "Why are you handing me a hand written paper copy of something you did with an electronic data collector? Give me the electronic file. And why did you drive it here? Just email it."


All the stupid social crap? Waste of time. Like some others here, I ditched Facebook after the election and don't use other social media platforms. It is a giant machine designed to build a profile on you and sell you shit you don't need.

[BCMtnHound]

GPS replacing pulling chain, georeferenced maps on a screen in the field, LiDAR and drones, better communication, and a duck load more information available at my fingertips. Weather accuracy and the clothing/equipment advances to make it tolerable when immersing is unavoidable. Medical advances, and a more varied and secure diet.
I love technology, and I have no problem turning it off and putting it away when it is time to stop and smell the roses. It is/will continue to be a bit of a challenge impressing the values of switching off to my daughter though...

[Benny Profane]

I just did a seven week road ski trip across the country. Much easier with modern tech. The Mountain Collective pass I used is a product of Internet marketing, and I also bought a few last minute tickets on Liftopia. I bought an Abasin pass online, too, which wouldn't have been possible a decade ago. Hardly used a paper map, Google nav all the way, and they diverted me from a few major traffic jams. Hotel booking is a breeze with Booking .com, and one week I stayed in an Airb&b. Weather reports anywhere at a push of a button, ten days into the future, with radar. Ski reports and web cams too. All of which helped me make the right choice at the end and follow the snow instead of wind up at a warm, rainy mountain. Then there's my unexpected stay in St. Louis at the end. What to do? Tripadvisor things to do in St. Louis, and some of you guys in this forum. That worked, along with yelp for bars and food. All along, I posted a little travelogue for friends, jealous ex wife, and loser ex co workers on Facebook.
I agree, it's weird watching everybody stare at their devices, but, they sure come in handy at times.

[BFD]

GPS replacing pulling chain, georeferenced maps on a screen in the field, LiDAR and drones, better communication, and a duck load more information available at my fingertips. Weather accuracy and the clothing/equipment advances to make it tolerable when immersing is unavoidable. Medical advances, and a more varied and secure diet.
I love technology, and I have no problem turning it off and putting it away when it is time to stop and smell the roses. It is/will continue to be a bit of a challenge impressing the values of switching off to my daughter though...

I agree GPS is a huge improvement in what I do surveying and commercial fishing. I have a screen on almost 24 7 for three months. When it is time to recreate I turn it off.
Hey Benny next time you drive right by my house stop in.

[highangle]

GPS replacing pulling chain,

That put a head and tail chainmen out of a job. Survey crews used to be hierarchies, with well-defined methods for various evolutions.

georeferenced maps on a screen in the field,

Speak for BC. Some counties in the US have a Torrens title system, maybe 20. Most of them don't have a registered "cadastre" (GIS) for land title.
If Congress passed a law today to change the various land registration systems in the US to something like you have in BC, it would take 100 years to implement.

LiDAR and drones, better communication, and a duck load more information available at my fingertips.

It's hard to get paid for all that data density, it also brings a wealth of new problems. Geoid modelling, point cloud manipulation, vrs problems, tin problems, grid conversions, machine control problems, etc....

Weather accuracy and the clothing/equipment advances to make it tolerable when immersing is unavoidable.

Fine for sports & recreation, but I still wear rubber when I have to work in the rain, or go on a boat. Yeah, "vulcanization" is a tech, but I feel less bad about getting bar oil all over some cotton carharts and rubber raingear than I do eVent cloth, even though I'm richer than Croesus.

Medical advances, and a more varied and secure diet.

Now we're talking. Solomon couldn't get grapes out of season. Neither could Buddha, Alexander the Great, or Confucius.

I love technology, and I have no problem turning it off and putting it away when it is time to stop and smell the roses. It is/will continue to be a bit of a challenge impressing the values of switching off to my daughter though...

I'm literally a technologist, but the downsides are part of any real assessment. I'm also going skiing with the kids today.

[BCMtnHound]

I agree GPS is a huge improvement in what I do surveying and commercial fishing.

I picked up my first garmin12 in anticipation of the US military turning off selective availability. It paid for itself in one season's worth of hipchain string alone, never mind the improvement in mapping my data back at the office. And the tracking of critters that refuse to stay in one spot, unlike the more accommodating vegetation plots.
Having the knowledge to pull out the sighting compass, making a paper map in the field, and pacing is still necessary, and I do my best to impress this on the youngsters coming out of college for the summer. I do draw the line (heh) at getting them to hand correct a closed traverse - gotta keep something in the back pocket to impress the jongs when the batteries die

[ill-advised strategy]

I very specifically remember the summer of 1997, when I was on a fire crew and cell phones hadn't really reached central Oregon. There were times when somebody had to be near our landline phone in the apartment and that somebody had to know how to round us all up at any given time. You were fucking tied to that phone with a 10 foot leash, or basically accountable to only going where you had specifically told the phone minder you were going.

Man, I'm telling you, the first fire season I had wireless communication was absolutely fucking heavenly. I had a beeper....then eventually the cell phone. Being able to have a private conversation with dispatch when you fucked up directions....heavenly. Being able to go do stuff while on call....heavenly.

I feel the same way about being able to pull the phone out and look at google maps as a truck driver...getting the sat photo of a warehouse and knowing I can pull around instead of making some surgical 16 point turn....heavenly.
Lately, it's having cameras on the city buses I drive: having video recording when some crazy asshole makes a BS complaint about you....heavenly.

I'm glad to live in an age when I no longer ever have to work on a points ignition. For that matter, I'm glad to live in an age when I can pull up a youtube of nearly any kind of mechanical work I'm contemplating. I bet if you could truly know how much that phenomenon has saved in terms of man-hours and/or buggered parts and equipment it would be staggering.

[BCMtnHound]

That put a head and tail chainmen out of a job. Survey crews used to be hierarchies, with well-defined methods for various evolutions.

Speak for BC. Some counties in the US have a Torrens title system, maybe 20. Most of them don't have a registered "cadastre" (GIS) for land title.
If Congress passed a law today to change the various land registration systems in the US to something like you have in BC, it would take 100 years to implement.

It's hard to get paid for all that data density, it also brings a wealth of new problems. Geoid modelling, point cloud manipulation, vrs problems, tin problems, grid conversions, machine control problems, etc....

Fine for sports & recreation, but I still wear rubber when I have to work in the rain, or go on a boat. Yeah, "vulcanization" is a tech, but I feel less bad about getting bar oil all over some cotton carharts and rubber raingear than I do eVent cloth, even though I'm richer than Croesus.

Now we're talking. Solomon couldn't get grapes out of season. Neither could Buddha, Alexander the Great, or Confucius.

I'm literally a technologist, but the downsides are part of any real assessment. I'm also going skiing with the kids today.

Valid points about hierarchies and changing tech, but that is nothing new and I and most I know have adapted. Some old farts still try and hold out cause they find some kind of value in their 'school of hard knocks' lessons. Seem unnecessarily difficult way to go through life in my book.
With respect to survey and cadastre standards, the rest of the world is still waiting for you guys to get with something simple like the metric system. Like the old guy pulling chain, it first takes acceptance and a willingness to change, the rest is just a (patient) process.
If I hadn't joined SAR and gotten my gear subsidized, I would still likely be recreating in my woollies and hurricane wear that I still use for work. Other than weight, at the end of the week the work gear provides damn near the same benefit, at a quarter the price. Not so effective with the ladies in the lift line, though.
We have achieved near the level of the gods of our ancestors. Got to wonder what we have left to aspire to...

[highangle]

... I do draw the line (heh) at getting them to hand correct a closed traverse - gotta keep something in the back pocket to impress the jongs when the batteries die

A long time ago, I was tasked to make olschool observations from a series of tri towers. One of the ways I'd check myself was to stick a mimimag in my mouth and use an hp41, a watch, & a sunshot ephemeris to comp h & v angles to Alnilam ("The Lucky Star" in the Belt of Orion) off the s azimuth from one of my signals, and call them for my gunner to turn.

These towers had been up for a long time, and at least one series of observations had been carried out for the last 30 years - shit was tight as a cat's ass. I'd split that star every time. My crew would be awestruck for another week.

[highangle]

Valid points about hierarchies and changing tech, but that is nothing new and I and most I know have adapted. Some old farts still try and hold out cause they find some kind of value in their 'school of hard knocks' lessons. Seem unnecessarily difficult way to go through life in my book.
With respect to survey and cadastre standards, the rest of the world is still waiting for you guys to get with something simple like the metric system. Like the old guy pulling chain, it first takes acceptance and a willingness to change, the rest is just a (patient) process.
If I hadn't joined SAR and gotten my gear subsidized, I would still likely be recreating in my woollies and hurricane wear that I still use for work. Other than weight, at the end of the week the work gear provides damn near the same benefit, at a quarter the price. Not so effective with the ladies in the lift line, though.
We have achieved near the level of the gods of our ancestors. Got to wonder what we have left to aspire to...

"They've gone about as far as they can get!" -- Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma!

There's a lot left to do. Protect our tech from other tech, for one. Quantum computing, solar & battery energy, space elevators and high-speed travel, climate control, terraforming, genetics & directed evolution, biodiversity,...


===============



All measurement systems are arbitrary constructs of convenience, as all measurements are necessarily approximations. One system isn't any "better" than another, just more or less convenient, and perhaps more reliably founded. The US Survey Foot (and decimals thereof) is based on the meter. The meter is based on the readout of a creaky machine that only a handful of people on the planet know how to run. Canada was laid out in 66' chains. 80 chains square is a section in BC just like the US. Do y'all set your totalstations to radians to stake out a railroad curve, or do you just stick to ddmmss?


The major problem with the "profession" of surveying in the US is that if you hire 10 different surveyors to survey the same square lot, you're going to end up with 41 new corner markers. Technology has given a whole new generation of aspies and fuckups the opportunity to not think clearly for a whole new raft of reasons, though most have to do with pushing the wrong buttons.




BTW, the easier it becomes to perform a survey, the less the survey will be worth. The field is already awash in rent-seeking. It's the way of the the future.


PS: I consider anything I may have done here to convince the lay reader that surveying is a Black Art to ultimately benefit and forward the profession in the US.
Remember kids: A bearing is the acute angle formed off the meridian by a line!

[riser4]

Define tech. Consumer gadgets? Or modern computer technology in general. The answer to the OP is that for me it is a wash. I have my job and am able to perform it from home because of tech, in particular modern computer technology. There's a lot of benefits to the latter that are worth some cash. However, I lead a much more sedentary lifestyle because of tech and working from home. There are physical and mental health detriments to both that can be difficult to overcome. I have no idea what I would be doing if I wasn't in IT. I probably would have gone to culinary school and ended up with a job I truly hated and drinking way too much.

[highangle]

...I have no idea what I would be doing if I wasn't in IT. I probably would have gone to culinary school and ended up with a job I truly hated and drinking way too much.

I would have probably ended up touring honkeytonks or chitlin joints in a wornout bus, most likely as a sideman. That, or a trainer in the NASL if I could embrace sobriety young enough.

[raisingarizona13]

It sure is nice while being a student. I haven't been inside a library for over 15 years now.