Wanting to live a simpler existence

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ITellYouHhwut

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I’m going to deviate from my usual topics here, and discuss a subject that I think is a big issue for me. I think the world is currently in some sort of transitional phase now in which, at least for those of us in the US, we will start to increasingly see things change so drastically that we will not recognize this new world from the world we remember when we were younger. For this thread, I’m going to set aside the topic of immigration and demographic change, and focus only on the changes in lifestyle and technology that are ever taking place nowadays.

For me, I’m only 28, but I’m a very simple guy. I’m not a “technological” person. I’m very old school for the most part. Yes, this may make me seem hypocritical since here I am using a smart phone to type this out, but I’m also not a caveman either. I do use some technology. I personally think there is a limit to which we need technology in our everyday lives. I think it’s all starting to become excessive now. All the new gadgets and tech they’re just pushing on us constantly. I honestly can’t say that it has done more good than harm for us since we’ve been in this “digital/smartphone/social media” age. I often wish we could go back to the days like when I was growing up and throughout my teens, when we just had landline telephones, flip phones for emergencies, and simple desktop computers at home. I think that was the best of all worlds. We were plugged in to some extent, but not excessively. It still had the feel of the old simpler world the way it used to be. We were undoubtedly happier and better off as people back when things were simpler. I can at least speak for myself and say that I was.

Lately this has made me think about the future I see unfolding now, and how I’ve pretty much rejected it. I won’t be getting into all of this “Alexa, Google Home, AI, augmented reality, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles” stuff etc... I also don’t agree with replacing human labor with machines. I think we are setting ourselves up for immense problems down the line that are already visible today. I think there is a limit to which we need technology in our everyday lives. There is a balance. The world we are creating is one that I like to call “hyper-technological”, meaning that it’s just excessive. We don’t need self-driving cars, or robots that do everything for us including wiping our butts. It almost feels as though it’s gotten out of hand already, and the elites in these multinational tech companies just want to ramp up all of this fluff so they can sell us all of these gadgets and nonsense that we don’t really need. I do believe that they’re intentionally trying to dumb the general public down so we will just be these mindless consumers with 85 IQs just buying up all the dystopian devices and crap they try to push on us. When I look around now, that’s all I see around me is just a bunch of lame-brained, low-IQ morons walking around eating up all the fluff that is being sold to them, whether its the gadgets, or all of the garbage pop culture (music, movies, and TV shows) they push on the masses these days, and 99% of the dumbed-down people out there have no idea what is being done to them, and trying to explain or convince them of that is pointless. Might as well tell a dog not to bark.

If you look at how the tech companies are subsidized heavily by the government, and you really pay attention to the biases they tend to have in favor of particular political parties, you can very much see that the technology they sell is being used in a very deliberate and calculated manner so as to control the public. May sound like a conspiracy, but I think that the people who think that don’t seem to realize human nature. If you think for a second tyrants will not use this stuff to exploit the masses for power, then you’re incredibly naive to put it kindly.

Moral of the story, I think I will be rejecting the modern world as it begins to pan out the way it’s heading. I don’t care if I’m the last person on the planet without a self-driving car, I’m not using them. I won’t allow those alexa devices in my house either. All the dystopian stuff aside, I just prefer the simpler way things used to be. Life was funner and better back then in my personal opinion. I’ve got my PPL, and I like to do that as a hobby. At the end of this year I plan to buy me some wings, and I plan to keep on pursuing that. I wholesale abandoned all contemporary popular culture well over a decade ago when I was just in my early teens. I knew something wasn’t right even back then but didn’t quite know what it was. Now that I’m older I feel I understand things better. I think I’m done “progressing”. For me, substance, purity, and beauty in culture is much more important than this false sense of innovation and consumerism which I think is actually making us worse off. That’s it.

Thanks for reading.
 
I'm with you on most of all those sentiments, ITellYouHhwut. But I'm 38 years older than you. So I've got a longer set of pre-modern-tech memories than you and a lot shorter lifespan left in the coming world.

BTW, what do you mean 'buy some wings'? An airplane?
 
constant stranger said:
I'm with you on most of all those sentiments, ITellYouHhwut.  But I'm 38 years older than you.  So I've got a longer set of pre-modern-tech memories than you and a lot shorter lifespan left in the coming world.

BTW, what do you mean 'buy some wings'?  An airplane?

Yes, an airplane.

I get you. I’d say I lived about 15-18 good years in the pre-digital age, or at least when it wasn’t the dominant zeitgeist. I was probably the very last generation to feel what it was like to live in that older era. You also have to realize, I’m from the rural south, so it takes things longer to change around here than it does in other places, so the older era lasted longer here. The 90s for me were more like the 80s, which is why I always jokingly say “I was born in 91, but I grew up in the 80s.” Lol. I came in on the tail end and transitional period from the old school to what we have today, and I prefer the former. Like I said before, beauty and purity of culture is more valuable to me than things like “convenience”, “information”, “speed”, and “technology”. I think that stuff all has it’s place, but ultimately, I don’t want to see this world get turned into some hyper-technological dystopia. It won’t turn out like the jetsons where everyone is happy and hunky dory, and families are thriving, etc. It will just be a much worse version of what we have now. It will be a bunch of dumbed-down, clueless masses of people consuming all of the meaningless junk the big tech companies sell them. We are being controlled, and we don’t even know it. They’ve intentionally dumbed us down. So for me, I say they can keep the modern world. I will live my simplified existence, and fly my airplane into the sunset.
 
Sound like you have found out what you want do to and how you want to live. That’s just it, you got to decide what’s right for you and let those “low-IQ morons” do what they want. 😋
I do agree with you to a certain extent. 
Going more back to a family valued way of living seems more right for me. 
Airplane huh? That’s actually pretty cool. I’ve been in a small one once before, the ones that only have room for the pilot and one more or something, and it was awesome. 😁 Not something for people scared of flying though! 😂
 
Just for the record, I’m not calling everyone “low-IQ morons”. I’m just saying that I think that’s what the government and big tech wants us to be, and I think they structure their legislation and marketing strategies to dumb the public down so they can turn them into mindless sheep consumers. That’s why nobody notices or protests their neighborhoods and towns being turned into third world honeysuckle holes. We’ve been sold a very calculated narrative that is meant to prevent us from even realizing what is being done to us, which undoubtedly makes it impossible for us to do anything about it. No matter which of the handful of possible paths the world takes in this century, the world will not be the same as it was, and the change won’t be for the good. So with that, I will kindly check out from society.
 
ITellYouHhwut said:
Just for the record, I’m not calling everyone “low-IQ morons”. I’m just saying that I think that’s what the government and big tech wants us to be, and I think they structure their legislation and marketing strategies to dumb the public down so they can turn them into mindless sheep consumers. That’s why nobody notices or protests their neighborhoods and towns being turned into third world honeysuckle holes. We’ve been sold a very calculated narrative that is meant to prevent us from even realizing what is being done to us, which undoubtedly makes it impossible for us to do anything about it. No matter which of the handful of possible paths the world takes in this century, the world will not be the same as it was, and the change won’t be for the good. So with that, I will kindly check out from society.

Was just joking with yah 😋
 
First of all, I don't even have a smartphone, so I might be even more old school than you, but it's not that I have something against technology. I just don't feel like I need a smartphone, social media and other stuff. I think that scrolling through (fake )images, reading (unimportant) news and getting many (useless) likes is just a waste of time.

But I'm really interested in computers, science and technology so I like the fast progression of our (brave) new world. Technology always has its advantages and disadvantages, and it's important how you use it. Nuclear energy can be used for power plants, which emit less C02 than a coal power plant, or it can be used to build devastating nukes. Our world is getting better in some aspects like child death rates, longevity, peace, access to education, equality, extreme poverty... But things like climate change and inequality of wealth are getting worse. Whether the world is getting better depends on your definition of good.

Well, I think that a shift more towards consumerism is inevitable because humans seek pleasure and buying and using things that promise you happiness are an easy way to fix all your problems. Most humans would prefer if they could live forever in a perfect soma holiday world, where they are always happy. But some humans just don't enjoy that fake reality and consumerism.

In the end, I think that technology benefits my own life because it allows me to communicate with more and more people from all over the world. My English wouldn't be nearly as good without the last decade of progress on the internet. This very place wouldn't even exist without it, and it gives you quick access to all the knowledge of the entire humankind, which is just incredible.

After all, it doesn't really matter how anyone else lives their life and how they use technology. You aren't forced to use it. You can decide for you how much is enough. I don't think it will make you really happy anyway. But I wouldn't go as far to call it a conspiracy against the people. The people, who don't think much, and just blindly follow every trend turn our world into this dystopia. Maybe they are even happier because they don't have worries, ask questions, or think.

So, I agree with you mostly. Not everyone enjoys our modern culture and technology usage, and even as it might seem sometimes that you are the only one without the latest technology, you are not alone.
 
Dr_Pixel said:
First of all, I don't even have a smartphone, so I might be even more old school than you, but it's not that I have something against technology. I just don't feel like I need a smartphone, social media and other stuff. I think that scrolling through (fake )images, reading (unimportant) news and getting many (useless) likes is just a waste of time.

But I'm really interested in computers, science and technology so I like the fast progression of our (brave) new world. Technology always has its advantages and disadvantages, and it's important how you use it. Nuclear energy can be used for power plants, which emit less C02 than a coal power plant, or it can be used to build devastating nukes. Our world is getting better in some aspects like child death rates, longevity, peace, access to education, equality, extreme poverty... But things like climate change and inequality of wealth are getting worse. Whether the world is getting better depends on your definition of good.

Well, I think that a shift more towards consumerism is inevitable because humans seek pleasure and buying and using things that promise you happiness are an easy way to fix all your problems. Most humans would prefer if they could live forever in a perfect soma holiday world, where they are always happy. But some humans just don't enjoy that fake reality and consumerism.

In the end, I think that technology benefits my own life because it allows me to communicate with more and more people from all over the world. My English wouldn't be nearly as good without the last decade of progress on the internet. This very place wouldn't even exist without it, and it gives you quick access to all the knowledge of the entire humankind, which is just incredible.

After all, it doesn't really matter how anyone else lives their life and how they use technology. You aren't forced to use it. You can decide for you how much is enough. I don't think it will make you really happy anyway. But I wouldn't go as far to call it a conspiracy against the people. The people, who don't think much, and just blindly follow every trend turn our world into this dystopia. Maybe they are even happier because they don't have worries, ask questions, or think.

So, I agree with you mostly. Not everyone enjoys our modern culture and technology usage, and even as it might seem sometimes that you are the only one without the latest technology, you are not alone.

Hey thanks for sharing your perspective. I can gather from most of what you said that our views don’t align much, but I’m happy you shared it.
 
"All I ask for is a tall ship and a star to steer her by".

If I get the chance when I retire, I'm finding my own little speck of nowhere and sticking to it. No gps, no internet, no nothing. That would be a pleasant way to spend some twilight years.
 
Richard_39 said:
"All I ask for is a tall ship and a star to steer her by".

If I get the chance when I retire, I'm finding my own little speck of nowhere and sticking to it. No gps, no internet, no nothing. That would be a pleasant way to spend some twilight years.

No internet? 😬
****. I couldn’t live without being able to play games.
Ok. A speck of nowhere with internet. That sounds so much better. 😋
 
Oh my, this brings back some memories, miss you, MissBehave 😉
I'm not someone who needs much. Give me the time to go hunting and fishing, a nice garden and the vast expanse of untamed land, I'll figure something out. I'd have very enjoyable evenings of writing out all those stories I never sat down to actually write, as well as just staring into a crackling fire, with a cup of coffee and a smudge of Bailey's mixed in it at night. Couple of people chatting around the fireplace about life, the universe and everything, maybe, I hope, with some grandkids playing around somewhere... that's my idea of paradise.
Alright. Maybe a game console. Just for when it rains 😉
 

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