The low cost of technology: amazing (to me)

[Krell1]

My wife and I were talking about the technology we have today versus what we had when we were kids. It's amazing but the cost of some of this stuff is outrageous. We were looking at cell phones. I guess people think it's OK to pay $100 a month or more to have a phone so you can text all day, send pics to friends, get on Facebook, Twitter etc.

I'm OK with a cell phone. I think having one in case of emergency is great. When I go out though, I don't want to deal with texts, phone calls etc. I want to get away from that. I'm an old fogey though so I guess I'm OK with what I have. The cell phone I have is the cheapest I could find with the cheapest monthly plan. Works for me.

 

[mauser9]

I recall when color TVs first came out. Rich neighbors had one. Seems it would break every week. Technology is great but still listening to my Panasonic RF 2200 my wife bought me back in 76. Analog but sounds great and goin for good bucks on E-Bay.

 

[BigBill]

I have a cell phone but don't fully understand how to use it.
I have a kindle fire HD, and a I Pad.

I do not watch much tv anymore.

 

[DWalt]

Then there is our Kenmore electric clothes dryer. We bought it in 1968, it still works fine, with only a few minor repairs ever needed which I easily did myself. No processor chips or any electronic circuitry, and it can be completely taken apart in a few minutes. So old technology is not necessarily bad technology. If I needed a new one, I'd want one just like that old Kenmore - but I couldn't find it.

One recent technology amazement is LED light bulbs. The local supermarket had 60 Watt (equivalent) LED light bulbs on sale for $1.00 each awhile back. I bought 10 of them, and wish I had bought more. They are great and should last forever. I wish only that they had them in 100 Watt equivalent.

 

[Arik]

My wife and I were talking about the technology we have today versus what we had when we were kids. It's amazing but the cost of some of this stuff is outrageous. We were looking at cell phones. I guess people think it's OK to pay $100 a month or more to have a phone so you can text all day, send pics to friends, get on Facebook, Twitter etc.

I'm OK with a cell phone. I think having one in case of emergency is great. When I go out though, I don't want to deal with texts, phone calls etc. I want to get away from that. I'm an old fogey though so I guess I'm OK with what I have. The cell phone I have is the cheapest I could find with the cheapest monthly plan. Works for me.

Cause you're paying for the service that's no longer just to call. And you can always just NOT answer the phone or put it on silent or off

 

[DWalt]

All I want in a cell phone is to talk. I have no desire to use it for texting or as a computer (I don't even know how to text). Have used a Virgin Mobile cel for almost 10 years, talk is 10 cents per minute, and I probably don't use more than $3-$4 worth of time a month as I don't live on it as many do.

 

[wunderboy]

I still have my Fisher space pen,still writes with original refill ! but I don't use it much...

 

[Bill Bates]

I'm still using an HP 12c business calculator purchased in the 80s. Strange but they are still the standard in business calculator or some app that copies it.

All I have to say (trying to not be to political) the tech industries have managed to avoid much government regulation. It shows capitalism at its best.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

It is indeed grand, until you come to the realization that your smartphone has more processing power than your very first computer. And then you start to feel old.

The first computer that I programmed was an IBM 360 in 1966. It had a 5MB disc drive the size of a washing machine

 

[Alpo]

Yep, new technology is wonderful.

I've got a gas stove. Power goes out, I can still cook. I've been telling my daughter, through her last six places she lived, that it sure would be nice if she had gas, instead of that cruddy electric stove.

Her new apartment has a gas stove. Yaaay. Much better to cook on than electric. So I'm over there, last year, and I find that it does not have a pilot. It cannot be lit with a match. It plugs into the wall, so the piezoelectric switch can start the burner. Without electricity, you can't use the stove.

MUCH better than mine.

 

[rwsmith]

Could you imagine.....

Could you imagine that nearly everybody would own or have access to a REAL computer of their own, for not too much money. I remember when digital watches came out with the red LED numbers and how fascinating that was. People pushed the little button so much to make it light up that they ran the batteries down.

 

[Mickey D]

I still have my Fisher space pen,still writes with original refill ! but I don't use it much...

Oxymoron?

 

[DeathGrip]

A case where tec. didn't pan out so well.

When i got out of the service I stuck around in Ok. for a while. Girl friend didn't want to come to Fl.

I got a job installing satellite dishes, The old C-band big ones. They worked well in most weather conditions. Then the KU's came out and were mostly radio channels.

Then they switched to the smaller ones. I guess the size of the dish made them attractive to most people but the least amount of cloud coverage and they went down.

I got rid of my Direct TV because of the down time here in Fl. and the $100 plus bill to watch the same stuff over and over.

Now I use a streaming player and am happy again. So I guess tec. did make things better and a heck of a lot cheaper.

 

[Old TexMex]

The cost has gone down, but sometimes I wonder about the price we've paid....