Am I old? Grumpy? All of the above?
May 27th, 2007 | Posted in Our World, Rants | 3 Comments
I don’t own a WII or an Xbox 360.
I don’t own an IPod.
I don’t own a Nintendo DS.
I don’t own a PSP.
My mobile phone is now quite old.
My computer still has a 32 bit processor.
When I mention this to people, I get the look which you used to get when you turned up to school after the summer holidays wearing Hi-Tech or Gola trainers when everyone else was wearing Nike.
Why do I have to own them? I don’t have a need for any of them, here are my reasons:
I don’t own a WII or an Xbox 360.
I no longer enjoy playing games.
I don’t own an IPod.
I spend most of my time at my desk, therefore use my PC for managing and playing music.
I don’t own a Nintendo DS.
No need for a portable games machine when I am at my desk and don’t enjoy playing games.
I don’t own a PSP.
Ditto.
My mobile phone is now quite old.
It rings, makes calls. No need to upgrade.
My computer is still a 32 bit processor.
It works, and is fast.
Upon mentioning my reasons for not owning any of the above, the usual response is "you sound like a grumpy old man". Do I? All because I haven’t gone with the current social flow and moved my entire life onto a digital device doesn’t mean I am grumpy. It means that I would rather spend my money elsewhere.
Am I alone in this? Please tell me there are others.
Old?
The only way that I could deduce ‘old’ from your above statements is by assuming that you’ve grown to a point where you realise having the latest and greatest doesn’t necessarily increase your productivity. What it does is increase cost unnecessarily. That speaks of wisdom which is earned through age and experience. However, I don’t think that implies that you’re past it :) I think that’s a sweet spot to be in. So, while I wouldn’t say you’re old, I’d say you were old enough to be realistic, and young enough to be functional.
Grumpy
Absolutely not. So what if you don’t like playing games? So what if you don’t need a mobile entertainment system? Each to his/her own!
I love games, but I don’t own a 360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP/etc. When I play games it’s on my PC. I have a 64-bit machine because I write both 32 and 64-bit code (which you can’t do on a 32-bit machine). It has nothing to do with needing to increase the size of one’s e-Penis.
In short, I reckon you’re a sound bloke who stays within a realistic distance of updated technology to allow for you to do your job and be happy. Nothing wrong with that.
I know i do wait a long time before deciding on whether to purchase new technology. E.g. Still avoiding Vista,and will do till i can no longer function with XP. Not to mention the work required to upgrade.
In your case, you needed a 64bit proc for work. In my area of development there is no need for 64bit processing.
p.s. I may print your comment onto a t-shirt and wear with pride. :D
Hehe.. feel free!
I dont use Vista either - it both scares me, and annoys me. Plus there’s no need to update. Windows XP and Gentoo do more than enough, Vista can go hang :)
Yeah I’m a bit of a low-level geek, and so 64-bit was always going to be on the cards. It boils down to wants and needs most of the time.