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  1. #1
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    Is technology making your life better?

    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?

  2. #2
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    Ask the goat herder whose flock now has TBI's.
    Did the last unsatisfied fat soccer mom you took to your mom's basement call you a fascist? -irul&ublo
    Don't Taze me bro.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by HansJob View Post
    Ask the goat herder whose flock now has TBI's.
    Traumatic brain injury?

    Throttle body injection?
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  4. #4
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    Innovation is coming from many more places that Silicon Valley these days
    From a career perspective, I do have concerns about how technology will impact marketing and sales.
    As IoT, wearables, robotics and implantables become more prevalent, it will become ever more challenging to get away from it.

  5. #5
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    No--now I spend too much time talking to you assholes.

  6. #6
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    While I think in a larger sense technology overwhelmingly is improving most of our lives in the way of safer cars/planes, better medicine/hospital tech, and so on, I agree that things like smartphones and social media in particular are massively overrated.

    Quitting fb/twitter has been great for me. A smartphone is an incredibly useful tool - I can get avy obs in real-time in the mountains for example, and I never get lost anywhere anymore - but when it turns into the glowing sadness oracle in your pocket, it's time to revisit how it gets used I think.

    Also a non-tech renaissance would be great if it would shut up valley VC fuckwads like Peter Thiel et all.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    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 turned off all the push notifications, only check email at home on Sunday night to see what I'm walking into, and almost always let voicemails sit until the time I've blocked off for doing so.... It's really liberating.

    The instant gratification piece is tough on some people. I've gotten 4-5 phone calls when I've been at my desk bouncing between my cell and my landline with a text in between.... It ended up being a non emergency and I was just trying to finish a conversation with an employee.
    www.dpsskis.com
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    formerly an ambassador for a few others, but the ski industry is... interesting.
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  8. #8
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    i watched that 60 minutes peice
    and coworkers spend a couple hours or a 1/4 of their day in addict mode instatextatwattograming
    and glad i dont really like to spend time on the phone or feel the need to connect on social media other than this odd commuity
    if it wern't for the music, camera and ocassional usage as a navigation dirction device
    i'd go back smartless flip phone style
    "When the child was a child it waited patiently for the first snow and it still does"- Van "The Man" Morrison
    "I find I have already had my reward, in the doing of the thing" - Buzz Holmstrom
    "THIS IS WHAT WE DO"-AML -ski on in eternal peace
    "I have posted in here but haven't read it carefully with my trusty PoliAsshat antenna on."-DipshitDanno

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by grskier View Post
    I turned off all the push notifications
    Yeah I strongly recommend this to everyone. Unless it's a work device and you're on work hours, no reason for any of that shit to be demanding your attention on its own schedule.

  10. #10
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    Digitaldeath has his remote control buttplug. He loves technology
    Quando paramucho mi amore de felice carathon.
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    Questo abrigado tantamucho que canite carousel.


  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by hatchgreenchile View Post
    Innovation is coming from many more places that Silicon Valley these days
    From a career perspective, I do have concerns about how technology will impact marketing and sales.
    As IoT, wearables, robotics and implantables become more prevalent, it will become ever more challenging to get away from it.
    I know, part of my work involves automation (A/B Rockwell). The stuff I am seeing is incredible. Send your kids to tech school. College is a waste.

    In every way it has made my life easier, I think it has stolen time elsewhere. I will call it a wash, but it is skewing further to the latter lately (he says as he types on his computer at Starbucks instead of a real office- cry me a river).

    I just fear for my kids' perspective, growing up with this insta shit in their face. It is very tough to parent.

    Oh well, time to go out on the boat for a bit. Prolly will answer a few e-mails even though I technically am "off" today. Of course, the days I am not off, and do the same, pretty much make my bitching ridiculous.

    BTW- this thread was inspired by a drive by a new store located in the old Blockbuster spot. Got me thinking about how recently Blockbuster was a thing, and how they didn't even see their death coming. Tech is moving so quickly, I just see a change coming soon. Everything old is new again, right? Don't think Blockbuster will be back though- those fuckers pissed too many people off with their late charges.

  12. #12
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    can't figure out how to get email on my phone, asked my tech friends to do it for me all they did was sent me a link, I couldn't follow instructions and do it, I don't give a shit oh-well

    I have a clip board that I use to keep track of work stuff, lots of chicken skratch, hand written calendars, phone numbers, etc, works well for me. Had this guy insist that I need to get an I pad or something like that and start using all the apps and what not to keep track of all my stuff, hrs, jobs, money, calanders, you name it. He was really good at talking down to me while I worked on his house, since I didn't use technology like he did and since I used a clip board I was less than him. Well sure enough the guy starts haveing a shit fit because he can't get online and then he was blocked out to access all his work info, I didn't say shit, but it was funny as hell, meanwhile I just flipped through my pages of notes and knew exactly what was needed and what was going on. He was lost and shut down without technology

  13. #13
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    While I'm sure Richard Bransom uses tech, he's also fond off using those old fashioned black composition books to keep track of ideas, meetings, etc. You're on to something with the clipboard.
    Did the last unsatisfied fat soccer mom you took to your mom's basement call you a fascist? -irul&ublo
    Don't Taze me bro.

  14. #14
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    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.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by fastfred View Post
    can't figure out how to get email on my phone, asked my tech friends to do it for me all they did was sent me a link, I couldn't follow instructions and do it, I don't give a shit oh-well

    I have a clip board that I use to keep track of work stuff, lots of chicken skratch, hand written calendars, phone numbers, etc, works well for me. Had this guy insist that I need to get an I pad or something like that and start using all the apps and what not to keep track of all my stuff, hrs, jobs, money, calanders, you name it. He was really good at talking down to me while I worked on his house, since I didn't use technology like he did and since I used a clip board I was less than him. Well sure enough the guy starts haveing a shit fit because he can't get online and then he was blocked out to access all his work info, I didn't say shit, but it was funny as hell, meanwhile I just flipped through my pages of notes and knew exactly what was needed and what was going on. He was lost and shut down without technology
    ask your more digital compadres if they like buildertrend
    the local residential gc's here seem to have leapt onboard with that

    i will say that there are rarely emergencies in architecture so being constantly connected isn't necessarily a benefit to the process

    [edit to add]^^^well, there you go, Foggy

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by grskier View Post
    I turned off all the push notifications, only check email at home on Sunday night to see what I'm walking into, and almost always let voicemails sit until the time I've blocked off for doing so.... It's really liberating.
    Second. Anyone I work with that I know will email after hours routinely that I know is something that can wait, I only also to send to my desktop and not phone and I have gone to never turning Microsoft lync as available.

    In the larger picture over nearly 20 years in IT, I have been turned off of tech permanently. I used to have facebook, twitter, etc and check personal email hourly. I now have no social and can go 3 days without checking personal email and routinely do not turn on the computer at home. After being called on vacation, holidays and sick days; it's not worth it anymore.

    Just putting in the days now until I can put the laptop on the shelf and go to a flip phone ( figure I have about a year to go: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/ and http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/)
    TGR forums cannot handle SkiCougar !

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    Oh well, time to go out on the boat for a bit. Prolly will answer a few e-mails even though I technically am "off" today. Of course, the days I am not off, and do the same, pretty much make my bitching ridiculous.

    .
    I highly suggest "the power of off", good read that makes you think about how to manage technology better.

  18. #18
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    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!

  19. #19
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    I dumped my smart phone for an old Samsung a while ago. I think that's kind of key to being able to disconnect from media.
    Media is like a drug, sometimes for me it gets out of control and I have to be disciplined about my exposure.

    I agree about the attention span. So I've been forcing myself to sit and read for longer periods and get through at least 30 pages before task switching.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  20. #20
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    Right now it's giving me more of what I want, less of what I need. As the dust is settling it seems after the initial feast of having all of the entertainment I could ever want, there's less new entertainment made of the kind I enjoy, because nobody can make money doing those things anymore. Primarily movies, but books and magazines as well. These days I have less attention span to pay attention anyways. Tech's conditioned me to respond NOW! no matter what, even if things don't need responding too.

  21. #21
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    My short answer is yes. I'm all up in your lawns, old men!
    No longer stuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    Just an uneducated guess.

  22. #22
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    Tech is awesome and it undeniably makes my life better. Full stop.

    But like anything good you have to moderate it. I went on a full Facebook and Twitter detox after all the election bullshit turned them into festering hate-dens. Best thing I've done for my sanity and happiness in a long time.

  23. #23
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    not really its still just a tool and now its just more open to abuse, I definetly did more work played more before the internet

    Big blue said become E-eccentric use this tool in your job but 5 years later I had zero IBM bookmarks all my bookmarks were for skiing/paddling/mtnbiking and I wasted a bunch of time on them if I needed something I got the support guy who knew to send me some info

    It will be 12 years in June that I haven't touched a computer for money a good thing to do if you don't need the money
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    Ever since I could get e-mail on my phone, I work day and night, weekends, holidays, etc.
    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.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles View Post
    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.
    EXCELLENT point. I finally turned off e-mail notifications, and even set my phone to automatically silence between certain hours at night. Has helped my sanity somewhat as people truly know no boundaries. I've had customers call all hours of the night or early Sat/Sun mornings like its a freaking emergency (it never is). I get e-mails all hours of the night and people demand quick responses and sometimes get upset when I don't respond instantly or pick up the OFFICE phone after hours. What is wrong with people? I'm not Amazon or some mega corp that has a 24/7 call center. When I call them or e-mail back first thing Monday morning, they're all happy and all is well, but I still find myself shaking my head at people all the time.

    Technology has definitely made life more stressful for me overall. I love tech, and am in the consumer tech industry, but it drive me nuts sometimes.

    Remember when futurists predicted that with computer technology, people would only have to work 1/2 as much? Instead, as reality turned out, people are just expected to produce twice as much. More actually. Sheesh. Now you are expected to be on-hand 24/7 whether its from work, family or even friends. Cell phones are definitely a blessing and a curse.

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