I’m old, frustrated - tech is over my head
Posted by ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 550 comments
Does anyone feel this? I remember being so frustrated trying to teach my mom how to use the computer in the 90s, dial up internet in the late 90s,early 00s, a flip phone, a tablet, etc. she never made it to a smart phone.
I’m overwhelmed. The amount of online forms, apps, third party authentication on everything, verification, and the time wasted on all of it. Don’t get me started on AI everything! All the platforms are filled with ads. I messaged the school about my daughter’s disability and Facebook is showing me ads for leg braces. Really? Completely unrelated disability! Don’t get me started on all the apps the kids need and they change every year.
My doctor of 6 years left and the new one looks like she’s in her early twenties and is not comfortable with my current prescriptions. I’m waiting to find out if she’ll make me sign a contract or make me see another provider. I’ve been taking these meds for the last 5-20 years depending on which one.
I sound like my mom. Old, slow and frustrated. I can’t keep up and I’m not sure how to accept this new reality.
Eastern-Joke-7537@reddit
Tech is… weird.
Lots of different things mashed together.
Not all better.
We grew up on things like Nintendo. Hard to beat! Computer hardware is probably worse now… and disappearing.
Lots of the junk software and programs now are just recycled Apple II programs or Mario Paint or something.
Smart phones aren’t getting much better.
bobnifty76@reddit
I wouldn't say tech is over my head, I'm just over all of it
Texas_Kimchi@reddit
I'm in Tech so I have no choice but to keep up with it. Funny thing is I hate technology now.
Budget-Ferret331@reddit
Ditto.
Ianbillmorris@reddit
Also in tech, all this cloud rubbish drives me insane, it's just a way for tech companies to extract rent from the entire global economy and consolidate distributed data centers into one easy to fail location, and don't get me started on AI it's just a fancy (and inaccurate) search engine. Now get off my lawn!
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
I think the thing that really bothers me is how dependent everything has become on this stuff, but also, how much of it is used to deliver advertising.
The fact that Gas Station TV even exists is really fucking depressing.
Anything for a dollar...anything.
kat_girl1@reddit
Give it a little bit longer and you'll be able to pay a fee, at the pump to not get the ads.
CryptographerOwn5297@reddit
I live in Austin, and last week. Stopped at Rudy’s for gas. No screens. Just country music coming out of the gas station. It was euphoric!
ParkourZoomies@reddit
You can usually mute those ads. It’s usually the second button from the bottom on the right side of the screen (button may vary depending on the gas station)
Glittering_Rest_1607@reddit
Omg, if this works... ;-)
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
It definitely works, or used to work. Think I read that they've been getting rid of the mute buttons on new ones though.
Consistent_Fun_9593@reddit
They should keep the mute option. The alternative is the portable mute button.
maxweb1@reddit
yeah it's hit and miss now :/ and more often than not it's a miss at more modern stations. i must look like a freak mashing every button over and over to avoid the 110dB NEWS YOU HAVE TO HEAR! while i just want 2 minutes of peace ffs
StillPlayingGames@reddit
It does where I am. I do it as soon as I get out of the car.
MrTigerEyes@reddit
This used to work at the gas station closest to my house. Since then they replaced the screens with some that are not mutable (I've tried pressing all the buttons and searching on Google) as well as extremely high volume. I've simply stopped buying anything from them, and instead plan to wait until I am near Costco to put gas in my car. My next car purchase is increasingly looking to be an EV though.
scattershotdreams@reddit
Yea....they took that away in my area.
ChickenMae@reddit
Where I live it’s the third button on the left.
Jupiter68128@reddit
Just close your eyes when they are on. Daydream about titties or cats or something.
Key-Shift5076@reddit
Instructions unclear: daydreaming about cat titties.
Blue_Star_Child@reddit
Or milking cats Greg
Alien_Nicole@reddit
I went to a doctor yesterday who is in a brand new building. There are screens with news and ads in the fracking elevators! You are in there less than a minute. Why?!?!
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Wait till they are pharma ads targeted to the specialities of the physicians in that floor.
fatblindkid@reddit
Raspberry pi adfilter your entire home with “pihole”
Checkout boredpanda after pihole
fatblindkid@reddit
And before
All of the DNS entries for ads are routed to null and therefore don’t load. Easy to add/pause a site, too.
Don’t want tiktok? Block it. Twitter? Ditto.
Hedgehogosaur@reddit
With a pi hole can you turn it off easily? I use ads for my small business, so need to check they're working sometimes
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
Can it block Blippi? 😂
fatblindkid@reddit
It does filtering on a dns/domain name basis, so not able block a single youtube channel. Not too easy to block YT shorts either.
But if domain (youtube.com) or subdomain (mobile.yt.com or whatever), then yes, it can block. Just add to the list.
Since it’s DNS based, it’s not filtering on packet level, but just the initial request so your speeds are going to be fairly high even with older routers.
torhne@reddit
I've switched to https://technitium.com/ lot of stuff built in, PiHole on steroids.
marbotty@reddit
Any guides on how to set this up, or should I just google pihole?
CSATTS@reddit
It's been years since I set mine up, but this guide looks right: https://medium.com/@mitchell.etter/setting-up-pi-hole-c07ae2512965
I'm running pihole on a raspberry pi4 and a backup DNS on a pi 3+. It's been 5-ish years and no issues. One thing to note is you won't be able to block ads on YouTube or anything other service where the ads are hosted by the site you're trying to get to.
marbotty@reddit
Thanks!
CSATTS@reddit
No problem!
Oh, and if you go down this road the easiest way to do the install would be to install piOS on the raspberry Pi as the OS, but you can run it on pretty much any linux-based system.
fatblindkid@reddit
Yep. I had an old raspberry pi that I installed pihole on. I configured my home wifi to pull dns from the pi and broadcast that with each ip address lease. As a result, pihole does all of the filtering and the router is the dns server. It’s on a modem about 10 yrs old or older that I’m too lazy to change.
If we have a guest who wants to bypass filter, they can manually change the dns to one of several ones (8.8.8.8, and several others) that are well known an easy to memorize. Or just turnoff wifi.
It helps to prevent any non-techies access some sites as a cheap firewall for the uninitiated.
fatblindkid@reddit
temporary_bob@reddit
Yup, my husband did that to our internet. It's great. (Except for some things the require stuff the pihole blocks... For which you gotta turn it off or tether to your phone)
Diablojota@reddit
Need an ad blocker or use the DNS for AdGuard.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Cool. I have an ad blocker. Oh wait, now I can't access half of my websites without first turning it off.
justonemom14@reddit
No kidding. This is exactly the kind of thing that has me feeling old and frustrated with technology. "Oh just install PiHole for your whole house." what? What part of this conversation makes you think I know how to do that? Or that the explanation about DNS is helping me in any way. And then when that solution causes other problems, I'm just automatically supposed to know what caused the problem and also know how to turn it on and off. Not to mention that this "solution" only applies to a tiny fraction of tech problems anyway. What about the incessant logins and third factor authentication? And is there an app that will make a human answer the phone when I call a business? While you're at it, get off my lawn!
malibusoul@reddit
Yeah I read “PiHole” and I was like wtf? The entire comment was like a foreign language to me 😭
Diablojota@reddit
If you use the DNS, it won’t cause those issues.
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
Time for the ol' PiHole
malibusoul@reddit
The gas station TV is WILDLY DEPRESSING. Dystopian hell.
grn_eyed_bandit@reddit
Lose your phone and you’ll see how intertwined our lives are with technology.
I lost mine and was without my primary phone for two days.
IT WAS PAINFUL.
linseeds@reddit
I switched to Brave browser because of websites that have so many ads I can't see the content.
DrankTooMuchMead@reddit
That's my take on AI, too. Why so much hype?? I never asked Google to start lying and sweet talking me, and thats all ChatGPT is.
ParallelPlayArts@reddit
I've had younger people tell me they use ChatGPT for school and as their therapist. I do not feel confident that the younger generation is absorbing anything in school and some of them are going into the medical field. I fear for those using this as a therapist are going to end up like the boy who the AI convinced to follow through with their early end of life plan.
I tell them to watch the South Park episode on exactly this but kids never listen.
malibusoul@reddit
People who are using AI as a therapist or getting “close” with ChatGPT are developing psychosis. I hate this dystopian, late-stage capitalist hell we’re trapped in.
nikdahl@reddit
The worst part of using it as a therapist is the data protection.
Therapists operate under strict confidentiality, AI is the exact opposite and will utilize or utilize any private information against you.
Therapists also has mandatory reporting requirements when there is risk of imminent harm to the patient or others, and AI does not. AI can be easily tricked to walk someone through how to enact violence.
Blue_Star_Child@reddit
No the worst part of using it as a therapist is that it can lead you into ai psychosis and convince you that all kinds of stuff is real like the guy who almost assassinated someone. Crazy shit. My neices and nephews are scared there won't be jobs. I just don't understand how people can't see how inept ai is. I never use chatgp or any of the others. They lie.
ParallelPlayArts@reddit
I don't think the younger generations care as much about privacy as they should. They have had their entire life on social media maybe before they could even consent to it. It boggles my mind that they are not only okay with this but then continuing when they become of age to get a social media account.
When I grew up I wanted to turn 16 so I could drive and have freedom. These kids are excited to turn 16 so they can start posting everything they do and eat on an app for everyone to see.
thepisceanqueen@reddit
I know a Gen X who uses ChatGPT heavily as their therapist. I want to shake that person. I don’t understand how anyone could think this is a reliable way to improve mental health. Plus, what a generational betrayal! lol
grandma-activities@reddit
Kicked out of the club!
grandma-activities@reddit
There's a 21yo intern at my office, and while he seems like a nice person, he can't do anything right on the job. You can't tell him he's made a mistake, either, because apparently he'll fall apart. He also takes 5-6 bathroom phone breaks, each 15-20 minutes. (I know this only because my slightly older coworker keeps track LOL.) Like, dude, I know it sucks to have to work an office job, but not a single one of us was born with a trust fund, so suck it up, pay attention to what you're doing, and stop making your coworkers' jobs more difficult.
This is in a LAW OFFICE.
Thank you for listening to me yell at this particular cloud.
The_best_is_yet@reddit
Are we the only group that realizes ai is incorrect? I’m floored at the amount of people who value ai junk.
PostTurtle84@reddit
Idk. My husband thinks AI is wonderful fun, while I refuse to download YET ANOTHER FUCKING APP just so it can lie to me. He thinks I'm being very "old man yells at clouds" while I'm reading studies and reports on how AI is actively making people stupider and encouraging folks to opt out of life early.
But I did manage to convince our 14 yo that AI isn't safe, and is frequently wrong, if you have to use it, give it zero personal information. If you need a therapist, tell me. I'll help you find find one you like and that we can both be comfortable with. But ffs, do not trust AI.
DrankTooMuchMead@reddit
Some people are really susceptible to having their ego stroked. You see this formula all the time on youtube. Look up spirituality on youtube and half the videos are trying to convince you are special, calling you a "starseed" or even "chosen one". That's what chatgpt is.
malibusoul@reddit
Sooooo true. It makes me beyond sad.
Blando-Cartesian@reddit
I tried to get UX designers to discuss problems of unreliable AI and over trust. The entire topic was cognitively inaccessible to them. AI is way too amazing and useful to think of such AI-hater thoughts, except that PMs and devs are incompetently slopping design using AI.
DrankTooMuchMead@reddit
AI just isnt there yet. ChatGPT is like having a weird kiss ass friend that will say anything to please you, even lie to you.
Its what Reddit means by the term "nice guy", (although I hate that term).
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
They are building a data center about 10 mins from my house and the people that live around the site are ready to crucify our mayor lol.
grandma-activities@reddit
My city thankfully won the latest round against the data centers, but I know they'll keep trying. City council is firmly on the residents' side now. Who knows how long that will last.
PickledPixie83@reddit
A city board close to me voted unanimously to approve one after hearing 2 hours of community concerns against it.
ShitPostsRuinReddit@reddit
I can't tell you how many times the auto backup features of cloud storage has saved someone I work with. Working collaboratively on files too big to email is a god send. I use AI to write Python scripts that cuts the time regular tasks take by 80%. It's just about using the right tools in a smart way.
Lucky_Louch@reddit
Soon enough you won't be needed and these tools will be writing themselves. Enjoy it while you can I guess.
ShitPostsRuinReddit@reddit
While that's possible, you just can't say that with certainty, especially as a blanket statement for all roles in all industries. It's important to keep in mind, no major AI company has posted a profit. It's completely possible when they reach the point of needing to increase the costs of AI tools to stay in business, it ends up pricing a lot of companies out. There is also a non zero chance that growing public resistance to its use will mean companies will simply opt out as a marketing tool.
The comment I replied to wasn't just about AI, cloud storage isn't going anywhere and has true value. And I'm not trying to say no one should worry about AI, but at the same time I'm not as fully on board with the idea of full human replacement. For the time being AI is just a tool some workers should learn to use to make their lives easier in some situations. And remember, Gemini on my phone still can't do as good of a job as a personal assistant as the old non AI version, and that's for the simplest of tasks.
Why_So-Serious@reddit
DigitalArbitrage@reddit
Working in tech drove me to a love of being outdoors and wilderness backpacking.
CrazyAnchovy@reddit
Catch me in my darkroom listening to records. I have to get as much analog in my life to offset the bullshit.
RamshackleDayParade@reddit
Same story, different characters. I once interviewed for a desktop support job and didn't get it in part because they were ''concerned'' that my life didn't revolve around tech, gaming, or whatever. They asked what seemed like an innocuous question about what I did in my free time and I said I liked being outside in the yard, kayaking, playing rec league soccer and softball, and coaching my son's teams. They didn't like that.
ladyzowy@reddit
As an IT manager who used to manage folks like that, I'd say that was short sighted of them. I always look for well rounded folk's for roles like that as it means they will likely enjoy being around other people and treat them with proper social levels of engagement. A lot of folks in tech aren't great at socializing, but are awesome technologists.
birchblonde@reddit
Idiots 😂
RegularCommonSense@reddit
Same here! Not backpacking in my case, but being out in nature on a regular basis, getting away from the technology Ihave to deal with in my full-time job.
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
Seriously, the faster I'm away from the screens, the better.
darekd003@reddit
I got rid of my Apple Watch in favour of a garmin with MIP (i.e. non-LED screen) because I got tired of having another screen in my life.
alett146@reddit
LOL same here 😆😭
unicorn-beard@reddit
Same, I got super burnt out and had a mental breakdown, started hiking and camping and it's done wonders for my mental health.
Bat-Stuff@reddit
I tried to find a living outside, but now I work in tech and my fun is outside. The more remote and the fewer humans, the better.
ThatDog_ThisDog@reddit
Moving to the Bay Area to go into nature more got me into tech 💀
HappyDJ@reddit
That was probably more the COL than anything.
ThatDog_ThisDog@reddit
I moved from NYC, and it was cheaper at the time 😂
Numerous_Team_2998@reddit
I work in tech leadership. I spend all my free time renovating an old house in the middle of the forest.
SwitchbackHiker@reddit
I literally moved to the mountains. I'm still in tech, but work remote and live in the mountains.
Relic180@reddit
Wow, that's crazy... I also literally moved from the heart of Sunnyvale CA to 5 acres in the Colorado front range, and still work in tech but fully remote. Which mountains did you find?
SwitchbackHiker@reddit
Ned, outside Boulder
Crawlerzero@reddit
When I was younger, I wanted a nice gaming rig and all the gadgets. After 20 years in IT, I want a nice big canvas tent and the smell of bacon cooking in cast iron over a campfire.
RoundTheBend6@reddit
Samsies
ceruleanblue347@reddit
Quit my tech job to walk dogs a few years ago. I'm on food stamps and Medicaid now but my actual quality of life is far better.
itryanditryanditry@reddit
Same!
iolmao@reddit
I'm in tech too.
I'm usually very curious about tech stuff but the reality is: we are not old, tech really became boring.
Smartphones all look the same. UI all look the same. FAANG made the internet boring, standardised and...well...totally centralised, which is the opposite of what Internet was born for.
New stuff are boring: AI, humanoid robotics are all things for billionaires with super high barriers.
Fuck it, seriously, THEY made technology like that.
pennie79@reddit
I used to be in tech. I began to zone out when documentation became a thing of the past. When I went to uni, we were told to use the man command to look up the manual on Unix. At one point, the Linux distributions stopped doing that. The online manuals were barebones. I would google a command and only get forum posts which suggested workarounds that didn't apply to my situation. Once the supposedly open distributions became impenetrable, I lost interest.
DizzyIzzy801@reddit
This!
My favorite tech nerd moments are things like when I see 8-year-olds programming robots, farmers building drone networks to help monitor crop watering, and autistic people making video games for their community. Obscure uses sometimes, but cool THINKING.
MrTigerEyes@reddit
New tech isn't really boring, but the cool stuff is generally not highly visible. For example have you looked into mesh networking like meshtastic or meshcore? I see those as a potential seed for the replacement of the current commercial internet as the technology improves. I've moved away from using streaming services and instead backed up my physical media to stream locally through Plex or Jellyfin. I have a 360 camera and film family events that can be viewed afterwards through VR with it.
Otherwise I agree with you, they're doing a terrible job with AI. It makes no sense to me to train it based on the absolute trash of the internet. For example, why would I train a chatbot meant to provide medical advice on random reddit posts, as opposed to peer-reviewed science in medical journals? Advertising, subscriptions, short form content, extremist-creating algorithms, etc. all suck.
iolmao@reddit
On the jellyfin thing I agree, I have tons of raspberry pi active at home, home automation with HA and Zigbee, that one yes, is interesting 100%.
Or LoRa communications, super great. But are very niche.
peepeeinthepotty@reddit
I'd agree - I love tech and the early days of the smartphone were a wild ride and very comparable to the PC boom of the 90's. It's really tragic what has become of the internet. Patiently waiting for forums to become a thing again so I can get off of reddit.
Howboutit85@reddit
That’s because tech went from innovative and exciting to predatory and probably comes with a monthly subscription.
Consistent_Fun_9593@reddit
Exactly. It's not tech I hate, it's how under-regulated capitalism has warped it.
But that's so pervasive, it makes it harder and harder to find enjoyment, full stop.
CoffeeHQ@reddit
Just yesterday I’ve been told that from now onwards, everything I do must be done with AI. Doesn’t matter if the end result is worse, takes longer or costs more. AI or you better explain yourself.
I’m a software engineer and I’m no longer allowed to do my job. Welcome to 2026, you guys are in for a treat in the next few years as AI comes for your jobs as well.
Consistent_Fun_9593@reddit
Time to replace whoever set that policy.
FlatSixFun@reddit
I’ve been a developer and CTO for 30 years and I’m telling all of my active software engineering friends that it’s a good time to start considering a career pivot. The future is developers entirely cut out of the loop. It’ll make a mess for a while, but even it’ll only get better. The Mythos era is going to make vulnerabilities a wild ride.
ComprehensiveTart689@reddit
Ugh. But also - to what? I’m an attorney. We are in danger too. Luckily I do litigation and for now they still have live judges and therefore live attorneys to address them, but who knows? Despite the fact lawyers are constantly getting sanctioned for bullshit case cites hallucinated by AI, the whole model is to hire fewer young attorneys and paralegals. In the years there won’t be many mid-level career people so I guess we’ll need to use more AI. Institutional clients already pushing for more AI use to cut their bills even more (and they are not paying well to begin with). If a mistake happens the lawyers are screwed but we’re under a lot of pressure to use AI for things that a human can do better, but will take longer to do.
FlatSixFun@reddit
Hallucinations with AI are becoming less of a problem with AI agents, because it can keep the context much smaller. With Anthropic’s agent teams, for law for example), one agent might be working on the case directly, while there would be a fact checker agent, a case law verifier agent, a paralegal agent, other law specific agents doing I don’t know what, to generate the documents. Also, as you can imagine, AI law agents can do legal research at a level that would be impossible for humans. I agree, this is a very bad time to be a junior lawyer or software developer trying to get into the game. And the middle will get squeezed next. AI job loss is going to be a very big deal in the next 5-10 years, and there are no good answers.
To your question as to where to pivot? No good answers there, but as someone who has built HR software for decades, I’d recommend getting very good at the best AI tools, look at how you can automate and streamline workflows, and identify niches in law practice that might be more resilient to what’s coming. There’s going to be a lot more competition for a smaller pool of jobs and showing competence with the tooling will be a good differentiator for the early years.
ComprehensiveTart689@reddit
Thanks - that’s useful advice.
willybestbuy86@reddit
Wouldn't that mean you aren't needed now if they are saying that? Scary times
CoffeeHQ@reddit
There’s a difference between the C-suites deciding that we are and the actual reality. For now we are at “humans in the loop”, but yeah I’m under no illusions about the short-term future. They never cared about code quality in my 20 year career and they certainly don’t now.
And you know what? I’m fine with it. No use hanging on to doing something myself if AI can do it better/faster/cheaper. I do worry about what to pivot to, as I am too far off retirement…
SunshineInDetroit@reddit
honestly we're going to be ending up supporting AI in the future until AI can rewrite itself.
FlatSixFun@reddit
We’re not that far away from AI rewriting itself.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Same. I was at a conference recently and we were told that any decision we make we should be thinking if it’s something we can do with AI. At our weekly team meetings we now have to answer what we’ve done with AI this week.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Already came for mine. I'm early semi-retired.
oilofotay@reddit
I’m in tech too! Previously at a game studio and now in health tech. I also hate tech now and spend a lot of time working on and enjoying my garden.
It’s kind of nice honestly, because I’m pretty much immune to the advertising hype of whatever new model of phone or car. Actually when I get into a newer model car, either a rental or my friends car, I cringe at all the touchscreens and flashy stylized UI. My husband and I drive old 2007 and 2009 Hondas and have no desire to upgrade. It’s nice having actual buttons and dials.
Otherwise_Piglet_862@reddit
Little did i know, buying that 386 off my neighbor in 94 would ruin my fuckin life.
onesleekrican@reddit
This right here was going to be my response. I’ve been in tech for decades and now I can’t stand it half the time let alone even desire to learn more
ImportantRoutine1@reddit
I used to love it but now I feel so betrayed by the changes.
CookCheap4815@reddit
All the best people I know in te h low-key hate tech. lol
MoodScripted@reddit
Right there with you
Trismesjistus@reddit
All hardware sucks. All software sucks. I first heard that in probably the late '90s and it was true then and will always be true as far as I can tell
dcott44@reddit
Same. I just want to go live off the grid somewhere with my family and our pets.
OhWhatever_Nevermind@reddit
That is like my partner. He loved working with computers from childhood and now everything about technology drives him batshit and he hates it. He’s continually frustrated by how nothing works, nothing is tested, everything breaks, all the security measures, etc. I feel the same but I deal with it less.
Aronacus@reddit
I used to never understand people who lived in log cabins far away from people and technology.
Almost 30 years in IT, now. Multiple certifications and I've done it all from laptop/desktop repair to building data centers.
I'm looking at log cabins for retirement and weekend getaways.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
My most urgent requirement in the hunt for the land to build a vacation home is that there is zero cell signal and hopefully no good placement for Starlink. I want to be stranded with no more than a landline.
Aronacus@reddit
I'd like to say I'd start that way, but I know myself. Within 5 years, I'll be looking for a project to do, next thing you know I'll be trenching fiber, and before long It'll basically be a remote data center.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
If I dig a trench for anything around my cabin of solitude, it will be for an alligator-filled moat.
orielbean@reddit
Dick Proennke building a cabin in the wilderness & filming it is peak content.
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Yep, Dick Proenneke was definitely someone I really admired.
MukYJ@reddit
I’ve been in IT for more than 20 years. I loathe sitting in front of a computer now.
OnRedditAtWorkRN@reddit
Same. I hate what it's become. I look forward to when we build something that makes it all collapse. I miss the pre-internet and very early internet days
Bat-Stuff@reddit
I'm the same. The best way to ruin the fun of something is being forced to work 8 hours a day with it.
JMDeutsch@reddit
Only just now? I work in tech and have always hated tech😂
beezchurgr@reddit
I’m in accounting but still working towards my business admin bachelors, and have to take IT courses. My book was written in 2021 and I have to remember what technology was like back then, and keep up with modern tech at my job. My job uses Oracle ERP & they laid off most of our support team, so it’s gotten so much worse. But hey, Oracle AI is free & it will solve all of our problems! /s
It’s funny how they laid off the employees with actual technical expertise but kept all the AI sales people.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
I’m in accounting too. From what I’ve seen, senior and advanced accounting work is safe (for now) but the intro/beginner jobs are likely to be replaced. But how does the younger generation learn and grow to become a senior and up?
temporary_bob@reddit
This is the issue in all areas of knowledge work. How do you gain judgement as a programmer if you can't be a junior dev if AI does it all for you?
ComprehensiveTart689@reddit
Exact same problem in law. Ugh.
beezchurgr@reddit
I work in local government with a strong union. We’re actually putting language in our contract that shields us from being replaced by AI. Santa Clara CA successfully negotiated the same thing so we’re following their lead. It ain’t much, but it protects a few jobs.
optimaloutcome@reddit
Same. I remember guys having full on labs at home and they would go home and configure networking and servers or weird stuff. I have a macbook and a playstation. My home network is very basic. It all works and requires very little input/maintenance to keep it running. The last thing I want to do at home is work on computers.
Sharpshooter188@reddit
I used to love doing IT work. Now Im so fried by it I just want to smash my printer/scanner when it decides not to work for some arbitrary reason.
beemeeng@reddit
I've been in tech my whole career. Always hated, and yet here I still am 25+ years later.
memymomeddit@reddit
It seems like everyone I know who works in tech is slowly becoming the Unabomber.
TIRACS@reddit
100%
tcpukl@reddit
I work in tech as well.
What annoys me is how badly it's implemented and the UX is fucking diabolical.
It's not how I learnt UX at uni in computer science at all with human computer interfaces as they were called back in the day.
Repulsive_Science254@reddit
I’m in tech and find it wild that with all our advances in technology to make life more convenient, I’m ready to buy a flip phone and ditch my smart phone. Think about it - when is the last time you clicked on a link in your email? It’s probably been a while.
reillan@reddit
That's my secret, Cap - I've always hated technology. (I'm a programmer)
Notabagofdrugs@reddit
Dude, I’m a sys admin who fucking hates computers. I’ve never even bought a pc or laptop. Just hate everything about it all. Funny I’ve been in IT now for 25 years. It’s all I know.
grn_eyed_bandit@reddit
Say it louder for the people in the back 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Tech used to be exciting and interesting.
Now it's just ads and enshittification.
chypie2@reddit
because it's sooo overly complicated now, lol.
OpiumPhrogg@reddit
Yep, same. I am going through another round of some AI Certifications provided by my employer, and am working with AI every day as a tool to build some cool stuff that I would have built way back if I could have wrapped my nuero-spicy brain around how to code.
Other than that, I look at screens most of the day for my job, I make it a point to keep the doom scrolling and screen time down to a minimum at this point in my life. I've refused to install an official facebook app on any of the smartphones I have gotten over the last 15 or so years. But I have also been working in IT/Tech in some form or other pretty consistently since about 1999, and graduated from college with a cybercrime investigations degree - which of course is completely outdated now. So I have a pretty strong sense of distrust about the going ons of all things internet.
I have watched as the internet has slowly died and become what it is today. :(
SonicDethmonkey@reddit
Same. I feel like there has been a fundamental shift over the last 20 years. It’s not that tech companies were not ever in the business of making money, but it used to be that they made money by selling tech that helped us in some way. These days it feels like so much tech exists simply for the purpose of screwing us over in some way or turning US into the product, to then be sold to other companies.
pimpvader@reddit
This is me as well, counting down the days until I can quit my tech job and do something more fulfilling. Until then I’ll just keep learning the new hotness.
Asleep_Onion@reddit
Same. I am still pretty much on top of things with current tech and definitely not at the point where my kids are having to show me how to use stuff to, but the older I get the more I hate it all. Some of it is due to enshittification of tech as OP pointed out, but also I'm just tired of it all. It's not fun anymore like it was when I was younger.
When I was in high school, my idea of fun was building computers and coding. Now my idea of fun is raising chickens.
cb393303@reddit
I'm in tech, and holy shit some areas are just over the top.
-- rant --
K8S is a pox and seeing 20 somethings who barely understand DNS push it hard, and going on about custom operators is just too much. Simple things are complex when they are on fire.
-- rant --
TEOsix@reddit
I’m genx and work in tech. It is my hobby as well. I need to get out more. lol.
CakeRobot365@reddit
Same. This entire world of tech we've built, the majority of it seems so pointless and fake. I'm increasingly bothered by the disconnect to reality we seem to have.
ddmf@reddit
I'm exactly the same. I rarely use a computer at home these days.
wrestlegirl@reddit
e3thomps@reddit
I'm spending half my week right now on calls with cloud tier one guys or internal networking guys to try and get Entra/Our Network talking with new cloud applications and I hate it.
zffjk@reddit
20 years in tech. I am slowly exiting society and becoming diet-Amish.
None of my hobbies, outside of gaming, is anything you could call “digital”.
Even in my workshop the only power tools are a bench grinder and a drill.
aroundincircles@reddit
I’m in tech too (infrastructure engineer) and my house is almost Amish with how little tech I have.
HostilePile@reddit
Same here. And having to manage all the devices between my kids and my mom.
ShakespearianShadows@reddit
I’m in cyber security. Having an underlying sense of mild annoyance with all technology is a job requirement.
OceanJuice@reddit
Same. I used to love automation, coding, building things, breaking things. Now I'm stuck in this smart home with all of the devices and just the thought of creating a cool energy use dashboard or automation has me thinking "you're going to have to continue to support it when it breaks" and all interest is dead
Remy0507@reddit
I've worked in IT for getting close to 30 years, and I would so much like to just go make baskets or carve furniture out of wood or something now...
taleofbenji@reddit
Text is awesome now. No more reading or writing long boring documents!!!! Hallelujah!!!
Phoniceau@reddit
Same man, same. I keep up with it real well due to my job - but I'd really love nothing more than to just take a baseball bat to everything and just read my book in silence.
BogeyLowenstein@reddit
I’m an Administrator and all of our clients are going to portals. Some are pretty user friendly and some seem designed to fail. I can’t keep up these days with trying to learn new portal for billing, etc., it’s so frustrating when I can’t figure one out easily.
casdoodle527@reddit
We are on vacation and in a new suburban. The danged touchscreen is too much for me and I drive a newer (2023) suv! So damned frustrating.
ddnut80@reddit
I love that word. ‘Danged.’ Let’s bring that back. This danged tablet needs a charge. Big surprise. 😆
ConceitedWombat@reddit
Is it one of those models that hides important features (like HVAC) behind the touch screen?
casdoodle527@reddit
Yes! There are buttons for the fan speed and I individual for thermostat but everything else (to include the rear controls) are behind a touchscreen!
johns945@reddit
troll and fake
Ashamed_Response_168@reddit
I read that younger generations are actually more tech illiterate because everything is set up to just sort work without much input.
Random but my hdmi cord on my Roku sometimes fails and turns the screen purple. I started blowing on it like a Nintendo game and it fixes it every time
ddnut80@reddit
Okay, now that’s hilarious. 😂
red_bird85@reddit
I feel you on this. I’m (47) and in nursing school now. College now VS when I attended in the late 90’s / early aughts is like night and day. Most docs/pas/rts/nps etc in our clinicals are younger than me by a decade+. My kids are in their early 20’s and I didn’t have a lot of tech fck-fck when they were home and in school for me to contend. Just emails and text messages, and a pretty simple student portal.
I feel so bloody bad for old folks in this tech heavy world. There’s a lot of me that wishes we could go back to landlines and flip phones. I find myself overall deeply missing pre 9/11 life. My husband died in 2011 suddenly, unexpectedly. He’ll always have a (work) blackberry and only a MySpace account. No pirating music anymore. Feels like another lifetime time ago. Back when you’d go to video stores to rent movies lifetime ago.
dragonfly_perch@reddit
Nursing school at 47?! I’m also 47, and I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I don’t even know you, but I’m proud of you.
ddnut80@reddit
I’m 46 and I just got a job as a support analyst. Hahahaha! Baaahahahahahah!!! It’s better than retail or sales. I couldn’t do that shit anymore.
malformed-packet@reddit
Tech is only as important as it is useful. If it's not useful, don't use it. The stuff we are forced to use sucks though.
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Excellent point.
sleepsymphonic@reddit
Its the enshittifiction and the Fascism that comes along with it.
Gekko8@reddit
ViciousSnatch@reddit
I was trying to look hip and with it by trying the tap to pay thing at the store. Apparently getting nervous about new tech and wildly flailing my card around a foot above the machine is NOT the way it works. At this point, there’s no way I’m doing this tap stuff with my phone. I just started using a banking app last year!
Hedgehogosaur@reddit
I'm off sick and am "vibe coding" software that will help me when I'm back to work. On many levels i like technology and change, and on many levels I don't.
seamonkey420@reddit
nope. i'm still ahead of the kids that i thought would eclipse me.
who would have guessed giving kids Chromebooks would stunt their tech development (ie lack of teaching how a file system works, opening and saving docs in an os besides a browser, etc)? oh me.. hehe.. i really hope the schools move to macbook neos vs chromebooks so kids learn an how an operating system works vs just a browser.
KingCarnivore@reddit
Schools need to move away from personal devices and go back to having one computer class.
west-egg@reddit
But aren’t most of the textbooks electronic now?
KingCarnivore@reddit
They don’t have to be. Textbooks have become like that to maximize revenue for McMillon and the like by strangling the used market and securing their copyrights via DRM.
crazycatlady331@reddit
It's not just their tech development.
My niece is in 5th grade. If you looked at her handwriting, you'd guess 1st at the oldest.
SpaceTulips@reddit
Handwriting is incredibly undeveloped, as well as traditional drawing skills. I’m not expecting a Renoir from an 8yo, but I expect some basic understanding of anatomy.
crazycatlady331@reddit
For me, if I don't physically write something down, I don't remember it. Learned this the hard way in college when I had class in a computer lab. I took notes on MS word, emailed them to myself. Failed the midterm. Wound up getting As for the rest of the class after I switched to pen and paper.
When I got my first phone with apps, I downloaded a grocery list app. By the time I got to the store, I forgot everything I put on said list. Writing things down helps me remember.
seamonkey420@reddit
yea, they need to just start using pen and paper. i still feel there's a direct connection w/the hand, writing and the brain.
it does give me hope that my friends' kids are more analog than digital. yes they want to play w/ipads but also are ok playing w/a notebook and a bag of crayons and pens. i've been also showing them my older 90s/2000s tech and they are so intrigued!! :)
VisiblePlatform6704@reddit
I'm a techie, and have been programming and tinkering with computers since 8. PhD in CompSci.
What's really interesting is that the "mental model" younger generations have about technology is very incomplete/naive. They dont really understand why things are happening. Very similar to older generations (mom, dad).
I think not many of us really understand deep inside technology.
One question I like asking everyone (tech or non tech) when hiring is for them to tell me, to the best of their knowledge, what happens when they type example.com in their browser and press enter. What happens so that they get the website.
It's very interesting to dig how profound knowledge of technology they have. Mlst have just the basic understanding of the "series of tubes"; some have a bit of an idea of DNS, html vs images vs javascript vs css; and very very few can dive deep into TLS, TCP/IP handshakes or deeper.
Unfortunately, the rise of AI will just exacerbate this.
ChaoticCoffeeBean@reddit
This is a great answer. The amount of people here screaming “get off my lawn” is sad
seamonkey420@reddit
well written!! yea, the young (unless they game, build a pc) really do miss being taught the whole system. when we were growing up, the teachers taught us (or tried to) how to make folders store files. we also grew up using the dewey decimal system in libraries and other various physical sorting methods. i feel that exp and growing up w/the tech, shaping it as users really gives our gen a one up to all the others vs tech. however only if you paid attention.
i plan to teach my pals kids the basics early to hopefully give them a huge one up in their lives like i got when i taught myself how to build pcs in the early 2000s.
ChaoticCoffeeBean@reddit
This is a great answer. The amount of people here screaming “get off my lawn” is sad
TifanAching@reddit
As someone that has had to teach college students what a file is, I concur.
Also, even the ones that seem technologically able are just familiar with services and apps that are new, but still don't actually understand how they work. They're experts at using services, not using technology.
BigBoxOfGooglyEyes@reddit
Same. Part of my job involves helping folks use computers and I spend just as much time with older people as I do with young people.
Katwood007@reddit
I’ve worked in the IT field for over 40 years and I still love it, however, I do understand that we’ve created a world where everything relies on it. I wish we could find a happy medium but you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
Dazzling-Emu-6054@reddit
A lot of it is that work has been offloaded to the consumer, and often in ways that infringe on your own time.
Examples:
My son has a lot of medical needs, so we see a lot of doctors. (This afternoon, for example.) I constantly get messages to “check in early” and such, but even if I fill out this forms at home, I get to the hospital, and they just have me fill out more forms. I’ve gotten to the point where I just ignore all the early check in messages and do all the paperwork at the appointment, when my time is already allotted, rather than in my own free time.
It used to be that if my sister or I failed to get HW done, our teachers would send notes home or (dreaded) call our parents. School needs info? Send a form home, and my sister or I would take them back to school. Now I have to have accounts on multiple platforms for multiple purposes for each of my kids’ schools. And it’s up to me to stay on top of everything: health forms, HW, grades, etc.
jammin80@reddit
The amount of apps and websites that I have to use for my kids to go to school is insane. One for grades, one for lunch payments, one for school activity and class fee payments, one for keeping up with physicals needed for sports, one for purchasing sporting events tickets, and several different messaging apps because every teacher and/or coach uses a different one... it. is. nuts. Then, the payment websites charge a fee on top of the fees I'm supposed to pay. Seriously?
SeasonPositive6771@reddit
The checking in early thing has gotten completely out of control.
My doctor's office wants everyone to check in 25 minutes before their appointment. They say it's to do the paperwork, but if you do the paperwork at home, they still want you to check in that early and just...sit around. This is for a doctor who has never, ever, in my entire history of seeing him had a wait of less than 2 hours.
I had the same thing happen at my last mammogram, I got there only about 5 minutes early for the appointment but they tried to deny me the appointment because I wasn't 15 minutes early to do the paperwork. Which I had already done online. When I pointed that out, they said they had already told the mammogram staff to go home because I was late. When I pushed back and said I wasn't late and had done all the paperwork already, they finally agreed to see me. It turned out they hadn't sent the staff home and I still had to wait about 45 minutes.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
The school apps are nuts. The amount of money the school districts pay for tech is ABSURD. The high school by my house spent more on tech and licensing than they did teacher salaries last year and for what? Test scores have tumbled over the past decade and student engagement is so low it cannot even be quantified any longer.
Dazzling-Emu-6054@reddit
Love the username. I love me some seitan.
h0tel-rome0@reddit
It's a lot yeah but I hate the 50+ yr olds at work who refuse to learn new tech. Most of the time newer is better if you can get past the initial learning curve. I hope I never get to OPs mindset in the future
SunshineInDetroit@reddit
so it's probably a good thing that your doctor is going to review your meds. there are constant improvements.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. Just frustrating and something mom would’ve complained about because “I’ve been xyz for the last 20 years” grumble grumble grumble
Ugh 😖
SeasonPositive6771@reddit
Yeah, I'm curious about what type of medication they are. If it's stuff that has had innovation over the past 5 to 10 years, it absolutely needs a review. So much has changed in the most commonly prescribed medications, especially in the past decade.
mermaid619@reddit
I can’t get my tax return due to a technical glitch with a third party login company, that has almost zero customer service and no phone number. I’ve spent hours trying to resolve it and my personal information has been sitting with them for over a day to confirm my very boring identity. I HATE EVERYTHING.
Waste-Reflection-235@reddit
Tech never works for me. It’s slow, it breaks. I have no patience. At my workplace there’s a long standing joke I break things. I dislike technology now. I swear computers, printers etc have a mind of their own and they don’t like me much either. Most days I find myself wishing we could go back to simpler times.
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
The older I get the less patient I am with technology that “does not work” or make it blatantly clear that their priority is not user experience.
Humble_Ladder@reddit
I feel like it's not so much that it's new or different, it's the pace of change. I can figure damn near anything out, but the intellectual overhead of having to figure out my new everything monthly is fucking annoying.
Equal_Question_4594@reddit
100%!!! You articulated it perfectly. This is a huge portion of what’s causing me stress, more work, and my inability to finish things these days. I’ve been trying for months to get scheduled for EMDR therapy, but their office makes you create this online portal and fill out page after page of questions online, and I just can’t manage to complete it. When I go back to try again a couple months later, I can’t remember what the website is or my account. And they refuse to just give me paper forms I can fill out instead. They won’t even talk on the phone - I leave them voicemails and they reply by email or text message. It’s making me nuts!
I especially hate the assumption that you have a smartphone on you at all times. You can’t even get into my apartment complex’s clubhouse without scanning an app. Every doctor office I go to has their own portal you have to sign up for and message through. I hate it!
And none of this saves time. My primary care doctor’s office makes you answer a bunch of stupid questions on their tablet every year and I kept trying but it was being stupid and booted me back to the sign-in screen. I asked at the desk if I could just do paper ones and they played dumb at first, but I pressed the issue and then they simply handed me the forms they already had printed and ready to go. It took me two seconds to do the paper ones as opposed to 20+ minutes of fighting with the tablet.
xHandelx@reddit
I relate to this SO. MUCH.
xtopherpaul@reddit
Sounds like you got a little boomer in you
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
I married him
a_seventh_knot@reddit
NOT. EVERYTHING. NEEDS. A. FUCKING. APP!
Secret_Elevator17@reddit
I'm the manager at a small business and I told my boss if he puts one of those little AI help chat bots on our website I will quit. I hate those things. Give me a real person or fuck off with the chat.
Murda981@reddit
I got a Roomba a while back, the app never worked, but fortunately the Roomba still runs with a button on it. I only ever run it when I'm home anyway. I told my sister the app didn't work and she acted like it was crazy that I wasn't more upset about it. Like, it's a vacuum, that still functions as a vacuum, why do I need an app?
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Especially since they're all such fucking garbage. The app my gym wants me to use to check in requires location access always on or it literally won't work.
I manually check in at the front desk with a sign in sheet now.
a_seventh_knot@reddit
implemented as quickly and cheaply as possible with minimal testing
I_AM_DEATH-INCARNATE@reddit
There was a period where all the 2FA apps were driving me nuts. I have a yubikey, and I used Google authenticator, Authy and Aegis for different accounts at one point.
Passkey works way better and streamlined all of that.
FidgitForgotHisL-P@reddit
Is Mosley just “this device is definitely me so you don’t need to ask me if I’m using this device”? I keep ignoring parsley stuff because I assumed it was just a longer password but that doesn’t really make sense lol…
TifanAching@reddit
Listening to people twenty years younger than me, they're also overwhelmed. I think it is just overwhelming. Everything is going to online services, everything has multiple layers of authentication because bad actors are rampant and so it seems like a slog. Everything is spread across multiple platforms that don't interact well, or even necessarily work that well in their own ecosystem. Everything feels like it's a paper thin line away from being a scam because much of the basis of new economic growth is a scam or a fragile bubble. There's innovation going on out there, but so much of the prominent consumer facing tech is just over hyped, flaky and a solution looking for a problem.
AiringOGrievances@reddit
The difference is older people know we have a choice to not adopt every new tech product that comes out.
I’m a therapist who works with many young people and for some of them it’s a revelation that they don’t have to download the latest app or buy the newest device.
Able_Secretary_6835@reddit
I feel forced. I had a dumb phone for a few months and it was great. But it really cut me off from a couple of groups (including my son's school) because I didn't have WhatsApp. There were a couple of other things I had trouble finding workarounds for (group texting was one) so I gave up. :( I am so resentful that I have to live like this.
FidgitForgotHisL-P@reddit
I was desperately trying to work out how to make a dumb phone work for me.
I accidentally left my iPhone at home on the way to a karate class once, it was a revelation. The 2-3 hours of no one can contact me but I also just listened to whatever cd was in my car, didn’t stop to check my work email, didn’t worry a staff member would WhatsApp me about something that could have waited and so on.
So I started seriously looking into it. All I really needed was a phone that just had texting and calling. Oh and messenger. Maybe WhatsApp because I need it during the week day… also Spotify? Oh also something for podcasts. Uh banking apps somehow just in case… ooh maps would be good…
So I ended up just buying a new iPhone instead 🤦♂️
I didn’t give up though! I ended up with a cheap burner phone for a boring-story reason. What I really want to do is be able to swap between that phone and my iPhone so I can have the same number so the only people I always want to be able to contact me can do so (my kids, my mum, brothers, their partners, the kids mum and that’s it exactly no one else, but if I had to whittle that even more literally just my eldest son and my ex). I don’t want to keep moving a SIM card though that’ll just end up damaged. So I’m gonna chuck a few bucks on the burner and see how it goes just using that sometimes.
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
It's partly because technology isn't really better than it used to be; it's just bloated and inefficient and constantly in your face. It's overwhelming to practically everyone.
My mom taught herself Excel, Word, and AOL (back when it was new lol) in like 1991. When I had to explain OneDrive, she almost punched the computer.
TifanAching@reddit
That's a rational response to OneDrive.
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
It tried to delete her local files (pictures of her grandkids) and I almost saw a 74 year old woman become a terrorist.
TifanAching@reddit
I have my photos on my laptop, two cloud services and a physical backup hard drive. I'm not fully convinced that if I let them anywhere near OneDrive it wouldn't somehow delete every instance of my library across all devices and services.
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Exactly and very well said.
TheLastGenXer@reddit
its not that we are being passed by, its that tech is honestly getting worse!
New_Stats@reddit
You can just opt out of a lot of things.
Delete Facebook, you do not need it. Don't download apps just to participate in a thing, instead don't participate in that thing.
And AI is super over hyped. Some youth was telling me how it was essential for their ADHD ass and then proceeded to describe AI capabilities as the basic function of a calendar app we've all been using for over a decade. Chatgtp gives wrong medical advice 80% of the time, so that's just us diagnosing ourselves via WebMD
grandma-activities@reddit
Yeah, if a thing can only be done through an app, then I don't need to do that thing. I know the day will come when opting out is no longer an option, and hopefully by that day, I will have an off-grid cabin community with my closest friends.
aziz_light_11@reddit
In my area, the public schools will typically communicate primarily over Facebook. Some do emailed newsletters and notifications that offer some of the information they post, but Facebook is the only way to get all announcements. Parents who "don't participate in that thing" are at a significant disadvantage. It sucks, but that's the current system.
cjandstuff@reddit
My kid's school has 4 different apps for communication. Different teachers, departments, and groups will use one of them, but not the others, and then if something important happens, the school posts it on Facebook. Then because of Facebook's stupid algorithms, you might not see the post until 3 days later.
AwayExamination2017@reddit
You're lucky it's FB and not 15 other apps for each "thing". Soccer team is group me, drama club is beeblebloop, piano lessons are quefart or whatever...and they all want to track your location and activity.
aziz_light_11@reddit
Oh we definitely have that too. Every extracurricular has its own bullshit app. With kids in two different schools, I had two Facebook pages to track, plus PowerSchool, Canvas, ParentSquare, Remind, GroupMe, SeeSaw, BrightWheel, ClassDojo, the bus tracking app, and whatever apps they're using for school event tickets in any given year. It's just too much, and none of it is really optional.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
And they change each year!!!
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Imagine if millions of people just deleted their Facebook accounts tomorrow. Imagine how much better the world would be.
Queen_Of_InnisLear@reddit
I'm perplexed by people using it basically as a search engine. Like...you...can do that...it's the same thing, just you read the results yourself, thereby being better informed on the veracity of the information.
But they just don't care if it's wrong, I guess. And it wouldn't even be much more work. It's just so weird.
aceless0n@reddit
Ai is just a sexier version of cliffs notes
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
As to your suggestion not to participate in things that require an app download, that means I would:
Never see my baseball team play live again.
Never see concerts in some of my favorite venues again.
Not be able to use public transportation in strange cities again (oh sure, there's always a work-around that involves you ordering physical streetcar passes weeks ahead of time and hoping they arrive in the mail).
It's just not practical.
New_Stats@reddit
Ok, keep participating in a system that sucks and keep watching everything get worse because you allowed corporations to track you and sell your data
You have those two options. You've chosen which you're going to do, don't bitch about how overwhelming it is when there's absolutely an option to opt out altogether
LopensCouisin@reddit
Agreed with all of the above. I’m in the medical field and have also always been good at keeping up with tech. I can’t stand AI and refuse to use it if I don’t have to. Also, I agree about facebook. I deleted my 19 year old account a year ago along with my instagram. I’m much happier for it.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
I'm halfway through season 2 of The Pitt, and I'm very curious as to what direction they go in with the "use this new AI to chart" story line. There are some hints that they're treating it as a negative, and I hope they stay in that direction and don't cop out to "AI is fine once you learn how to use it right."
veepeedeepee@reddit
Kids these days, I TELL YOU HUWAT.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Are you them boys been huwhacking off in m'truck?
unholycowgod@reddit
Lol ok boomer :D
But for real yeah you're not alone. I'm a software engineer and even I have trouble keeping up. I changed jobs a year ago from a VERY legacy place to a much more cutting edge shop and I've been largely faking it til I make it this whole time. My boss (who's 5-8 years younger than me, but at least is very knowledgeable and competent) keeps bringing up apps and tech libraries that I've never heard of.
All we can do is keep putting in the time and keep being flexible. We're also now at the age where it's questionable whether you actually want a doctor that's significantly older than you. Too old and they're too slow and not keeping up anymore.
dcott44@reddit
I would offer that much of what you're feeling is information overload and the technology is simply the vehicle. Obviously not the administrative stuff like education and healthcare, but you can go download a minimalist launcher for your phone, delete all of your social media, and be intentional with things like ad-blockers and privacy tools, and you may find it is very freeing. I did all of this around two years ago, and it has been a game changer for me in terms of how much cognitive bandwidth I have.
All of that being said, yes, companies are abusing technology right now. It's like the line in Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so concerned with whether or not they could, they never stopped to think if they should."
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Given the social media trials - it seems that they knew they shouldn’t and did it anyways.
dcott44@reddit
Fair point. Dark UX is real. I think it's why I like Reddit: black background, white text. Done. Still has algorithmic filtering, but it's easier to recognize when you are seeing more or less of a specific sub.
I still vividly remember in 2004 in college coming back from winter break and having a friend at a party go "wait, you haven't joined The Facebook! Man, you need to get on there!" In retrospect, it's like someone was convincing me that I should be using crack. And that was when it was literally just static profiles and that's it.
violetmarie11@reddit
I can use the new tech just fine but I absolutely hate it. It's like every step of the way makes you jump through hoops and sign up for everything and create an account and slow everything down and it's so much to keep track of, as if I'm not busy enough already.
1101base2@reddit
i think this is a big part of it (at least for me). i hate the enshitification of everything and everything needs a damn EULA and TOS. i miss buying tech plugging it in, and it just worked. I hate having to jump through so many hoops just to get the thing i bought to work. Worst example right now is the nintendo switch 2 because you don't own it and if you buy a used game that was ripped they not only close your account, but lock you out of your console as well. So you will "buy" it, but it isn't fully yours to do with what you want
Bay-Area-Tanners@reddit
This. I feel like I’m navigating fine with the new tech (except AI which I’m avoiding if at all possible), but like, why do I need an account for everything? I get so much junk email that it would take me days to go through and unsubscribe from everything.
I just don’t want all of it and it’s being forced on us.
arcxjo@reddit
Trying to apply to jobs I have 19 different Workday accounts, and that's just from the ones that worked long enough to get to the application stage.
And every fucking one of them I got to from LinkedIn.
Taco-Dragon@reddit
And then I miss the things that are ACTUALLY important
LopensCouisin@reddit
This.
cjthomp@reddit
Working on AWS is the worst. Yes, it's powerful. Yes, it can do "almost anything." But it makes it such a miserable experience.
fatblindkid@reddit
Exactly this with EV chargers. Jfc, can I just tap-to-pay? I don’t want to download app.
ClassyInBoston@reddit
Agree with the EV chargers. Why do they need a stupid app? Perhaps to find where the chargers are or which ones are available.
But, they still should use a card as-is without any apps. Just like a gas station.
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Especially since these apps are all such garbage.
daddywookie@reddit
As ever, tech isn't inherently the problem, just how the greedy and stupid choose to use it. I suspect AI will make it worse when any idiot can monetize their shallow ideas, or scam their way into every OAPs life.
monsters_from_the_id@reddit
I'm with you, here's my day to day dealing with bad software and UX
manfredpanzerknacker@reddit
Right. Buy a shirt from a site once and get 3 emails per week and a text message for years!
No-Proposal2741@reddit
My wife and I joke that hey, if Armageddon is really upon us, at least we won't have to deal with technology anymore.
grandma-activities@reddit
Man, MFA is the most annoying thing ever. That's what pushed me over to hating tech. And don't get me started on AI. So far, I can instantly recognize AI-generated photos, videos, text, and fonts, but I know it'll just get more and more difficult as the technology improves. I hate it.
SnoozuRN@reddit
I hate it too. I am so sick of my phone and all the constant notifications and the expectation for me to have my ringer on and respond to people. It's exhausting and I just want to disappear into nature.
ImportantRoutine1@reddit
I just started a new thing so only the apps I need can send notifications after a certain time. It's been good so far.
vand3lay1ndustries@reddit
I deleted all social media (except Reddit) and removed myself from group chats in discord, signal, text, etc. I tried to get people to set up IRL activities in me on a weekly basis, but none would.
So now I walk my dog and meet up with my neighbor once a week to play trivia (who I never really spoke to when I was too busy keeping up with friends who were 500 miles away with silly gifs).
I think I'm happier now, but definitely more isolated.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
Studies show that the people that live independently the longest as they age are the people that make contact with lots of people in their immediate community. Being a regular at the coffeeshop or bakery or golf course will be the thing that keeps your grey matter going. Trivia with your neighbor does you way more good than a hundred thousand gifs with long distance friends. I was just hanging out with my neighbor and his friend in our driveway last night talking about headlights and pollen counts and I got so much more out of that than I did the hour long facetime session with a family member.
vand3lay1ndustries@reddit
I 100% agree. This quote from Plato seems relevant.
SnoozuRN@reddit
I deleted all social media except Reddit as well. I love walking my dog and reading as a scrolling replacement. I have a lot of people I see IRL and I want to take them with me to a future commune in the mountains 😂
vand3lay1ndustries@reddit
The digital lure is still definitely there though, like an addict wanting another drink.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
Turning off all phone notifications that aren't the actual phone ringing or texts is self care. If I got an alert on my phone right now that my aunt commented on my fb post, I would throw my phone in a lake. I don't even get those major news push notifications. If I want to know things, I can go looking. Useless, overstimulating visual (and sometimes actual) noise just clogs up your periphery until it takes over your entire vision. Then you can't see farther than two feet in front of your face and the only things you know are what your algorithm decided you should know in order to be a better consumer.
Mr_Pogi_In_Space@reddit
Isn't it the opposite now? The newer generations never answer their phone, it's a faux pas to call without texting or messaging first. Turn off your ringer and don't answer the phone
SnoozuRN@reddit
I think it's all the texts and messages that annoy me too. Constant notifications. Unfortunately I am an emergency contact for my kids too 😂
Narfubel@reddit
Who sets that expectation? I haven't turned on my ringer in 10 years now
SnoozuRN@reddit
I think my problem is that I have kids and a husband who expect me to be responsive. And my kids are in so many activities with apps I have to use and things I have to RSVP to.
thenamewastaken@reddit
I have a camp in the middle of the woods. I tell people my phone doesn't work out there. It does but that's what I tell them.
abbydabbydo@reddit
I live in a mountain area with lots of no reception zones. There have been many days I was on the sofa that the world was told I was “in the mountains”. “Sorry I didn’t get your call, I was in the mountains”
PostTurtle84@reddit
Yup. One of our local churches dammed a creek and put in stairs and a handrail to make a "baptizing hole". On every summer day except Sunday, it's the local swimming hole.
The local pagan-curious kids even go down there at night to do rituals where their parents won't catch them. I just smile and make sure that nothing got left that someone's kid or dog might get into.
But my cellphone doesn't work down in this little holler, so I'm pretty fond of telling my husband where I'm going, and heading down to the baptizing hole with a new book and a snack.
musical_shares@reddit
My search history:
“How to find [random thing] on new iOS”
“Where is the [feature that used to be there] after the update?”
“Which menu is the [random feature] in now?”
“Where is the [account/billing/details] menu found if not under [accounts/billing/details]?”
“How to turn off [random app/feature/“convenience” I never wanted anyway]”
“Why doesn’t [thing I know is right there] show up when typing in the search box for the exact thing anymore?”
“How to remove…”
“Why is my computer showing…”
Internet search results are inevitably:
“Get best deals on Frustrated Redditors near you! We have muchly bestest Frustrated Redditors in your city, click here for to buy best deals sale discount Frustrated Redditors now!”
PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit
Seriously when did search functions become useless?? I can’t reliably search my Gmail anymore and it’s a problem
DBPanterA@reddit
By design.
Enshitification is entire platforms and websites and experiences is real. It makes you stay longer on the stupid ass site so they can throw another ad or two your way. 🤦🏼♂️
Google may know their search engine is garbage now, they probably do, they just don’t care.
GinnyMcJuicy@reddit
Thier CTO or someone on that level admitted this in an interview recently. They know the results suck but they get paid for each search you do, so they make it shitty so you rephrase your search and then they put more ads in front of you. I miss when the internet was useful and you could find anything.
ImportantRoutine1@reddit
We stopped running Google ads because it was so useless. I'm a therapist and the tech bro therapy companies are the main source of income for them now. It's crazy, even Googling one of them, you get ads for the other.
Lilithbeast@reddit
They also want to force you to read the AI summary instead of looking at actual search results. When I'm desperate I'll just see what the AI is scraping and go to that source.
scattershotdreams@reddit
I would swear I came across an article at some point that said this is on purpose to drive people to use AI. Which I need information for my job, and frequently the only way to get it without wasting time on crap websites is to ask AI for it.
Celeste_Seasoned_14@reddit
I do the same, but then just scroll down to see which sources they used and go to the actual sites.
Woozle_Gruffington@reddit
This is the way
BagOnuts@reddit
Bro, Gmail search is absolutely trash. I have to use chatGTP integration just to find emails. Insane.
PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit
The last thing I want near my Gmail history is fucking Chat GPT UGGGHHHHH
BagOnuts@reddit
Your not wrong, I just could t think of a better way to find what I needed. It worked, though!
Aware_Policy_9174@reddit
I was just trying to find a tax document yesterday in Gmail and the search was so useless. It used to work too, that’s what pisses me off. Now even with advanced search it just comes up with so many unrelated emails.
PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit
Mine will show me unrelated shit from 10 years ago and I’m forced to sit down and scroll my inbox for 10 minutes to find the thing I’m looking for!
Eseris@reddit
Right? I got an important email the other day, marked it for archive so I don't lose it, aaaand it's gone. Took me forever to find it again since the "Archive" burron is no longer there to see archived stuff.
justonemom14@reddit
I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to realize they were just recycling my search terms. When you search for a bizarre specific item, and it immediately returns "Buy [bizarre specific items] at Walmart now!" Walmart doesn't really have them. It's a lie. It should say, "Click here, get distracted, buy a bunch of other stuff you didn't need, leave an hour later wondering what happened and why you're out $200 but didn't get the thing you actually wanted!"
musical_shares@reddit
Internet Library < shitty internet strip mall
CosmicTurtle504@reddit
“Middle-aged Redditor got frustrated by technology, you’ll never believe what happened next!”
musical_shares@reddit
short reel set to wildly inappropriate music of an anthropomorphic phone shattering a CGI window
747492937472066 views
Moxie_Stardust@reddit
Well, it involves changing a setting, but you can modify your Google search to return "old style" results by updating the search string to this: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 (that's how it does in Firefox, can't tell you how to do it in other browsers)
These days I mostly use DuckDuckGo and fall back on that if I'm not seeing what I want.
canwealljusthitabong@reddit
Oh my god I fucking HATE the latest iOS update. Even taking a screenshot has become a complicated mess of choices. Just take the screenshot and leave me alone!
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Microsoft adding "Copilot Suggestions" to the drop down in Excel is a fucking war crime. I hope whoever did that gets fired and then divorced.
Aurochbull@reddit
This has me cracking up because it's so accurate. "Why are my photos arranged in various albums now?!" and "How do I stop this podcast that I haven't been subscribed to for 7 years from auto-playing every time I get in my truck?!"
agentkolter@reddit
Mine is “how to turn off AI feature in [app/software]”
stangAce20@reddit
Ive generally been able to keep up
Da12khawk@reddit
I feel like a crazy conspiracy theorist half the time. Like why do u need all this information?
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
Try working in tech and trying to keep up with all this shit lol
medyolang_@reddit
way to diminish that guy’s problem
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
whatever you say
EmPalsPwrgasm@reddit
It's among the reasons why I gave up. Already too many tools, platforms, commands for me if things were frozen in time, but then it's also evolving constantly. Nah. I'm gonna flip burhers now or something
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
Same here, former ux designer, ran for the hills as soon as they started telling us to use AI for everything, couldn't deal with figma being whatever the hell it turned into, there's probably a new tool that everybody needs to learn out now too
Aronacus@reddit
AI is just another thing.
With Virtualization you won't need Infrastructure Engineers anymore guys!
With The Cloud, You won't need any of those Data Center teams and Engineering teams.
With Infrastructure as code Developers can do the work of Engineers. You'll cut costs.
With AI you won't need developers anymore <--- We are here.
In all cases, I've kept on working, my job description changed but the work didn't. The pay did increase though.
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
Well that and UX designers are constantly tasked with convincing stakeholders that our jobs are valuable. Then it turned into how to make more money ( I mean it always was but now worse) instead of you know, actual user experience. I got tired of all this shit way before AI.
Aronacus@reddit
I feel your pain, I was doing website design in my youth. Nothing like getting an ambiguous. 'This website doesn't have any WOW factor. Can you make it POP!"
I was in a meeting last week about how AI would be replacing engineers. I sat there as these smug managers prattled on about it. phrases like
"Massive cost savings!"
"Productivity improvements"
I just laughed. When I got called out for my smirk. I had to drop the bomb.
"Your plan for AI, is it'l replace myself and the other engineers here. But, You can't even tells us what you want half the time. So, How do you expect an AI to build what you want?"
a Project Manager laughed and told me "You need to accept AI is the future"
That was my moment, So, I told him. "Your job is to take what the C-levels say and break it down into work for us to do? Then, I don't need AI to replace you. What would stop an engineer from just getting the request from C-levels and creating it and skip 5 layers of management?"
That got a gasp, and abruptly ended our meeting. I imagine I'll be let go in the coming days. "With cause" they'll say.
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
This is great. It's really ridiculous.
It's helpful on day to day work sure. But it isn't what the people who are in charge think it is.
an_harmonica@reddit
Yeah, it's the same as always: sales people lies and executive delusion.
22nd_century@reddit
What did you pivot into?
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
Librarian. Not really a smart move financially, but my partner can deal with the tech world somehow. Mentally I feel so much better than I did in corporate. It's kind blowing how much less stress I feel even though it is a high stress job.
Quizleteer@reddit
Omg! I’m currently a designer in tech and think about being a librarian all the time! I can’t, though, because I’m my family’s breadwinner so I’m stuck trying to figure out how to survive in this industry indefinitely 😩
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
It's painful isn't it
Quizleteer@reddit
Yes. Our usage of AI tooling is now being monitored and it makes me so anxious. I feel like I’m falling so behind. 😞
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
One of my first IT jobs was doing tech support at the library of the university I attended. It was a peaceful place to work but some of those Librarians were idiots lol. One lady always had malware on her computer from downloading free coupons off the web.
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
One of my CO workers needed me to explain to her how to open outlook so yeah I feel you
Deathgripsugar@reddit
Libraries have high stress jobs?
I always thought it was chill
Old-Piece-3438@reddit
I’ve heard that librarians can often end up essentially being like social workers for their community as well as the normal books and stuff. I could see it being stressful at times.
SpaceTulips@reddit
^^^This. We are underfunded and providing vast number of services that used to be available elsewhere. We are copy centers, community centers, receptionists, custodians, day cares, and third spaces. Covid changed people. No one has any patience, no one watches their own kids, nothing is their fault, the richest patrons give us the most grief over replacing a book, and there is huge variance in how tech-savvy our patrons are. Everything is online and incredibly unfriendly for people who don’t, won’t, or can’t keep up with tech. I could write a book, but who has the time? I’ve been saying for a decade a MLS degree must included at least 6 credits of social work, because we were not trained for the complexity and volume of need.
It is an incredibly customer-oriented job and burnout is real, but no one takes us seriously if you say you’re tired because “it must be so fun to read books all day!”
SquirrelEnthusiast@reddit
Nailed it
Polkawillneverdie17@reddit
Have you ever had to work directly with the public?
22nd_century@reddit
Happy for you!
thewibblywobblyjelly@reddit
One of the reasons I’ve been coasting for a few years now. The industry I was passionate about 20 years ago is barely recognisable now. I don’t want to be a part of it. Thought about retraining as a teacher until I saw all the tech in use. JFC. Teachers aren’t educating their charges anymore, they’re just overseeing app use. Not surprised they’re leaving the profession in droves.
kr00j@reddit
Same, fam - same. I'm a bonafide SWE that's been doing this shit for 20+ years, and honestly, the latest AI wave is mostly lies. The models are statistical engines for generating tokens, and they're _confidently_ wrong a lot of the time. The companies behind these models are very likely a shitshow on the inside. There's no sentience, no logic, just stats. What this tech does reveal is how much work can be reduced to a box-ticking exercise.
I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
LH99@reddit
And having management tell you to figure something out bc we need an AI solution to “streamline” this product
Yesterday I was told our outsourced India people fucked up a product so bad that the customer went three levels above my managers head to bitch. So they want me to “figure out an AI solution”
I just laughed in their face
“So your bargain dollar unskilled and outsourced solution screwed up so badly that you now want me to find a bargain dollar bullshit ai solution? And you think THATS going to fix the problem?!”
Dead eye stare.
Everything in tech sucks right now.
1HumanAlcoholBeerPlz@reddit
I sat in on a leadership meeting and the bootlicking management did whenever the CTO brought up AI. "Brilliant idea, oh smart one" type energy. He was talking about rewriting our flagship product that brings in tens of millions a year with 3 devs and AI. I was thinking I can't be the only one worried about this but everyone in the room was practically ready to give him a standing ovation.
I see one of 2 things happening. 1. They miss every deadline because the AI has to be spoon fed and the slop it produces doesn't consider edge cases so UA takes way longer. 2. They don't miss a single deadline but go live is a massive shit show. All the devs they fired have to be replaced and the end product is buggy and worse that what it replaced.
EmPalsPwrgasm@reddit
Oh I hadn't even considered how to clueless management, every problem just needs an AI bandaid now. The horror.
LH99@reddit
yep, SOMETHING exists! They're sure of it. Now go find it and figure out how to implement it
Do I look like an operations fucking manager to you, asshole? No. I'm a goddamn video editor and animator. #Gofuckyourself
djsynrgy@reddit
The problem is less the tech umbrella itself; more the generally unmodified expectation that any individual can learn/master the entire field.
"Oh, you're in 'tech', so you must know all about [niche app/code/resource/etc.]"
Coding isn't network engineering isn't technical support isn't web development isn't IoT isn't system administration isn't digital artistry isn't robotics isn't SEO isn't local generative AI isn't..
justonemom14@reddit
Reminds me of old TV shows like MacGyver. If someone was smart, or a geek, they knew everything. Not just "computers," which all of your examples would be lumped into, but also anything electric, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mechanics, basically anything even remotely related to science.
olduvai_man@reddit
Agreed, I'm a SWE and have such narrow focus on technology that I'm essentially useless outside of my domain knowledge because I don't have the energy to learn anymore lol.
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
Im an EUC support specialist for a large company. I get paid very well to swap out laptops and help people install printers. Its a mindless job but I plan on milking it as long as I can.
shootemupy2k@reddit
So it’s not only me. Thank god!
cozycorner@reddit
I’m 49 and can still keep up, but whether I care to is the real question. I like my garden and the birds and making homemade bath products and chilling with my cats. I use AI, and I’ve been on committees about it at work. I welcome any automations I can do, but at the same time I am just so damn tired of computers in general.
tampapunklegend@reddit
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. For me it feels like tech is being forced on things that don't really need it, or they try to use tech to simplify things, and end up paradoxically making them more complicated. Its beginning to feel as if they're just reinventing the wheel most of the time, and somehow making that wheel less functional.
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
It is exactly this...well stated.
Rck0025@reddit
As a Xennnial and tech savvy, I think the tech we most interact with on a daily basis has largely become cumbersome—-the authentications, 90 logins, password management that doesn’t keep up, google giving you everything except what you were actually searching for.
Tech when we were younger was the .com bubble, beginning of affordable pc’s and laptops and the beginning of the smartphone. These things served a purpose of making things easier and were somewhat of a luxury.
Now tech shackles us to keep up or lose your security and speed of life.
But consumer tech has also been good:
Ai LLM’s has been helpful for me personally
Home automation has made life easier
safety control features in newer cars have made driving safer for many.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
I was an early adopter of a lot of tech and worked for the first mobile photo social media company in 2004, but now I avoid all social media and would sooner die than post pics of my kids on the internet like we all used to. My ex is a big guy at Apple and my brother was a VP at Amazon, so I always got all the new toys on release day and attended CES every year. Now, I brick my phone 20 hours a day and I am researching tech-free private schools for my toddler. I avoid using apps for anything besides weather and music and do everything possible thru the browser on my phone or macbook, preferably macbook. I have zero interest in AI and use the duckduckgo browser that allows for complete AI disengagement. I refuse to buy a new car, even though I desperately need one, because all the huge ugly screens are such a no-go for me. I only have one streaming subscription and I even got rid of all the Ring doorbells and cameras. No more Alexa in my house, or any voice recognition anything. Laptop and ipad cameras and microphones get taped over. Location services blocked on every device. Yes, that means I have to enable it when I need my gps for directions and then turn it right back off. I embrace being a modern Luddite. It certainly feels more sustainable, for me at least.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
Did you actually get the brick? If so, is it worth it? Can you cheat? I’m tempted to use it to get my offline (still on here. . . 😫) but if I can get around it easily it’s just a waste of money.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
Brick works great! I turn my iphone into something that just does text, phone, camera, weather, lights, and music/audible. No browser, email, shopping apps. The Brick lives on my fridge and I have an alarm at 9pm to go Brick my phone. If you really need to emergency unlock your phone you can, but you only get 5 of those and then I think you have to buy a new Brick altogether.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
Ordered. If it works out I’ll be very glad I got soooo cranky this morning. Thanks!
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
Give yourself some time with it. Start by getting rid of the #1 use of screentime on the first day and then add an app everyday. By the time you have it down to just the absolute essentials, it won't feel like you've jerked the rug out from under yourself. I also highly recommend having a book or Kindle or Switch or something to occupy yourself. Watching tv that requires subtitles is a good distraction from having it in your hand.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
I knit and am working in the garden. I became addicted to tik tok over the last year and now I need tv, tik tok and something else to do.
Slow and steady
OhWhatever_Nevermind@reddit
100%. It just all feels so burdensome and exhausting. And I strongly prefer handwriting things over using my phone or laptop and I have noticed when I read on my phone (esp fiction) I do not retain information nearly as much as I do when I read hard copy book or papers.
absentlyric@reddit
This isn't an age thing, it's an enshitification thing. I keep up with tech on a daily basis for work. And it's not you, it's all being designed by people who don't know how to design software, businesses trying to cut costs, push ads, and squeeze out every dollar. It's a mess.
Sensitive_Pianist777@reddit
I'm driving an 08 Toyota. Definitely will not be buying a new car any time.
HighGlutenTolerance@reddit
I bought a 2004 Saab off FB last August after a summer of new car shopping and hating everything. There wasn't a single new luxury suv out there that felt like it was worth more than $40k yet they were all priced far higher. The quality is awful and half the models I looked at had active recalls at the time of test drive. I will probably get a vw vanagon next.
whirlingbervish@reddit
About a year ago, I traded in my 2011 Mazda for a 2025 Mazda. I do like the back-up camera, but otherwise it's just a lot of features that get buggy and work inconsistently. Now my car randomly and loudly tells me out of nowhere that "it can't connect" - I wasn't trying to connect to anything nor do I need to connect to anything. I still see my old model/make driving around and I get a little twinge of jealousy.
ConceitedWombat@reddit
I have a 2016 Mazda and I’m quite convinced it represents the sweet spot of tech. It has Bluetooth and a backup camera, but no other useless BS.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
I've upgraded, but I'm holding onto my old Honda of about the same year and coming up on 200K miles. It's really beat up on the outside, so I'll never get much for it, but the engine runs like it's new. I just can't see scrapping it. Plus it's my last stick shift. I use it to haul yard waste now.
joshhupp@reddit
You might want to listen to your new doctor. Your old doctor probably practiced for years prescribing the same medication because "it works fine" but 5 years of research could find better drugs with less side effects and better outcomes and your younger doctor would likely be schooled in new medicine. I saw a young woman about getting tested for ADHD. She thought I may also have autism and she was right. Don't be afraid to try something new.
Juls_Santana@reddit
What's annoying me about modern day tech is how you basically have to compromise your privacy and identity just to use it. Everything requires you to sign up for a service and sign in
Able_Secretary_6835@reddit
I got lost when music went digital. I thought I owned some digital songs, but a couple of computer changes later, they were just gone. For a while I just listened to whatever Pandora told me to. I have a bit more agency with Amazon Music. (But I loathe Amazon so....). The technology around having kids is insane. There's a whole app just to communicate with the school. And then the kids have all these apps. They are on screens so much while at school. I hate it. I feel old about it too. It's not just you.
Drilling4Oil@reddit
You're not old and slow. You're fatigued of enshittification of the one big leap we had going for us in our lifetime: the world wide web.
It's all intentional.
The goal is to move everything- even the OS itself- into "the cloud". You will login to your Windows or Apple account and everything will be "hosted" on "data center" servers. You will have no "files" on your computer b/c it will have no hard drive. Your login will be tied to your "real id" state issued driver's license/state ID and everything you do or say online will accumulate in your digital citizen file to be parsed by various entities.
"You will own nothing and be happy," ring a bell?
DalinarOfRoshar@reddit
I find Instagram, as an app, very frustrating to use. I make my kids geo me when I want to post something. So yeah, I’m becoming my mother.
EloquentArtist@reddit
Tech pisses me off for the fact that I see we went from simplicity and ease of use to marketing is all that matters. I hate I can't buy a freaking program anymore. I used to buy my Photoshop but now it's a subscription? Everything gets trapped behind micro purchase pay walls. I can keep up with the tech fine that's not my problem. I get angry knowing how much better it could be but instead it's damaging people's brains and poorly target marketing anything it can at you. Why do I need 17 different health apps. Why can't one app reach all of my doctors so my records can be addressed by all of my providers and myself. Everything is retail retail retail, if it won't make them more money they won't improve it
Remarkable_Quote_716@reddit
Has nothing to do with age. Just cognitive preference. I personally love all things related to tech.
mosesoperandi@reddit
A big part of your frustration clearly isn't being aged out of tech, it's that tech is currently swimming in fucking dark UX patterns. We had a brief shimmering moment where relatively humanistic design was at the forefront of truly amazing tech between roughly 2008 and 2016. The standard on any respectable site was no autoplay on video, no pop-up ads, and close buttons that could be easily clicked. The array of apps was far more limited, and even though they were collecting user data it wasn't being put to such obvious heinous uses.
The internet and app ecosystem at least in America is basically like the pharmaceutical industry. We have no regulations that prevent corporations from doing genuinely heinous shit that dehumanizes the user.
This is stuff that could be meaningfully regulated, but I wouldn't count on that happening any time soon.
VVrayth@reddit
No. I refuse to be confused or left behind by tech. AI is a different story because it's a house of cards and it doesn't do what all these billionaires want everyone to believe -- but generally, beyond that, I definitely keep up with tech and continue to stay up on how stuff works.
Embrace two-factor authentication. Install uBlock Origin in your web browsers. Stop using Chrome (use Waterfox or Brave instead). Stop using Facebook entirely, for more reasons than I want to type out.
As far as your doctor goes, well, you are your own best advocate. If you are happy with your current meds, you know best.
rtlg@reddit
Pay the 20 bucks for the pro versions of chatgpt amd gemini (better usage and no.ads) and just have at it
Lumpy_Strawberry_154@reddit
I still listen to cassettes and watch movies on my VCR. I opted out of communicating with society after my pager was rendered useless and I didn't really want a cell phone when I had voice messaging on my home phone. I finally gave in around 2011 and bought a smart phone, and I only buy the cheapest Walmart Motorola when I need a new one.
I honestly cannot think of a single technological invention I have needed since the late 90s. None of it has made my life more enjoyable. Just more expensive and time consuming.
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Same here.
GreyTigerFox@reddit
facebook is cancer. The sooner you quit using it, the happier you’ll be.
firehawk2324@reddit
I understand tech and that's why I'm over it.
hedwaterboy@reddit
I think it affects us the most, we remember the before times but we were at the age to adapt when it came out, now, it’s not that it’s over our heads, it’s just INCONVENIENT. It’s a waste of time, everything is a sales pitch, an advertisement or an ANGLE. I don’t WANT to keep up anymore.
FloridaGirlMary@reddit
Tech is super easy for me. I am burnt out by it though. Been on computers since I was a kid in the early 90s and on the internet since 95. I’m over it
Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit
To me it's not HARDER to use, just so much more annoying and not delivering the convenience and efficiency that I know it could. If anything I think stuff is superficially user friendly. It's all skinned over with an interface that you just have to click. If I really needed to understand what happens under the hood of my devices, I'd be sunk!
DDark_Devon@reddit
I feel this daily. I can learn software no problem but hardware that's another story. I try to simplify everything at home with my TVs and devices... or ask my Gen-Z kid to help me. Went to visit family and wanted to just throw their TV remote (one of the six different remotes that is) at the wall trying to figure out all the inputs for the TV like just let me turn on the TV and watch something, anything... Incredibly frustrating. Especially after being an office worker all these years, starting at a computer screen 8 hours a day. Do I need a laptop to take home? No! Do I want an iPad for Christmas? Also, no! I don't want any more screens, or any more devices. Agree with the comments about living in a log cabin away from people and technology. Technology fatigue
tomqvaxy@reddit
Don't worry. The kids have to search up answers for it all too.
MSB218@reddit
Our generation has a complex relationship with tech— simultaneously savvy and dumb, and I feel it. When it comes to troubleshooting, technical stuff, etc., I’m still the man, but all these new-generation tools that are designed to be easy and intuitive throw me. I’ve learned to leave that side of it to my 31-year-old late-millennial wife.
StopClockerman@reddit
It feels like everyone just keeps trying to reinvent the wheel on their own originally-effective and valuable products, just trying to find some immense new angle that they can market in an attempt to obtain never ending growth.
New features or redesigns just end up unnecessarily complicated and counterintuitive
cjandstuff@reddit
I hate it, but that's exactly what's going on with a lot of these. An app can't just work anymore. It has to have constant updates or else it fades into obscurity.
animus218@reddit
I feel like our generation is uniquely adapted to adopting new technology well because of the ages we were as it came into our lives.
My partner is on the older end but identifies as Gen X, I'm on the younger end but am definitely more Xennials than Millennial, and we both love technology and the current tools being developed, but also recognize the limits and that the bubble will burst.
My sister and her husband are Millennials and are very low on acceptance and understanding of emerging tech.
We also don't have social media (me less than him), so maybe that does help.
drainbamage1011@reddit
I just feel like I don't have the time for it anymore. It was different when I was in high school/college and had hours of free time to fiddle around with the PC or whatever, figure out the settings and get everything the way I wanted it. These days, after I finish work, chores, family time, etc. all I really want to do it shut my brain off for a while before I go to bed.
Longjumping_Cod_9132@reddit
You know that’s not how generations work, right? You can’t be one generation and your sister another.
Wobbling@reddit
Im 50. Am I the same gen as my 19 year old brother?
animus218@reddit
....depends on the kind of generation you're talking about. Do you not understand the subreddit you are in? My sister was born in 1991, I was born in 1983.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
I’m everyone’s tech support at home and in my office (still the youngest there!) the older and younger generation can’t seem to figure it out. Ten years ago I thought it was all great, now I just get frustrated and bitch and moan in corporate/family speak.
casdoodle527@reddit
I’m my husbands tech support and it pisses me off (he’s only 9 months older than me).
Historical-Client-78@reddit
Did I write this??
Nicolas_yo@reddit
Any time my boss asks me to do something in PowerPoint i have an internal meltdown.
ihatecatboys@reddit
I don't think tech is over my head, I think tech has become cumbersome trash. I understand what it is doing and I hate it. We went from watching constant progression to constant enshittification.
I don't want to spend 40 minutes of my tax prep fighting different two-factor authentication services. I don't want 4 programs to log into to clock in at work. There is no need for the restaurant to have my phone number or email, or require me to use my phone to order food. It is all just shit now.
bekarene1@reddit
This. I work with tech and new programs every day as part of my career. They aren't intuitive, streamlined or user friendly in any way. Half the time, they are so needlessly complex and contain so many unnecessary bells and whistles that you can barely get them to do the basic things that are promised to do. If anything, they slow work down and make it harder.
I firmly believe it's not us, it's them
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
I agree.
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
It was never about user convenience and all about mining your personal information for monetization.
1HumanAlcoholBeerPlz@reddit
Honestly, if a country wanted to completely destroy our economy, take out our data centers. Every damn thing needs the Internet or apps these days.
LordTwinkie@reddit
Block all those ads!
Yellow_Curry@reddit
I don’t mind the tech. I hate most of it but mostly with how bad it is. Printers though…fuck printers. Pain in the ass.
ChillWaveSurfer@reddit
Hah, printers… I’ve been out of the professional world for about 7 years now as a stay at home parent. My spouse had purchased a printer for their home office and was complaining because I was printing too much for our allotment through the HP subscription.
Needless to say my mind was blown… I’m not sure when that happened, but owning a printer used to mean I could print whatever the hell i wanted to.
Also, my car won’t remote start unless I pay through the mobile app for it. It still can, it just won’t…
captain_paws_tattoo@reddit
That's why I got a canon. I am not paying a subscription fee to use my damn printer!
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Same.
crazycatlady331@reddit
Office Space did it right when it comes to printers.
mjc4y@reddit
PC LOAD LETTER?!
yeah, it's good to be a gangsta
GrindhouseWhiskey@reddit
A decent laser printer or Epson Ecotank provided you print regularly so ink drying isn’t a problem is the way to go. Nothing HP. You’ll pay a little more upfront, but then they just work. The laser basically doesn’t dry out, so if you live in an arid climate or print infrequently, you won’t have to do nozzle cleaning just to print those couple of pages each month. The Ecotank is an inkjet that you refill from bottles rather than expensive cartridges. The ink cost is way lower. But if you don’t print regularly, live somewhere super dry, or have your printer sitting under a heat lamp it will still dry out and need maintenance
Mudseason1@reddit
I was just going to say this! I got a Brother tank printer last year because of the HP bs, and I LOVE it. Never going back to cartridges (or HP, just out of spite.)
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
I used to hate my printer until I found out it was one of the last ones that was made well (it's an older Brother). Now I baby that thing. I sweet talk it. Periodically I have to put black tape on the ink cartridges so it doesn't assume it needs new ink. I will do this until its dying day.
dorky2@reddit
I maintain that it's capitalism ruining tech that is the problem. Everything is geared towards squeezing every possible cent out of users at every step of the process. In the 90s and 2000s, tech was being developed in a way that prioritized user experience and innovation. Right now the only priority is profit. They only care about user experience to the extent that it affects their bottom line. That's why everything is ads. That's why AI is being pushed on us so hard. That's why algorithms have ruined social media. That's why Google results are useless. That's why third party authentication is required. Another hand has to be in the pot. It's not because we're old and out of touch, it's that tech sucks now.
sravll@reddit
I don't find it over my head so much as I dislike it.
DiceyScientist@reddit
I do not hate tech. It’s easier to learn than ever.
I hate the attention it demands. The passwords, F2A, the consistent changes (that I refuse to call them “upgrades”; it is not an improvement when you move a button in a GUI), and the subscription business models for everything (Toyota remote start app!). This is exhausting, intrusive, and expensive from greedy rent seeking behaviors.
sweeptheleg77@reddit
I feel like most of us are becoming ludites due to tech being forced onto us in small doses, then exponentially.
ShutYourDumbUglyFace@reddit
Use Firefox and get the Ublock Origin extension. This will help with the ads. Get Bitwarden or another password manager (not LastPass) for your passwords and to store passkeys and whatnot - this may help somewhat with the 2FA issues. You can add it as an extension on your browser and get an app for your phone. You'll only need to remember one password. You can also store credit card data in it and set how often it asks for a password. Get rid of Facebook. It's trash.
You can always get a second opinion on the meds from your doc. Medicine is a constantly changing field and new drugs come out all the time. And you're allowed to just say no. Especially if you worked hard to find a combination of meds that works for you. And you can make her explain like you're 5 why she wants to change your meds.
ethnicvegetable@reddit
Husband was a brilliant hardware engineer and then went on to do cybersecurity at a famously logoed company. He retired and the only technology he can handle is the sprinklers because he’s just sick of it all lol. You’re not alone.
guru42101@reddit
The number and pervasiveness of apps I find annoying. Everything has it's own app that it wants you to have installed. Half my work stuff requires me to MFA on my phone. Work requires me to install the MS security stuff to access work systems from my phone, but that app has the ability to brick my phone. So, I don't access work systems from my phone. I still have to have Google Auth, Okta Auth, Brivo, and Duo apps to access various systems for my employer or clients. Plus my passwords expiring every 90 days for things that I use once or twice a year. So every time I have to get some security person to unlock my account. Just let me use a 32 character password and not change it. The fact that I HAVE to use a password manager is less secure than if I was able to give each account a long, memorable, unique password, e.g. 867# My really secure password for Insert Name!
Every hotel, restaurant, airline, or retailer has their own app. Some won't function properly if I don't give them permission to give me notifications. I don't want to deal with the volume of them, especially for stuff that I only use once a year. Every time I have to reinstall the damn app and set it up again. Half the time I first need to uninstall other apps to free up space.
It's just as bad as the little membership cards for keychains. I don't want to have a little card for EVERY single store. Often today I tell them I don't want a membership and other than my primary grocery store, the hassle of it isn't worth any rewards they give. Even then, half of the coupons I have to scan a QR code to get and the app doesn't have a quick "Scan QR Code" button. I have to click search and then click on a camera icon.
Norgler@reddit
I feel like I still understand tech fine.. I just can't stand the enshittification of stuff that use to work fine or how everything is setup to waste your time or get you to pay for a subscription I sure as shit don't need.
I feel like tech has got more annoying, invasive, expensive and less useful.
TJBurkeSalad@reddit
I don’t hate the tech, in fact I’m very good at using it.
I hate how much of it I need to use in daily life.
dreadpiratemyk@reddit
The rules haven't changed. Learn what you don't know, ignore shit you think is dumb that you can't change like ads (adblock works a little). Your phone is gonna serve you up things it thinks you like. You'll get over it.
Listen to people who know more than you, like the young doctor. That old doctor of yours sounds old and set in their ways too. Boomers wanted to be told what they want to hear so bad, they overturned the fucking Chevron defense.
Try not to get so mad. Time and tools change. People don't. Learn from the past. DON'T do fascism. DO be careful with massive change, like internet should have been and AI should be.
JamesMattDillon@reddit
I am over the third party authentication on almost everything, on how every site now has to use AI.
unngh_yugstyx@reddit
The difference is that tech back in the day was about learning it to enable its usefulness. Now it's about learning it to avoid obstacles, ads, scams and other BS.
Mr_Pogi_In_Space@reddit
Have you spoken with your new doctor yet? A younger doctor usually means they're more up to date with the current clinical practice guidelines and they're more open to using evidence-based medicine instead of just reaching for the same thing they've been prescribing for all patients for the last 30 years
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Or they are relying on decision-trees at the expense of personal observations and experience.
Realistic-Secret-590@reddit
I can no longer by a new car because of Tech alone. It seems auto manufactures want their hooks into you for the life of the car. All those features like heated seats, internet, onstar, etc come with a monthly service fee now - stop paying and it no longer works. Manufactures are selling the stored vehicle data to insurance companies, and you know those cool screens in all the new cars? Soon to come directly to you wether you want it or not ADVERTISING!!! COMERCIALS IN YOUR CAR!!! Straw that broke the proverbial camels back for me...
cosmicfluffnstuff@reddit
I blame also being overwhelmed on enshittification, planned obsolescence, bad UX, and UI friction. What happened to the future we were promised? Oh right. The 1%, greed, and deregulation of everything.
Allaplgy@reddit
I talked to my ex about some of our issues via text and my Instagram feed was suddenly all ads for counseling and boner pills.
fleetiebelle@reddit
I signed up to take an online course for work, and I practically had a midlife crisis trying to navigate through all of the platforms and discussion portals. I hated it so much and felt like an idiot just trying to grasp the basics. Like a lot of others I don't think of myself as a Luddite, and I can usually figure things out, but the way school is done now is beyond my capacity.
Rare-Extension-6023@reddit
Dude, life is so much longer, u gonna be cantankerous already lol??
Lesbian_Skeletons@reddit
Dude, are you in your 40s, or your 80s? This should be satire, why do so many of you sound less tech literate than my parents, what is happening.
cjandstuff@reddit
Two things I'm struggling with.
My kid and I are both a little more than casual gamers. PC, VR, and Nintendo Switch.
The freakin' log ins, connected accounts, subscriptions, etc are insane. And to make matters worse, some of the accounts are under my info, and some are under his step-dad's info. So trying to find a password and then do authentication requires multiple people and households involved.
I'm also a video editor. I've been working in television for the past decade+, and now corporate is pushing everything digital. It's always been a game of faster and cheaper, but now they don't give a shit about quality. It's make 10 versions of every ad for different sized screens as quickly as possible. It's easy! Get AI to do it for you!
And then I spend half the day correcting everything AI screws up.
Meanwhile kids are editing seizure educing tik-tok videos in minutes, but we still need slightly higher quality for TV. No jump cuts on talking heads!
grn_eyed_bandit@reddit
Lose your phone and you’ll see how intertwined our lives are with technology.
I lost mine and was without my primary phone for two days.
IT WAS PAINFUL.
Intelligent-Search88@reddit
I feel it too (44M). We’re in a strange transitory period where everything is being migrated to cloud and subscription based products. Key word there being products. We’ve yet to reach the point where leaders in specific areas stand out. For example, I have eight different apps on my phone for my two kids’ sports teams. Some are in use, some aren’t, and a few have already been deleted. But there’s no one do-it-all (for that category), yet. Another part of the problem that adds to the stress is that a lot of these services either don’t work right or as advertised. While that’s fine, the way they get inserted into your daily life has a way of creating tension that benefits no one.
Dizzy_Consequence_77@reddit
I'm enjoying saying "the young people these days".. and let them help me 🙂
TheySayImZack@reddit
Yes lol. And here is the funny part: From 2004-2017 I ran my own IT business. 80% residential, 20% small business. I stopped liking what I was doing because I found myself disliking some people who were just plain rude. The kicker was when one guy wouldn’t let me leave his home until he made sure all his pot worked after I repaired his computer. I basically burned myself out working 18 hour days.
Bought an iPhone. Switched to Apple. Haven’t looked back. Troubleshooting my sole remaining windows 10 pc has been challenging.
Now I’m trying to help my son with Slack and Discord and I don’t know what I’m even looking at half the time. lol. My kids do stuff with their iPads I didn’t even know was possible.
There will come a time when my kids will help me like i did with my parents.
SupermouseDeadmouse@reddit
lastcallhall@reddit
You think you're frustrated, try managing an IT department - I have so many security features and functions to consider with every move I make, to say nothing of the absolute nightmares that are shadow IT and AI usage.
Every day is a new adventure, to say the least.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
I am mostly adaptable on tech. Some of it, I love - like I do everything on my Apple Watch. Never carry a wallet anymore. But I hate things like my Bosch dishwasher having an app. Like WTF, why is that necessary.
natecoin23@reddit
Adventurous_Pin_344@reddit
I normally feel like I'm pretty current with tech... And then I hear my Gen X spouse (who is a technical PM) talk about what he's working on, and most of it goes over my head. He knows so much more than I do.
Is it bad to say that I actually appreciate the added security of everything now? Yes, being asked to provide two factor authentication on everything is a bit of a pain, but way better than having your accounts hacked into. Of course, as quantum computing advances, all that will be moot...
Stompedyourhousewith@reddit
It's a mixed bag for me. I tapped out at Twitter. I don't use chat gpt, I don't even know how, but Google search has inserted their own version into Google search so I guess that's the same. However I figured out how to do local AI image generation on my desktop PC, and I have fully integrated my house with Alexa. I'm not one of those people who complain about the lack of dials in cars. I loved driving the polestar. I don't mind scanning a QR code to see a menu at a restaurant.
Mysterious-Ad-6222@reddit
I have to use it everyday so I feel like I have grown with it. I think it is more a matter of how often you use it vs how old we are.
YourOwnPunkyBrewster@reddit
I definitely feel “old” in the same way. I think it’s compounded by the perception that time passes faster as we age, so it seems like things update way too fast, and I can’t keep up. “Wait, I just got used to where shit was on my phone, now they change it??!” I already want to burn all my electronics, and theoretically I still have 40 ish years of life left….cant imagine what tech will look like in our 80s
Verbull710@reddit
There's probably a subscription service for a young person to help you navigate these technological times
Sergio55@reddit
I’m usually fine with everything tech (so far), but I did have an episode the other day. I had a coupon in my email for a fast casual restaurant. Went to use it and they said I had to order it through the app. I thought it was stupid but whatever.
I open the app only to find I’ve been logged out and it would NOT let me log back in. Despite knowing my login information, it kept rejecting me. I tried resetting my password. I tried using a different email address. I tried for like 15 minutes to login so I could save $4. I finally went back to the cashier and gave them an old timer’s rant about how stupid this all was. Couldn’t they just knock the few bucks off my order manually? The 20-year-old looked at me like I had a second head growing out of my neck.
I really just wanted to storm off, but I had already spent so much time on this thing that I didn’t want to be defeated. I spent several more minutes trying to make it work. Finally I just created a new account and applied the coupon. I have never eaten a meal before with such rage.
throw20190820202020@reddit
You hating all the apps and accounts and authentication isn’t because you’re old. It’s because it’s bullshit. They’re trying to capture our information and attention for money, that’s all it is.
rmsand@reddit
I dont really have these problems, but then again, I've always liked new technology.
KatVanWall@reddit
I don't mind apps. I don't mind 2FA. I don't even mind AI in principle, if it can do things like make search results better/more relevant.
But a lot of it is just shit - harder to find things, annoying to get AI-based services you don't need or want pushed at you everywhere, annoying to get a plethora of ads every time you engage with something, annoying to get 'popularity' (or paid-for) instead of timeline-based content. All the AI slop everywhere is shit.
Also, I can't be arsed with TikTok. It was at that point I realised I was middle-aged.
SojiAsha@reddit
No, because I work in corporate IT and people like you assure me job security.
PezCandyAndy@reddit
For us and our Boomer parents, computers and the internet was all new to explore and figure out. "Ooooh, it can do that?".
Now it's all unnecessary, bloated, and often less functional than it once was. It's by design too so that you use their specific app instead of their website or to make you stay in it longer so you can either spend more money or they can capture more data pertaining to you. Now it's "Ugh, why do we need to do it that way?"
It's less about figuring it out and more about keeping track of everything. I went from needing a few post-its for important passwords and websites to a big excel workbook to keep track of it all.
TrustAffectionate966@reddit
I don’t know how to use A I, but the results I’ve seen from people who know how to use it leave me largely unimpressed and, in some cases, completely AGHAST at how stupid they’ve become at doing simple tasks, like reading, writing, and 5th grade-level arithmetic.
🍿🦄
22nd_century@reddit
I love you all but the replies here sound like a generation getting old.
MrTigerEyes@reddit
Yeah, I don't understand people from our micro-generation complaining about being "old". We're not there yet, I'd say we are minimum of a decade if not two or three. I still feel as healthy as I was in my late 20's and work out and do active hobbies like bike riding. A good friend of mine from high school has a newborn baby (although to be fair, I think it's his 3rd wife and he also has a kid who is like 20). We're nowhere near being "old" and not being able to stay current with whatever is a choice, not an inevitability at our age.
PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit
And I think we need to give older people more credit- sometimes it is correct to criticize the “new hot thing.” I think about all the things that are objectively worse than they were 50 years ago because we can’t leave shit alone. Car interfaces for one. You know it’s safest and easiest to have a few large knobs to control your AC and radio? Yet we need a touchscreen that’s incredibly fussy, takes more steps and easy to break because technology Humanity absolutely will never learn that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it
22nd_century@reddit
I completely agree with this. And it's fair to rail against this kind of of change. However things change whether we like it or not and I prefer to adapt, rather than get left behind.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
That's a defeatist attitude. If we never speak up, nothing changes for the better. If it makes me sound like I'm 'getting old' to say no, I won't just say "things change, oh well," then so be it.
Throughout history there have been periods when wealthy business people implemented changes "for progress" (really for the progress of their bank accounts), and people have pushed back because the changes were causing harm. Imagine if those people had said, "things change whether we like it or not" and just accepted it.
PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit
I’d say most of us are adapting. As best we can.
MadLove82@reddit
My job has been pushing AI harder and harder. I vividly remember sitting in on a meeting and having the realization that this is the first technology I’ve seen that I feel truly resistant to. I think it’s awful and not only do I not want to use it, I want everyone else to stop using it too. That was a very clear line of demarcation for me that I am no longer a young person.
natronmooretron@reddit
Try looking for a job right now. Scary
Next-Honeydew4130@reddit
Technology is such a hassle to keep up with, truly. And if I have to download one more buggy half-baked app….
Blackbird136@reddit
I don’t mind most things, but absolutely hate AI.
It’s not a worry about it taking my job, but more so the environmental impact, not to mention I feel like it’s going to make people rely on it for everything and become unable to form their own thoughts.
I’m a former educator and incredibly glad I left before this was a thing. Can you imagine grading AI essays? 😵💫
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/to-teach-in-the-time-of-chatgpt-is-to-know-pain/
FoxExpensive9319@reddit
I feel it
AiringOGrievances@reddit
I spent two years fighting cancer and Facebook kept pushing ads for cremation and coffins! Capitalism has no morals.
ChaoticCoffeeBean@reddit
You are doing this to yourself, it will only get worse. Do you really want to be the equivalent of today’s seniors who can’t figure out how to send a text or use their tv remote? Life is always learning and evolving. You sound like the old man screaming get off my lawn
catswithnobacon@reddit
I’m gonna start telling people I’m not allowed on the internet anymore per my parole officer or something. It’s an account for everything and they all need different passwords and no matter what you pick it’ll be for sale on the dark web a week later and you’ll never be able to use that password ever again, for anything.
RxR8D_@reddit
And yet with all this tech, the basics are lost.
My kid could design his own games and built quite a reputation around it. Managed to blow several hard drives and was astonished it could happen nor know how to fix it. My old ancient ass built him a new tower with my 30 year old computer class and you’d think I discovered the wheel to him. (shocked my perimenopausal brain remembers anything at this point). Didn’t realize you had to periodically reset the WiFi router or that there are bandwidth limits.
He also couldn’t be bothered to understand roaming and international rates. Just because I’m close the southern border of the US doesn’t mean the phone plan you purchased works the same way in Mexico.
(And he still counts on his fingers and couldn’t recite any important information; such as his own birth year, social, phone number, etc)
Old_Storage379@reddit
Im going to be the bad guy here…. Practice makes perfect. Just use the technology more until you grow accustomed to it. With regards to your medicine…. There are a lot of medications that have adverse effects with long term use and alternatives have been developed. Example- Benadryl and its link to dementia. Your doctor maybe young but there’s likely a reason behind their concern.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Cool. Then as soon as you get comfortable with it, the technology changes. It's constant change. It's not like learning how to use a VCR back in the day and having that be THE technology for the next 20 years.
Old_Storage379@reddit
Just keep on swimming. Learn and adapt. If you don’t use it you lose it. I’m sure I can think of many more euphemisms but the point is to just keep using these things till you master them or can get by.
gracefularthur314@reddit
Social media is dead. it's nothing but a marketing and propaganda tool. AI is being misused to the detriment of society and we're probably about to see another tech bubble ala 2000 because of it
You can help change things by refusing to use AI and go back to Google for most info. Get off of social: meta (threads, insta, whatsapp, Facebook etc), twitter, tiktok ALL OF IT - especially keep your kids/grands off of it. Go back to mostly email for communication and use webpages, discord is great for keeping in touch with groups of people w/o all the bs, and sign up for email newsletters ... old school but better for us. Stop shopping at box stores if you can afford to pay a little more, they are incredibly harmful to society and our economy (all of these things are).
We have to do our part to make these things go away, or at least until they're far less powerful over society
Old lady rant over lol
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Even Google sucks as a search engine.
gracefularthur314@reddit
This is true haha (I laugh so I don't cry):
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
It’s one thing to offload memory and the ability to recall to tech; I draw the line on offloading cognition - which is exactly what AI proposes to do.
gracefularthur314@reddit
It could be used to cure diseases but noooo
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Sure there are leg limits scientific uses - unbridled access seems to be introducing new diseases
Dry_Inspection_4583@reddit
I'm in tech, and by that I mean I live and breathe it, work, hobby, play.
Life is about living and enjoying, find tech that works for you and keep on. You're not wrong though, the speed is a lot if you aren't constantly consuming and learning, and even I don't have that kind of time. Find yourself a tech friend, offer them beer and food and they'll help you, or check the YouTube's, and I cringe to say it, but ask AI to explain and help you learn and understand things, it is a great learning tool when properly used.
redditcreditcardz@reddit
Doctors are humans and humans are wrong a lot. Just tell them that you are unwilling to change and if they don’t agree change doctors. They are a dime a dozen and most doctors are mediocre at their profession. Especially a young one with zero experience
22nd_century@reddit
Try and learn if you can. Technology knowledge will continue to be something that keeps people in touch with younger generations.
I've watched my father refuse to use mobile phones and the Internet and it hasn't done him any favors as he's aged.
You don't have to love it but railing against it won't help.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
I disagree that railing against it won't help. We all have the same frustrations, and that's because it's a bad system. I think we haven't railed against it enough. This is an Emperor's New Clothes situation, and the CEOs won't pay attention until we collectively express our frustrations.
I think things will eventually right themselves to where new technologies have to make sense, and in 20 years people will look back at this time and say, "Why did the people of the early 21st century just put up with it? Why didn't they take a stand and say, 'It's bullshit that I have to learn 10 different apps for my 2 kids' school activities'?"
Lucky_Louch@reddit
I feel it mostly with A.I. It just feels wrong and like its being forced on us whether we like it or not. Corporations are using the tech more and more in place of human workers, we are losing jobs left and right and it's not going to slow down. It is further rotting the youths minds by having them think even less, just plug a prompt into Chat GPT and let it do it for you.
It is all very unsettling, How are we supposed to afford all the things A.I will supposedly make possible when all low/mid level jobs have been overtaken by A.I? It's clear this tech giants don't give a shit. Computer component prices like RAM, SSD and GPU's have more then tripled in price because these data centers gobble it all up and have billion dollar contracts with the manufacturers so they could give a shit about selling to consumers. We are in a very grim reality.
SeachelleTen@reddit
Not to be nosy and I understand if you’d rather not talk about it, but is it pain medication that she’s uncomfortable prescribing you?
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
Nope. I’m prescribed 10 0.5mg Ativan a year for anxiety. I have panic attacks. I haven’t refilled it in almost two years. I feel like I’m being treated like a drug addict. It was the last straw of a bad week
rinky79@reddit
My dad is 76 and still keeps up with tech (he was a programmer and sysadmin). There's no reason to be falling behind at only 40.
In my experience, we're better at tech than the younger people. We adopted tech when you still had to be able to problem solve to get things to work. Kids these days don't understand files and folders, let alone device drivers and all the different 36h
EquipmentUnlikely895@reddit
I also starting to dislike technology buddy.
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
The question I have to ask with all this new tech is - what exactly is the value added for people, other than weakening the already abysmal critical thinking skills, race to inauthentic mediocrity in domains occupied by creative professionals and creating an unreality where you can’t distinguish between fake and real in even the most mundane things without an inordinate amount of mental effort.
Mudseason1@reddit
Lol I remember my mom telling me back in the early 2000’s how my dad’s dad refused to get a microwave. Now I understand…
scattershotdreams@reddit
This has really come to a head for me this year. The ads on websites have multiplied to a ridiculous amount, and often it messes up the page in the phone browser to the point it randomly reloads as I'm scrolling. AI is useful, but I don't think how it is being shoehorned into EVERYTHING, and how it's being used to replace human creativity. Lately it's become a real problem trying to wade through the 5 million AI generated websites to find real content---and that's just *recipes.* It's driving me back to real books...that is, if I can sort out which ones are the real books on Amazon.
Significant-Rush-129@reddit
AI is actually meant to hurt younger entry lever workers more than experienced because it replaces a lot of entry level jobs. Poor Gen Z just keeps getting F’d over. I can’t feel as sorry for us on this one, the young people are getting screwed again.
I’m just hoping our kids will graduate into the fully transitioned world like we did with Windows and such. 🤞
GinnyMcJuicy@reddit
I dont think its over your head. I think it's annoying as fuck, to be honest. I had to call my insurance about my insulin and got an AI with a human voice and couldn't get through to an actual person. Its not that I dont understand how it works; its just that I hate it.
No_Construction5607@reddit
I just want to talk to a real, live person when I call a business
JWF1@reddit
Never. I sold cell phones over the phone when I graduated college and saw first hand the amount of older people who refused to learn new technology. I told myself I’d never be the person happily saying they weren’t good with tech and had no ability to learn how to use it.
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Is anyone here actually saying "I have no ability to learn how to use it"? We're complaining, as is valid. We're not saying we're incapable.
MintyJello@reddit
I'm in tech, so i have to keep up but I think we peaked tech wise somewhere in the 2000s. Everything since then has seemed unnecessary and sometimes harmful.
The internet is great but social media is a cancer. People cant connect to each other anymore and we weren't meant to know every thought that pops into people's heads in real time.
Cell phones are good and bad. Sure it's convenient to have a camera, gps, computer and phone all rolled into 1 but I miss being able to leave the house and not be reachable. It's also killed everyone's attention span.
I hate AI. Totally unnecessary. What's the plan when half the world's jobs are eliminated?
Tech where it doesn't belong - I don't need a fridge that is 'smart'. Just keep the food cold.
I learn it because I have too, but I long for the 'old' days and am sad my kids never knew a pre internet world.
geekdeevah@reddit
I don't use apps for sites I can visit in a browser, like facebook, youtube, reddit, etc, and I use the Brave browser which has built in ad-blocking. Changed my life!
Intelligent-Camera90@reddit
We spent all last year working on an “automated” solution to move data from one system to another that was supposed to reduce our time spent on admin.
Instead, I now get 6 reports I’m supposed to review daily and things get missed, changed, or screwed up on a regular basis and I have to track down 4 different people in 3 countries to fix it.
I just need to know if we have new hires starting and how much we pay them. It should not be this freaking difficult. And if I say anything negative about the new system, I’m the one who’s resistant to change and isn’t a team player!
_Xee@reddit
I'm very up to date, but things I hate with passion are absolutely fucking dumb UI updates for the sole sake of changing anything. The whole software industry reeks of UX designers' desperation.
LineImpossible3958@reddit
Why would your new doctor want to mess with prescriptions you’ve been taking for years? That’s seems like a major issue. The nerve and gall of this doctor.
Epicardiectomist@reddit
As long as you're open to learning it, and not using it as an excuse to be a curmudgeon, then that's just how shit goes.
I'm learning that part of aging is embracing that the world is moving on. The time I remember is gone, it's never coming back, and to live like the current time is some wild inconvenience will only degrade my overall life. I avoid as much as I can when it comes to technology, but when I have to use it, I just breathe and try to make it work. I ask for help. The words "I don't know and need someone to show me" are not a failure.
I really, really, really can't accept that the next chapter of my life could be one of anger, annoyance, and despair because I can't adapt to the new world.
NoGoat3930@reddit
Tech is not over your head - it's been enshitified and trying to get anything done has become unrewarding because it's a huge waste of time verifying and trying to use a new (unnecessary) file structures. Pretty sure tech did this to make normal people appear to handle tasks more slowly . That way their shitty AI looks less shitty by comparison. Wish I had a better solution, but the only one I can think of involves ptorches and pitchphorks (and I'm beginning to become okay with that).
ComprehensiveTart689@reddit
Google Docs is my bete noir - I volunteer with a local non-profit and everything is on Google Docs and I cannot figure out how to access it, transfer stuff to and from it, create docs and share them, and it seems to change depending on what device I’m on.
I always thought I was tech savvy but as I approach a half century I’m just too tired (but I had kids late so I’ve got no choice but to try).
addledlittledoodle3@reddit
I just woke up from a dream where I was taking my son to a school campus to rent a Nintendo NES and Mario Bros. A guy waiting on line had a two headed dog and was there to rent a new switch. I feel you.
ciccacicca@reddit
Just wait til you try to pair your phone with a new car on blue tooth!
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
Bought a device to do that so I could see maps. It disconnects nonstop. Today it was right before I turn in to see my oncologist. Because I’m old, tech sucks, and the solution don’t solve. Just more $$$ out the door.
Traditional-Hall-591@reddit
I’m in tech so my knowledge in the space is generally up to date, more so in my focus areas. The AI trend is very troubling as it promotes and enables mediocrity.
For consumer level tech, I don’t care in the slightest. I would still have my iPhone 11 if it didn’t die on me.
Doobeedoowah@reddit
Then you may well be just an X. Not a Xennial. Sorry. ;)
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
‘82 and just cranky but married to a boomer so maybe I advanced a few spaces emotionally
Exciting-Argument-67@reddit
Yes. I go to music and sport events frequently, and each venue has a different freaking app I have to download in order to show my tickets.
I went to a museum a couple of years ago. Walked up to the ticket booth outside the museum. Was told I had to download their app in order to be able to show my digital ticket to a second clerk sitting a few feet away from the ticket booth. Of course, I had to provide my email address, so now, for places I'll never visit again, I get emails until I take the final step of unsubscribing.
Eziekiel23_20@reddit
I miss Web 1.0 and privacy.
EmmalouEsq@reddit
I've just stopped with some tech on purpose. A smart home? Nope. New social media sites? Not into it. Some things I just don't see the need for and we're not really the target audience for a lot of technology.
But I've got a 5 year old so I'm sure I'll be forced to keep up so I know what's out there.
uncle_monty@reddit
I hate it. I use my phone as a phone only, unless I absolutely have to. As much online stuff as possible is done via laptop.
I once logged into facebook for the first time in literally years. The entire page was covered in ads for assisted living facilities and adjacent stuff. I had made a single google search about assisted living maybe 6 months before when I wasn't even logged into facebook. The only reason I haven't deleted it is that it's the only way to contact a few distant relatives.
It's just exhausting.
SeparateBroccoli4975@reddit
Never thought Pam Anderson would take me all the way from Netscape to AI Engineering....thank you C.J.!!
dashrockwell@reddit
I’ve worked in software for 25 years and I have no issues keeping up with consumer tech, when I have the energy to wrangle it. Keeping up with all the constantly evolving trends and buzzwords in my industry is more of a challenge.
I’m going to take the contrarian (for this thread) stance on AI: as a non-engineer whose job function in the overlap of business and tech, I use AI at work multiple times a day, every day, and find it helpful. We have a pretty solid implementation of Slackbot, which is plugged into almost all the sources of information I regularly use (CRM, Google Drive/Gmail, product usage info), plus all the tribal knowledge that has accumulated from the company’s years of using Slack. Having agents to synthesize and organize that information for me is a huge time saver. You do need to sanity-check it and it isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s right a lot more often than it is wrong.
AI also is doing a wonderful job of exposing just how much of most corporate jobs is actually performative process theater/busywork. I find that vindicating.
No_Grass_9486@reddit
I think I do okay keeping up simply because I have to but I have been building a little analog fortress around myself. Spending more time outdoors, etc. it helps.
Few_Improvement_6357@reddit
I am fortunate to only use technology as I see fit. What I hate is the children (late 20s to early 30s) trying to teach me their way of using technology, like I'm old and I need help. And then condescendingly tell me, "Well, now you know." My way works just fine. All the people I helped that were older were either grateful or handled it with grace. I wanted to destroy this kid for his temerity.
Knappyone@reddit
GrindhouseWhiskey@reddit
I feel ya on this. I resent the saturation tech has, personally it everything wanting you to create an account or download an app rather than including a 2 page instruction sheet. Don’t get me started on QR code menus and price tags.
Get a good password manager. They store your passwords, you can use them to navigate to the website, and they won’t sign you into a clone site. They will manage most of the log in complaints you have.
I recently got a new router (Ubiquity) and my ads cut dramatically. I still get some but they are less oppressive. Also, have your devices an apps set to do not track and opt out of everything you can toggle.
On Firefox there is a plugin called facebook container that does a fair amount to limit its data scrape.
If you are still on windows, consider if Mac is a viable option. Windows 11 is in their oppressive enshitification phase, and meanwhile Mac is easier and cheaper than ever.
Slowmaha@reddit
Yes, Zoom, I want you to fucking open Zoom when I click on the Zoom meeting link.
lamancha@reddit
I got a hobby away from the internet and life has becoming less horrible.
Money-Lifeguard5815@reddit
Enshitification isn’t helping either.
myevillaugh@reddit
I'm a software developer and AI has killed the joy in most things.
My biggest complaint is apps for everything. Want to check on at the doctor you visit once every 6 months? App. Want to activate that warranty on the home appliance? App. What happened to websites? They worked just fine.
MLDaffy@reddit
I had the same doctor my whole life until he retired a few years ago. Had to jump through hoops to find a new 1. I think I'm old enough to be his father tbh. I was hesitant at first but he's pretty good. Just took a while to get used to him. I still send my original Doctor Christmas cards and stuff talking as if he's still our family Dr. 😂. Change is tough but it can be good sometimes.
papercranium@reddit
Working in social media in my 40s is an incredibly weird experience. I'm horrified at how bad I'm getting at identifying AI content compared with my Zoomer coworker. I swear I didn't have this issue six months ago, but the machines got better and I just ... didn't.
It makes me so sad, I don't want to walk through my life assuming things aren't real. If my elders in the group will forgive me the presumption, it feels like that's exactly the flavor of GenX cynicism that my early-millennial peers were trying to shake off. I spent so much time trying to be sincere and have hope. And now I can't even assume good faith when people are showing off their pancakes or talking about a book they liked.
Sorry for the tangent, I'm apparently very much in my feelings this morning.
sidneyjoy@reddit
Funny, about 2 weeks ago I had said tech has finally surpassed me.
Bradtothebone79@reddit
I married a younger, former Apple genius so I’m pretty covered with in-house tech help heheh
ChillWaveSurfer@reddit
Glad to not be alone. Paying bills or looking at statements online tend to trigger me for the same reasons.
I got triggered just thinking about it long enough to write this reply.
kaest@reddit
I've always been the tech person for everyone I know and I still am but am wondering how that will be in another 10 or 15.
59apache01@reddit
I hate the stuff now. Back in the '80s to about the mid '90s when it was more of a hobbyist type area, it was cool. After it completely took over about 20 years ago, it's like things have slowly descended into a dystopian Hell.
CornishShaman@reddit
Im a library assistant so spend a log of time helping older ppl with tech.
The thing that gets me is im getting closer and closer to there age now 😬
UsefulGrocery1733@reddit
I am on the opposite side of this. I think the tech has become too easy and ubiquitous and people have a different relationship with tech than we did. No one now has edit and init string to get on the web now. People think you just a password away from Wifi and the rest is taken care of.
Accurate-Long-259@reddit
I understand having an app for everything, but it’s just so much to keep track of all the fast food restaurants all the sitdown restaurants all the grocery stores and then passwords for each of them. Sometimes my phone remembers sometimes it does not and I can’t figure out why.
el_chivato@reddit
Tech is easier for me now since the standard stuff is largely past its awkward phase. For example, when I took my college entrance exam in the late 1990s, I thought I was looking at some really advanced math questions. Nope, turns out the program was just glitching 🙄 I ended up in friggin' pre-algebra that I had to test out of. Pissed me off; I'd been in AP math courses all through high school.
Now, that kind of thing doesn't happen nearly as often.
But yes, I often wish it would all just go away, for just a little bit anyway.
Puzzleheaded_Race_90@reddit
I definitely get it, it gets to be so much. But for me, no...I like all the gadgets and belts and whistles, so i do petty well with keeping up. But I guess, to done large extent, it's just because I stay focused on the stuff I like. If you want me to set up alexa to do all the cool home automation stuff, I got you. But if you want to to l know how to use the new app the kids are using, I probably have no idea. Hehe... I can take apart the remote control, and I can almost put it back together
Jen_the_Green@reddit
All the scammers have really ruined everything. It all used to feel so magical. Now it's two factor authentication to make it harder to break into your accounts, can't trust images or videos because of unlimited access to AI, and AI slip articles and web search results. I miss the days when the most egregious scams involved princes overseas who needed help to pay taxes to access millions and would share their wealth with you!
Add on corporate planned obsolescence and tech where it doesn't need to be (SMART appliances) and it all becomes too much.
jdowney1982@reddit
I feel like with everything going tech, like Bluetooth this and that, wireless everything…it’s so easy for these things to stop working and costs a lot to replace or fix. My father in law has these lightbulbs you can control with an app…like, why?? My husband is all “you can change their color! And dim them!” What’s wrong with a freaking light switch though?? Not everything needs a fucking app
Cotillionz@reddit
I was in the same boat. I cut so much of it out and I feel so much better. I have all ads blocked on my phone, TV and PC. I stripped the apps off my phone. If it can’t be done in a browser, I don’t want it. If I need to jump thru hoops with verification, I don’t use it. I use local storage again so I have my own stuff. Reddit is the only social medium I have left. I held onto ones like Facebook for a long time because family and whatnot, but I have a phone. I’ve gone back to calling them to chat and I don’t need to see every detail of their everyday lives. The only Meta account I have now is a dummy one for marketplace, which given how many bots are on that now, I might also just delete. It’s sad how we have been brainwashed into feeling like we need this stuff, when most of us don’t. I got caught up in needing to keep up with tech and social media and all that crap and I’ll admit to having some anxiety about deleting so many accounts and apps, but I didn’t need any of it. Quite a bit of time has passed without them for me now and honestly it feels so much better now without any of it.
apudapus@reddit
Pihole for adblock
I have a Wireguard VPN server at home so I can tap into the Pihole outside of home, too
Bitwarden for password management across devices
These don’t solve everything but they alleviate huge burdens.
throwitallaway@reddit
I guess I'll be an outlier here and say no, I don't feel that way and I don't feel like it's particularly hard to keep up.
kevlar51@reddit
It’s not necessarily I’ve my head, but I have no where near the time available to fully tinker with new gadgets/tech like I used to. So now I’m just along for the ride and it takes a bit to figure out what is actually useless.
HoyAIAG@reddit
ElectricPenguin6712@reddit
I finished my bachelor's in Cyber security last year and i have no plans to use it. I would be taking a huge pay cut to start over and I'm in the mode of saving for retirement if possible in current job.
I also realized i can't keep up being in the field now. It's just too much and honestly, i don't want to. I've gone from analog to the digital age and I'm exhausted. I'll still keep up a little bit on my own pace. I can't do it for a job.
Spare_Perspective972@reddit
I’m tired on enjoyable tasks being replaced by computer programs. There are so many careers I could have enjoyed a flow state doing the tasks for before a computer showed up. Most notably I originally got my AA and certification in drafting then autocad replaced that and I hated it.
TelevisionKooky3041@reddit
OP -- I have the same frustrations as you. The irony is, I'm the go-to person for friends and family members whenever anyone has a tech related issue. Even though I'm fairly tech-savvy and know how to figure most things out, I absolutely resent the way humanity has been complicit in allowing almost every aspect of our lives to be platformed and regulated by poorly designed technology run by unethical tech firm who treat people, and the planet like a garbage can.
Neil Postman (the author of the books 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' and 'Technopoly') is my intellectual hero. He passed away in 2003. If he was still alive today I think he would be horrified by how rapidly humanity has descended into overreliance on fancy tech without ever questioning the negative impacts of how it's all been designed.
Your second paragraph about online forms really triggered me. I'm a UK citizen and we have no choice but to use an official government site called GOV UK for almost anything important. It took me a week of form filling and going back and forth via email with tech support just to a get a tax code for my 70 year mother through their website. Endless online form filling, three factor authentication, taking pictures, submitting documents, good lord it just goes on forever. There were more than 40 online pages to sift through during the process. Something went wrong every 2 or 3 pages. Oh, and I had to download about three different apps to get the whole thing to work. I'm just sick of it all and don't even want to think about what things will be like when we're in our 60's and 70's.
ThisWeekNeverEnds@reddit (OP)
Ha! I can imagine being in my sixties telling the kids to gather round and listen how back in my day it took 9 hours to download one song and if someone picked up the phone, you’d have to start all over.
I’m the go to person as well.
14ANH2817@reddit
I was enthusiastic about earlier internets, but not about this one. I worked in tech, and still work in a tech-adjacent role, but as part of a larger backing away from consumerism, I'm becoming more selective about tech.
AtaracticGoat@reddit
I wouldn't say I have a problem keeping up, there's just some that I don't participate in like tik tok and Instagram.
I mostly just don't like the direction that it's taking, they're trying to make you subscribe to everything. I hope society on general, or the new Gen Z or Gen A, actively revolt against ridiculous subscriptions.
FUWS@reddit
I’ve worked in IT tech. Most of my life and I think our generation is very specific in this field as I run into many Millennials and Xennials in this field. We lived through the analog transition to digital which helps to understand if you keep up with the tech. We also lived through some of the best Sci-fi and video game era and that created this sub culture of techno nerds like myself.
Problem is the dilution of tech. There are so many ways to get similar things done just with different avenues…. And most of them suck…
TheAskewOne@reddit
I don’t know, I rather like it and I like that there’s no need to do much on paper anymore. No paper to store, mail, sign… I use ad blocks everywhere and they work. I’m not on the social networks beside Reddit so no need to worry about that for me. I find it a bit frustrating that interfaces are made for dumb users who don’t know what a file is but that’s no big deal.
geese_moe_howard@reddit
The Unabomber had the right idea.
ailish@reddit
I've kept up with it, but it is getting frustrating. The amount of here, we have to email you a verification code sixteen times, and here's all this AI crap that barely works and blah blah blah. I get how it works, it has just stopped being fun and has started being annoying af.
Longjumping_Cod_9132@reddit
So you’d rather go wait in the DMV line and the post office? More power to you.
Far-Pie-6226@reddit
The only tech I can't understand is Twitter, or X I guess. I still can't figure out who is responding to who, and I really don't care.
PetSoundsSucks@reddit
I was doing ok until the aero glass or whatever iPhone updated fucked up form entry and Chrome’s keyboard put this giant stupid bubble with the password, credit card, and location eyesore above the keyboard.
FRNLD@reddit
I'm more in touch with modern technology than most of the 20-somethings that are in and out of the office these days.
Greedy_Street_891@reddit
I was just talking about this with my wife. I’m old even for this classification; 1980. I was saying I don’t feel the slip yet like how our parents did not understand tech bc we were kind of the first group to get it while we were still young and learning. I can still adapt for now… As I say this I know it’s coming. I already don’t know what kids are saying sometimes.
piscian19@reddit
No, sadly I'm an engineer. It's all I do every day.
gbroon@reddit
I'm generally fine with keeping up with tech.
I get your criticism of some of the scarier things like targeted advertising feeling like it's snooping too much where it shouldn't.
AI I can see a few niche things it's useful for but it's just being pushed everywhere. They are hoping AI will be a selling point but haven't actually managed to sell many benefits of ai in the first place.
Helo7606@reddit
I've been dealing with tech since I was a kid. So I'm beyond used to it. I. Also certified in IT and cyber security.
Embarrassed_Key_4539@reddit
I hate it, I really do. We are moving to the jungle to get back to real life and away from this bullshit.