My PC was the center of gravity of my life. Now I don't know what to do with it

Posted by warpee@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 19 comments

Hi, born in 1983 here. I want to share my feeling regarding my relationship with computers. As a child in early 90s I was very fashinated by computers and I was always experimenting. Then internet arrived and my focus moved to it. As a university student without money (early 2000s) my computer was my entire world: it was my tv, my stereo, my communication center, my cinema, my lab, everything. Now as an engineer I am in front of a PC during working hours, but I realized that I don't use a computer outside the office. If I want to watch a movie I use my OLED Tv. For the music I have either my hifi or my earphones connected to my phone. For the rest, I only use my phone. I really no longer have an use case for my PC... And I feel I have lost something

[-]

TwilightStranger@reddit

I was thinking something the other day about how I used to get excited being on a desktop PC all the time when I was younger. Nowadays I'm pretty meh and disinterested when I get on it. Those Windows 10 updates suck and take forever.

[-]

Binford6100User@reddit

Nobody is taking addressing the emotions here. I get it, but from a different angle.

I've been a car guy forever. Literally as long as I can remember. I was into the hobby for a long time. Engine builds and swaps, custom suspension, even got into body modifications. I loved autocross, car meets, and spending most every waking moment doing something car centric.

We just put an offer on a house that has a car lift in the garage. I let it go with the owner as part of the negotiation. Younger me would have come close to killing for that feature. Adult me, with wife, kids, dog, career, had lost the drive to be a car guy at that level. Is just not who I am anymore.

And that's ok. Doesn't mean I've abandoned my hobby, all of my car guy friends understand and support the decision. We just all know, that not where I'm at right now. You're in the same boat. Maybe it'll come back, maybe not. Either way that's ok, just where you're at right now.

[-]

Kizenny@reddit

I bought a gaming laptop for work travel alongside a steamdeck, problem solved!

[-]

JuliusSeizuresalad@reddit

That is a very astute observation that kinda blew my mind think about. I too have that same experience but didn’t realize it until you said something

[-]

MoulanRougeFae@reddit

I still have my old HP my kids grew up playing my Icewind Dale, Neverwinter nights and other games on. Also this year my greatest pride was helping my son build his first computer. I still computer game on the new one and on my old one for older games. Get yourself a retro computer and some games. Enjoy it.

[-]

repo_code@reddit

I still run a music system off a PC, and a TV off another PC. Force of habit. Both Linux.

Nothing I've seen of smart TVs has made me want to use one except as a dumb TV/monitor. Tried Chromecast for a couple years but ran into bugs. The PC is still a good media device.

[-]

DisastrousFlower@reddit

same for me but with a kid, i’m only on my phone. i don’t even use my ipad anymore!

[-]

AlternativeMessage18@reddit

We were very lucky to grow up in that era. Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened.

[-]

RolandMT32@reddit

Interesting.. I'm similar, except I still use a computer about as much as I always did. For one, I've often been a PC gamer, so that's probably one aspect of it. However, I feel like it's good to have a device with a big screen and a physical keyboard and mouse, and I feel like computers are still useful for the same things they've always been useful for. Sometimes, compared to a smartphone or tablet, I simply think a computer provides an overall nicer experience for things like reading email, browsing the web (and Facebook, etc.), etc.. Also, I'm a software developer and I have some of my own software/coding projects as a hobby, and I think it's a lot easier to code on a computer (at least something with a bigger screen and physical keyboard).

[-]

DiaDeLosMuebles@reddit

Take a look at /r/homelab. Or unraid. Or proxmox. There are many rabbit holes to go down.

[-]

crappercreeper@reddit

I went back to interjecting on my computer instead of my phone.

[-]

SquirrelyMcNutz@reddit

Get a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse/trackball, and hook your PC up to your tv through one of the HDMI slots. You can play your games on your oled that way. You can also use browser/pc versions of Hulu/Netflix/etc., without having to have your tv connected to the internet (to block/prevent having to see yet more ads since a lot of tvs are trying that shit now).

[-]

Helgafjell4Me@reddit

This is how my main PC is setup in my theater room. I have a 21" LCD on an arm mount off to the side of my chase lounger and then a 120" 4k projection screen on the wall for games and movies. Even when I'm not using the projector, I'm just lounging on the couch with my keyboard on my lap and my track ball mouse on the armrest. So much more comfortable that sitting in front of a desk.

[-]

Helgafjell4Me@reddit

I have PC connected to my 4k projector in my theater room, another PC in my office I use for solid modeling and 3D printing, and I have a third one with a 7800X3D CPU and 4090 GPU dedicated just to VR gaming with my Quest 3. I probably am on the computer too much....

Oh and I also have a laptop that basically only gets used when I travel, for watching my own shows off the hard drive or streaming Netflix if the hotel has good enough wifi. I just plug it into the room's TV with HDMI and I'm good to go as long as the TV lets me change the input.

[-]

KayArrZee@reddit

Crazy huh, I work in it and between kids and house responsibilities I do most of my internet consomption on my phone

[-]

SaltyPinKY@reddit

Umm...you're an adult. I still have a desktop and i'm typing on it right now. Treat it like the "Field of Dreams, If you biuld it, they will come". Get one...I will not give up a desktop until they quit making them. You'll find yourself sitting there using it.

[-]