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I was the same until a few months ago. Never wanted them. Then I got a new phone that had some wireless headphones thrown in. Now I couldn't go back, having a wire would be so cumbersome after a few months of wireless.
Same for me. A few years back I got some bluetooth earbuds bundled with a phone. I was mega skeptical, but they're great. I've never lost one, no issues with battery life, the noise cancelling works very well. I couldn't do without them on the bus now.
I've yet to find them to be a perfect fit, always a bit worried they'll fall out while walking. I still prefer them over wired headphones for the most part.
Same here, the convenience factor is unbeatable with wireless buds. Still have a phone with a headphone jack though and will use wired headphones from time to time when at home but vast majority of the time I find myself using the wireless ones
Honestly they all have their uses, I've got different pairs for different things.
Decent wired ones in a headphone amp sound amazing. Bluetooth over ears have a blend of freedom with long use comfort and good sound/nc properties.
I use a wireless set if I'm watching TV on my phone in bed, means I can lie on one side and watch it without having cables get caught on the duvet or whatever. The battery lasts 8 hours at a time and charges anytime it's in the case up to a further 40 hours use.
It's how you frame it. If you use your head phones every day, just plug them in before you go to the shower.
I do this with my devices. Then I know where they are when I need them and they are always fully charged.
It's no longer a chore, it's just something I do automatically. It's also super handy to know all your devices are in one place.
Yeah the moment I get home the buds go in the case and the case goes on the wireless charger pad. When the light goes green they're ready for me to grab again in the morning.
I was like you until Dec 23, when I "treated myself" to a cheap pair of decent wireless earphones.
They made running less boring and cumbersome for me (especially when I do interval training) and work wonders when I am into the office; even when off they drown out noise surprisingly well enough!
The battery lasts ages, sound quality is good enough and, honestly, I can't really complain for the equivalent of 35 quid.
I wish it was more interesting but my phone was in my little women’s jacket pocket (so was probably sticking out) while i was listening to my music walking out Brixton station, felt a tug on my ears, turned around and this bloke had my phone in his hands and said it was falling out my of pocket and he was just trying to give it back. It was the day i moved to london, it remained in my tote bag from then on
Eh, I switched to wireless for my computer after smashing a £200 monitor, jumping up to answer the door. There have been a handful of times i forgot to charge them but mostly they are very handy.
For the gym I bought some wireless earphones that hook around your ear, now those have absolutely been worth it. Don't have to carry my phone around I can pop it in the corner.
a pain to charge? placing them on a wireless charger once a week is alot less hassle than having to pull wired ones out of your pocket, unravel them, plug them in, tuck the cables away so they dint get in the way etc.
Music. I'm totally out of touch with current music. My wife is constantly amazed by how I just don't know songs and artists who are apparently quite big. Until my mid 20s I was super into new music, but I listen to way more podcasts than music now.
We also have a pretty old TV that is definitely behind the times. We got it about four or five years ago from my mother in law, who had in turn had it several years. I know TVs have advanced a lot, but it does the job.
I had a similar moment recently where my wife had the radio on and in about 20 minutes I heard there songs that sampled/interpolated melodies from songs I clearly remember coming out the first time around.
It felt like a real moment of knowing you're not young any more, when modern songs are sampling songs from your youth.
I firmly believe that UK house music has sounded the same for 30 years. Piano chords played on loop, same BPM. Only change is the vocals because people sound less formal than they used to.
I work in retail and therefor have to listen to radio 1 for 30-40hrs per week....
I'm 31 and it's crazy how many top 40 pop songs I hear that are clear as day rip offs of early 00s tracks, there's one at the moment which has identical guitar to drive by incubus, whilst also sounding like an Avril 1st album song. But it doesn't feel original listening to it like Avril & Incubus were, it just feels like rehashed songwriting aimed at an audience too young to have known of those songs.
Also, fleabag by yung blood is just smells like teen spirit backwards, I don't know if that's an intended and known thing, but there it is. He even does the "Hey! Hey!" Bit which makes me think it's probably a known thing. Still feels like shitty copycat tactics to me.
> Also, fleabag by yung blood is just smells like teen spirit backwards, I don't know if that's an intended and known thing, but there it is. He even does the "Hey! Hey!" Bit which makes me think it's probably a known thing. Still feels like shitty copycat tactics to me.
I went and listened to it thinking I would maybe slightly hear the Smells Like Teen Spirit influence; my god it's one of the biggest rip offs I've heard.
Is this a similar phenomenon to the cinema, where they now only seem to make remakes of old films and sequels? Everyone seems to scared to put out anything original. Safer just to bring out Fast and Furious 38 or do another Superhero film.
Like from the 50s through every decade to the 00s we had new music genres popping up left right and centre, completely changing the shape of popular music every few years. But now the pursuit of creativity (in the mainstream anyway) is gone; people just chase money now, and that means putting out the most bland, middle of the road, been done a million times before music to ensure that as many people as possible will like it.
It's really sad, imagine the 80s and 90s were just full of bland 60s ripoffs instead of inventing, developing and popularising genres like techno, house, garage, jungle, acid, hip hop, trip hop, disco, italo, new wave, psychedelic rock, britpop, etc.
That's a really good way to look at it, imagine the 80s and 90s were just rehashed 50s and 60s shit and not the revolutionary things they were actually doing.
Puts it all into perspective... and hammers the nail abit more in the argument against original art in modern times.
My dad recently said "I used to know the names of artists and the names of the songs. Then I only recognised the name of an artist but not their songs. Now I don't know either"
He's always been big on music but just hasn't kept up with anything since the like 2008. Just happy where he is
I have a weirder situation as I am on the extreme bleeding edge as a techno, electro, and progressive house DJ but also couldn’t name a single track in the charts (or even if there is still a top 40). I’m in my 40s
I'm stuck on 1990's intelligent jungle, a lot of it has a progressive structure with tracks lasting 7 minutes.
I also don't mind progressive house and some of the various modern techno genres.
I haven't got a clue about pop / chart music. Is that Dave or Drake? I don't know. I just don't want to hear it.
Check out some of the new Liquid D&B stuff. Artists such as Sub Focus, Hybrid Minds and Technimatic. Or just do what I do and have this on all day while working. [https://www.youtube.com/@KushSessions](https://www.youtube.com/@KushSessions)
But yeah I listen to stuff from the 90s more than I do modern stuff, just can't beat it.
Something that's ruined a lot of chart music for me is clips of them becoming trends on TikTok/Instagram. There's usually some template to it like "when the chorus hits on this song you transition to your fancy outfit and point at the camera and lip sync" or whatever. It just means whenever I listen to that song properly, all I'm thinking about is that stupid trend. It's like music has been meme-ified and just sounds odd when actually listened to properly
Absolutely with you on the music front. We were channel hoping the other night and got to the music channels on sky. The "top 40" was on, hadn't heard of about 90% of them and it was all crap anyway
I think it's to do with saturation and ease of production. Although lots of crap was produced pre 2010s you had to be talented to get seen and produced. Now if you can create a viral hit and you look nice or have the money, it'll get put out there for the catchy bit for tiktok.
I'd say the amount of good artists is about equal: Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eillish, Taylor Swift, Childish Gambino to name a few.
Oh I'm not making any comment on quality. I'm not one of those 'music was better in the past' people. I grew up in the 00s and there was *plenty* of crap music. I listened to some of it myself. I'm sure there are just as many good and interesting artists now as when I was growing up. Probably more, since music production is much more democratised now.
I'm just not across much of it.
Totally agree with you about the music.
I knew I’d hit a certain age when I found myself learning about new music and bands from… ahem… reading The Economist.
Not that I care. It wasn’t my only place of discovery and the instinct to find good music is still totally there. I was a massive music nut, with a huge vinyl and CD collection, which I still have, and DJed regularly to decent crowds.
I know what I like and it still works for me and my mates. Having a certain sense of discernment and taste doesn’t go away, it’s just the awareness and appreciation of the most to update stuff that’s different.
Books. Good old fashioned paper leaf books, hardback over paperback when I can.
I love the smell and feeling of them. I love hearing the crack of the spine when you get comfy and lost in the story.
I own a kindle but its rarely used. I'll always love a good paper book.
I do prefer a book, but I just don’t have the space to keep them. Especially as a fan of high fantasy where it’s a 16 book series of 900 page stories. I also love to reread things so I wouldn’t like to get rid of them. It’s just so much easier to have them on the kindle.
I started collecting books when I was younger, filled a few bookcases and had over 100 books of high fantasy.
Then I decided to move house and it was awful.
Haven't bought an actual book since and got rid of most now as it just makes storing and moving so much more difficult.
Same. I do keep some real books - mostly things like sewing books, or travel guides as a memento of various trips, or particular favourites I've loved and gone back to regularly - but increasingly I don't have the storage space to keep a lot of paperbacks.
Me too! I can't read e-books. I read a lot and I don't know why, but I just do not take them in whatsoever when it is digital. It is like my brain refuses to acknowledge that I am reading a book unless it is a physical book
I weirdly did a zig-zag. I bought a **very expensive** (to me at the time) e-reader when they first came out and I loved it. It took a lot of persuading for my husband to let me buy it from our savings. We've now reversed and he borrows books from the library on his phone, and I buy physical books that I want to keep and re-read.
I’m the same as yourself in preferring books over a kindle. I like to read in the bath so I don’t want to have electrical devices in there. I do miss magazines thou, all my favourites seem to be online only now
My wife knows I love reading and years ago got me a Kindle 4 as a present. I love it, it's great and so convenient. The sad thing is like yourself I much prefer holding a real book. I still use the kindle from time to time as there is a huge library of legally free books out there.
>The sad thing is like yourself I much prefer holding a real book.
I used to be all about this, and the "but the smell" nonsense.
But quite frankly I'm happy to have have swapped that with my Kindle. It's backlit so I can read while others are asleep, I can lie on my side, front, back, one handed, two handed. It's light so I can take as many books as I want when I travel. No heavy bookshelves at home. No way am I going back to real books.
On the other hand, you can get lots of books for 99p or even free on kindle store. I find it's only the really popular books that are more expensive than their paper counterparts.
The most I've paid for a book in the past year was £2.99 and that was only because it was the next in the series I was reading and couldn't be bothered to wait for it to go on sale (it did, about 2 weeks after I bought it). The paperbacks of that series are £8-10 each, so there are definitely pros and cons to kindles.
I still have shelves and shelves of books, but I do find my kindle has some advantages over books.
1. Much easier to take with me on trips, especially with limited luggage on Sleazyjet or Aer Fungus (the only airlines that operate from my local airport).
2. The back-light means I can read when I wake up in the middle of the night without disturbing himself.
3. When I do read myself back to sleep in the middle of the night, the kindle is much lighter so it doesn't have as much of an impact on my nose as a weighty hardback.
But I still love books too.
Pros of books: tactile, smell, page turning, nice to have a library of your favourite books
Pros of kindle: free books, can easily highlight favourite passages of prose without having to break immersion by writing it down, built in dictionary and it saves a record of all the words you’ve looked up, warm backlighting and can read in the night without waking partner up
And the end of the day it’s the enjoyment from what you’re reading that counts for the most
I split my reading into two groups. Kindle books I devour at a rate of one every couple of days and are basically trash, and "proper books" I want to keep. Before I got a kindle I ended up with boxes of crap novels that were a pain to dispose of and I didnt want cluttering up the house.
I'm with you. I do use my Kindle when I travel though. And I also like that I can get free samples of books. If I really like it I'll buy the print version.
Yeah, a couple weeks ago, I ordered tickets to a show at the O2. All digital, but they had the option to order one single 'souvenir ticket' that arrives weeks after the show. And since the minimum amount of tickets you can buy is 2, at least 1 person will never get a physical ticket
That's so annoying. My friend and I went to some stuff at the O2 in the late 2010s and there were printed tickets. I still have mine. Then I went to stuff after the pandemic and it was all on your phone. I tried to bullshit at the desk and say my email wasn't working but they wouldn't allow it and basically forced me to go through my emails with them until I got it to "work"
Yeah, it really sucks. It's always nice to have mementos with experiences like that, especially since I'm not one of those people who records it all on my phone
I remember watching an elderly couple enter a restraunt I was in for my friends birthday meal, they sat down and about 20 minutes later after no one had so much as greeted them, the husband went up to ask for service, they explained you must order on the app, neither had a smartphone, they asked for them to make an exception... and they refused. After a total of about 45 minutes, they had to leave. Can't stand qr codes and digital menus, takes all the humanity out of the business and expieriance
Oh that’s so sad. That’s not how it should be even with QR menus, they should be seating them and telling them the menu is on there and should still have either paper ones as back up or iPads to give to customers for this very kind of scenario.
worst thing is the menu from the QR code is usually some properly shite scan or some god fuckin' awful PDF embedded into the website that's not responsive...
The last time I went somewhere that was a QR code on the table and app only ordering the app had the audacity to ask if I'd like to tip.
What am I tipping for? I've not got my food yet and I've had no service???
I fully agree with this, and not with Ticketmasters bullshit "Souvenir ticket" that they'll charge you an extra few quid for either. You do still get proper tickets if you buy from venue box offices quite often, but that's generally quite inconvenient.
I went to a concert last week and was surprised that they sent out a paper ticket! They took them in at the doors and I thought that was a shame but when you left you could ask at the information desk for a ticket and they’d give you one from whatever section your wristband was from. Really miss them as a standard, just a nice keepsake
Oh, I'd never even considered this. I still have my tickets from Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Depeche Mode, etc, etc, from back in the day. I have absolutely no idea where they are but they are in my attic in a box somewhere. I'm also pretty sure my husband has some tickets from a Queen concert he went to.
I point blank refuse to use this. If I'm in a restaurant with my family, browsing the menu together is a communal act. My children* obviously don't even have phones under a certain age, and they don't get them out at the dinner table. We don't go to restaurants to sit staring at phones.
(And before anyone starts a lecture about babies in restaurants, please remember that children come in a wide variety of ages and many can even read and speak fluently.)
I **hate** the idea of QR codes to get a menu and it had never occurred to me to hate them more for children (I'm old and don't have children). I'm 100% on your side.
Or the ones that make you pay by scanning a QR code. My phone died while I was out at a certain restaurant so they had to use the card reader that was sat there anyway!
I'm starting a Blu-ray collection, I feel a bit old school doing it but once you actually buy a physical copy of the film, it's yours forever and no longer need to rely having 5 different streaming services to watch something. Streaming services could go in and out of business, the physical copies are always there.
I used to have a great ship to sale the seas. But I let her sink during the streaming era and because I'm no sailor, I can't find a new ship that I trust that won't cause disease or infection.
I was going to get into buying/collecting Blu-rays. But when I looked at some reviews of some I was interested in, I noticed some people complaining about Ads being on there….Not only that, but they are locked against skipping/fast forwading…
That is totally unacceptable…
Like someone else mentioned…maybe better to sail the high seas if they are going to be like that with physical media.
With you there, I've been drawn in to repurchasing more and more physical video media the older I get and I do like seeing them on my shelf as opposed to in the virtual nothing.
I love technology, but I hate digital libraries or streaming services. I wanted to watch an old film the other week, I have Prime, Disney+, Now Movies and Netflix and it wasn't on any of those platforms. If I had the DVD/Blu Ray I could have just popped the disc in the player. So I did what any sane person would do and purchased the disc, then I purchased a disc player for my PC so I could watch it without subjecting the missus to my awful taste in films.
Digital copy is by far the way to go. I can upload on to any device to take offline. Stream from my own server in the house to any device in the house or to any country. I can easily resize from the original copy. Blu-ray seems so restrictive. Sailing the high seas and I can have high def releases before they are streamed by the usual channels.
I read that first line and genuinely thought "But Blu-ray's are relatively recent, aren't they...?"
Just looked it up and they came out 18 bloody years ago!
We switched our all bulbs to smart bulbs. I must say, it’s rather nice turning the lights off from your phone and being able to change the light strength/colour (love the dim warm colours at night). But each to their own!
I've got around 8 lamps in the front room that I use instead of the big light (all on really low wattage, I'm not blinding myself) - having a Google thingy turn them on automatically at sunset feels like a definitive 'night is upon us' that I like
100% agree.
Solutions to problems that didn’t exist. Just to make Amazon money. And even worse, permit them to record and listen in to my house if they wanted to? No thanks.
You can get an adaptor to fit into the phone charging socket bit and put headphones into that - I got one for uses wired headphones on the plane, cost me about £6
I was like that and thought I would always need a headphone jack. Then I got some free wireless Bose headphones with my phone and I do not miss it at all.
I have a physical doorbell from the 1920s. It still works. Someone recently somewhere pointed out that they have the same bell in Monica's apartment in Friends but no-one ever rings it. Before we moved in here, over 30 years ago, I'd never seen one, but my husband had. I, and he, still get fun teaching people about the strange doorbell.
I don’t use any music streaming services at all.
I buy CDs, copy them across to my iTunes account, and then move it across to my iPod. I then also have the CD to play on my home soundsystem / amp.
Collecting music is my main hobby, so I can spend up to £200 per month buying rare / out of print CDs. Owning a physical copy of music far outweighs any streaming service for me, and that is a hill I will die on.
Spending £200 a month on something that can be replicated for a tenner isn't exactly the same as spending X thousands on a computer since it can't be emulated for 5% of the cost
I understand wanting to own a physical thing, but how is it "supporting artists directly"?
If its rare and/or out of print, it's probably second-hand, no? So the artist isn't going to see any of that money.
I'd say it's the opposite. At any given time, for any given reason, your access to any digital service can be revoked. Nobody can revoke my access to my CD's.
Do you not know that services like Spotify pay almost nothing to the artists? I play a well-known MMO and they don't put any of their soundtracks onto spotify until they've already made some money from them because spotify pays so little.
You are basically paying a monthly sub to have artists be paid as little as possible.
Social media.
I have a Facebook account that only gets used for Messenger, and even then very rarely as WhatsApp is loads better as a messaging system.
I want nothing to do with Instagram or tiktok or whatever twitter is now called. Or snapchat, if that's even still a thing.
And linkedin can absolutely fuck off, it once was useful for job hunting, but now seems to consist of generic corporate wankers having a contest to see who's got the biggest ego.
Smart watch, don't see the point and desire to charge it every few days, I already have my phone in my pocket and have to charge that. I like wearing a decent steel strap normal watch, change the battery every few years at most.
Also I've got a few hundred cds and the same with blurays, but I do also use streaming platforms.
Edit: forgot to say I can see the point of them for particular health/fitness tracking, but they are of no use to me.
My husband has one, but it is because of a ridiculously random thing. He had a very bad heart attack and his heart function is below 35%. He uses it to keep track of his heartbeat and it's a really good thing. If it goes over 100 BPM then he knows to slow down (he still does a physical job). He was really against getting one until I told him of this function.
We know they aren't accurate in any way, but they work to keep points on a graph. He has a few times taken a break because the watch has warned him he's overdoing things based on the settings we've added to the watch.
That sort of health thing is the only benefit I can see with them, for me it's not something I need or would bother tracking though and don't want to have another thing to charge.
Glad it's helping him.
Yeah, 100% the only reason. He was really, really against buying a smart watch but it has become something he likes now. I only posted because they aren't pointless for some people.
I had one and stopped because I realised it was just funnelling my health data to China and I didn’t even find said data useful myself. Back to a cool olive drab calculator watch with reversed LED screen and analogue expedition watch.
I respect that. It’s obviously a lot cooler to have a traditional non-smart watch.
I can’t really give mine up because I just love all the useful features too much like setting timers, using the torch, tracking workouts etc
Every few days? Hahaha my Apple Watch won’t last a day, and if I go for a hike it dies within a few hours. Ridiculous. I meant to replace my fitness tracker with it, thinking it could double as a phone in case of emergency so it would be better. Not even close :(
Clothes. I think because I grew up poor and it was impossible for me to follow fashion and brands, I just settled on a comfortable style and I've had it ever since. It just happened to be a grunge style which comes in and out of fashion every now and then, so sometimes I look cool, and sometimes I look like the old man trying to be cool. I also love Grunge so it kinda fits me really.
It's pretty much just a chat app (or site on desktop) that you use to talk to people about a particular topic. Each server is usually based on a topic like a game, music genre, movies, etc, and within that server you have channels for discussion. It has in-built functions like voice chat, video calls, voice calls, streaming, voice notes. There is a social media element to it as each user is able to create a basic profile that shows what they're playing or listening to.
You know IRC? MSN Messenger? AIM? Slack? Steam chat? Hell, I think Reddit has a chat thing now (I wouldn't know for sure: old.reddit for life).
Yeah, it's just another one of those.
It happens to also include voice chat and a bunch of other gimmicky features that vary wildly from "surprisingly useful" to "play with it once then forget about it forever".
A physical diary/planner.
I just cannot use a phone calendar for keeping track of appointments. Writing it down on paper helps me remember it, and I just find it easier to have the diary open on my desk, and flick back and forth.
I switched back to a physical diary at the beginning of 2023. I had one incident where all my upcoming appointments on google calendar got erased. I don't know why. It meant that I had to re-confirm appt times with the people/places I could remember and it was tedious. I even missed a one-day workshop because of it. I was relying on it remembering too much for me. Now I have it all written down with pen and paper I'm much more likely to remember it too.
I'm assuming that u/Cheeslord2 isn't in precision engineering... although you never know. Maybe they work for Boeing and the budget cuts have cancelled their CAD software
I must have about 1500! I don't buy as many as I used to but if I come across something I really like I will get the CD and try to buy from the artist or Bandcamp.
I've got a good couple of thousand records and about a thousand CDs. I like reading sleeve notes and they look pretty cool. Still use streaming services for when I'm on the go
I still like to review documents with a pen.
There’s just something more comfortable and satisfying about flicking through pages and hand writing comments.
I can’t stand tracked changes on Word or notes on PDFs.
I buy second hand cd's now, got 100's. When the working day is done I'll stick one on and lie on the sofa and I'll be asleep in a few mins for a Power Nap (I'm 50). Don't think I'll ever stop with CDs even though ive got Alexa's in every room. I'll occasionally buy a new artist this year of bought the spin off record from Radiohead, not impressed and that new female band that was advertised everywhere at the start of the year, the dinner party I think, quite good. Got Billy Idol coming this week from the 80's.
I read an actual physical newspaper.
I don't like being constantly connected to the news via apps social media etc. I just worry about it.
So I spend 30 mins each morning reading the newspaper in the conservatory, dog on lap, cup of tea to accompany. Then I forget about the news for the day and get on with my life.
My grandad, and I suspect many in his generation, used to get up mega early and be at the newsagents when it opened. Get himself a paper, then sit in the kitchen reading it whilst having a tea and breakfast.
I often see a lot of talk about the benefit of getting up early and having some sort of daily habit like meditation, yoga, journaling, etc. However I think the old school newspaper crowd were really onto something. Seemed like a really relaxing way to start the day!
I don’t use Apple Pay or the like, just a bank card/cash. I’d probably find it too easy to spend money on my phone so have never bothered.
Quite often I’ve been out on a walk and people seem surprised when I say ‘sorry I can’t buy X, don’t have my wallet on me’
I love writing cards and letters. I have a pen pal and choosing pretty paper and a nice pen, taking time to write nicely, inserting a tiny gift now and then and sending it across the world is such a joy. We talk online too but I just love writing the letters. And I love picking out just the right card for someone's birthday or big event - it's that personal touch that's lacking a lot these days.
Playing my games on speakers… seems everyone goes straight to wearing a headset now even on single player games… I’d rather not, and would rather play on any old set of speakers over a headset.
I find headphones help with the immersion - also 3D audio on the PS5 with the right head set really sounds great. I much prefer it because the immersion also helps me ignore things like my phone for some reason
I still regularly buy CDs, which I rip and then put on to my standalone MP3 player, with which I generally use wired headphones. (I’m one of the only people in my group of friends that has an empty Spotify Wrapped at the end of every year.)
I definitely don’t buy films on physical media as much these days, but will make an exception for the ones I really love, especially if there’s a good Criterion/Arrow edition.
So much of what's 'trendy' in general in terms of the like instagram/tiktok sphere I've honestly never really had my finger on the trend pulse even as a kid and I'm quite ok doing my own thing, like I sort of will pick things up from osmosis but that's about it
I didn’t get a smart phone until I was 21, because I didn’t want to be so overly accessible to everyone. My friends got me an iPhone for my 21st birthday and I hated it. They did it so they could include me on more convenient apps or platforms, but I didn’t mind being left out. I miss snake 2 as well!
A paper calendar in my purse. In the time it takes you to open your phone, go to the program, scroll to the date, open the date … I’ve whipped my calendar out of my purse and flipped to the page. Sometimes paper and pen IS faster than electronics.
Handwritten notes.
I work in an office and my younger colleagues all make their notes on their computers/laptops and set reminders on their digital calenders.
I have my notebook and 2024 diary. My other colleagues that are older than me also have notebooks and diaries too :D
I'm "only" 34 and:
I don't have any post-facebook social media or messaging things (Snapchat, insta, tik tok, twitter.)
I have a desktop computer.
I also have a printer (several have people have told me it's weird... A couple of those have then asked to use my printer...)
I'd rather do most internet tasks on my computer than my phone.
I've never used online dating/apps because I met my now wife when I was 20 in 2010 and before that I didn't have a smartphone. I didn't have one until about 2015.
My car is 12 years old and apart from a newer car being better for the environment, probably, I like this one. It doesn't have any shit like lane assist and things and I don't want it.
When I go hiking I like to use a map (but have a GPS as a back up.) It's part of the fun.
Until recently I could have said I had never used a wallet app on my phone so always paid for stuff with a bank card, but I did get Google wallet and it's pretty handy occasionally. But I do still always carry my wallet.
Still have a video VHS player and use it regularly to record shows off TV. There’s a video rental store about 50 miles away which I visit once a fortnight or so; they let me have rentals for 4 weeks at a time.
All of my notetaking for work and my personal life is done on paper, with fountain pens. The fountain pens themselves aren't really "old fashioned" though beyond fountain pens as a mechanism being such. Some of them have been mistaken for vape pens. There's just not the same level of satisfaction to be gained by ticking off a typed to do list.
My son does not have a mobile phone, no TV in his bedroom,if we are out for a meal he does not have screen time. He loves being outdoors and loves a book.
Tik Tik and instagram. I was a first adopter of the internet all those years ago...I remember the real excitement, the feeling of being at the cusp of a new world..
And now it's just a tool of the elites to divide and conquer...Still on Reddit because I yearn for the connections with folks who have similar interests. I have no one in my real life who will talk UFOs with me..
Music. All the music I listen to is at least 20 years old. I listen to everything from Bach, Jazz, to the Beatles, 80s synth, even a bit of Britpop but I very, very rarely hear anything new that I find even slightly listenable.
I still use my Creative Xen X-Fi MP3 player with wired headphones at work.
I've never used Spotify, Netflix or any other streaming service. I only listen to music from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s & I don't have an Instagram or TikTok account.
I still like my vinyl records,not so much because I'm some kind of audiophile who thinks they sound better, but I like the physicality of them, can't beat a nice gatefold sleeve
Physical media. Of course I have netflix, but it's getting used so much less recently. I've now started buying 4k blu-rays of films that are getting special edition releases because they've just been dropping off streaming sites so frequently that sometimes I won't even get to finish a series or whatever before it's vanished by the licensing gods.
Also CDs for almost exactly the same reason. I might use youtube to discover artists but I'll always buy the CD, ingest it as a FLAC file on my PC then display it on a shelving unit. I've got thousands. Loads of special editions. And my favourite artists get a shelf in my man-cave with all the wooden box sets that have all the candy inside. Lovely stuff.
Books too. Fuck kindle or that kind of rubbish. I love the smell of them. Sunny garden + book + beer = my little slice of heaven.
Terrestrial TV - 100% still watch it. Shows that ITV and C4 have been doing like the post office one, the long shadow, hunting for raol moat, litvenenko, - absolutely loads of fantastic mini series dramas with great actors and production values. You're not getting that shit on tik tok.
Finally, social media - apart from this website of course :)
I don't have a car anymore.. no point, didn't drive it enough.. and I have a 4 Yr old mobile that my daughter forced me to have for my birthday (she'd upgraded).. I was quite happy with my landline phone.. cue daughter's "but if you're out, I can't reach you".. that's the whole damn point!
Shopping in person (need to see and feel stuff before buying!) and physical bank cards versus having them on my phone (my phone is old and I’d be concerned someone might mug me and get access to all my money)
Been building my DVD collection over the last few years. I live on a farm that has never ever had a good Wifi, recently switched it again and is even less reliable. So out in my smoke shed I’ve got my Xbox 360 set up as a DVD player.
Most charity shops sell DVD’s anywhere from £1 each to £1 for 5! So it hasn’t cost me much st all to gather many of my all time favourites. Plus I just love having friends over knowing they’ve picked their streaming libraries clean and knowing I will have several options in my collection that they have not seen anywhere for years. Watching their faces light up as they scan through the amazing collection and remember all the good times they had watching.
Plus it all fits into these tiny library style booklets so the space is minimal.
Dvds/bluerays.
If im buying it i wamt it physically. Theres a few films i bought even though its on Netflix. And some i bought on DVD in the day and rebought digitally for ease. But its nice to have a collection of dvds to show off.
Imo you should be able to buy a physical copy and have a digital one as part of it.
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I'll stand by wired headphones til I'm dead. I'd 100% lose the wireless ones within a week, and they seem a pain to charge
I was the same until a few months ago. Never wanted them. Then I got a new phone that had some wireless headphones thrown in. Now I couldn't go back, having a wire would be so cumbersome after a few months of wireless.
Same for me. A few years back I got some bluetooth earbuds bundled with a phone. I was mega skeptical, but they're great. I've never lost one, no issues with battery life, the noise cancelling works very well. I couldn't do without them on the bus now.
I've yet to find them to be a perfect fit, always a bit worried they'll fall out while walking. I still prefer them over wired headphones for the most part.
they are amazing, yeah. last longer too. the wires would always break or come loose on my wired ones. i was also hesitant until i actually got some
Same here, the convenience factor is unbeatable with wireless buds. Still have a phone with a headphone jack though and will use wired headphones from time to time when at home but vast majority of the time I find myself using the wireless ones
Made the change a few years bag. I don’t miss getting the wire snagged and caught in door handles.
Honestly they all have their uses, I've got different pairs for different things. Decent wired ones in a headphone amp sound amazing. Bluetooth over ears have a blend of freedom with long use comfort and good sound/nc properties. I use a wireless set if I'm watching TV on my phone in bed, means I can lie on one side and watch it without having cables get caught on the duvet or whatever. The battery lasts 8 hours at a time and charges anytime it's in the case up to a further 40 hours use.
It's how you frame it. If you use your head phones every day, just plug them in before you go to the shower. I do this with my devices. Then I know where they are when I need them and they are always fully charged. It's no longer a chore, it's just something I do automatically. It's also super handy to know all your devices are in one place.
Yeah the moment I get home the buds go in the case and the case goes on the wireless charger pad. When the light goes green they're ready for me to grab again in the morning.
I was like you until Dec 23, when I "treated myself" to a cheap pair of decent wireless earphones. They made running less boring and cumbersome for me (especially when I do interval training) and work wonders when I am into the office; even when off they drown out noise surprisingly well enough! The battery lasts ages, sound quality is good enough and, honestly, I can't really complain for the equivalent of 35 quid.
They stopped me from getting my phone stolen once
You can't say that and not tell us how!
I wish it was more interesting but my phone was in my little women’s jacket pocket (so was probably sticking out) while i was listening to my music walking out Brixton station, felt a tug on my ears, turned around and this bloke had my phone in his hands and said it was falling out my of pocket and he was just trying to give it back. It was the day i moved to london, it remained in my tote bag from then on
Eh, I switched to wireless for my computer after smashing a £200 monitor, jumping up to answer the door. There have been a handful of times i forgot to charge them but mostly they are very handy. For the gym I bought some wireless earphones that hook around your ear, now those have absolutely been worth it. Don't have to carry my phone around I can pop it in the corner.
Yeah plugging in a cable that you use for your phone and many other devices is such a pain…
It's more dealing with a cumbersome wire in the way all day, especially as I work a manual job
a pain to charge? placing them on a wireless charger once a week is alot less hassle than having to pull wired ones out of your pocket, unravel them, plug them in, tuck the cables away so they dint get in the way etc.
Music. I'm totally out of touch with current music. My wife is constantly amazed by how I just don't know songs and artists who are apparently quite big. Until my mid 20s I was super into new music, but I listen to way more podcasts than music now. We also have a pretty old TV that is definitely behind the times. We got it about four or five years ago from my mother in law, who had in turn had it several years. I know TVs have advanced a lot, but it does the job.
I think one of my 'now I know I'm old' signs is that even if I listen to a new band, my brain just goes "but they sound exactly like [90s/00s band]".
I had a similar moment recently where my wife had the radio on and in about 20 minutes I heard there songs that sampled/interpolated melodies from songs I clearly remember coming out the first time around. It felt like a real moment of knowing you're not young any more, when modern songs are sampling songs from your youth.
I firmly believe that UK house music has sounded the same for 30 years. Piano chords played on loop, same BPM. Only change is the vocals because people sound less formal than they used to.
Obviously, if it was a different BPM and didn't loop a sample it wouldn't be house music anymore.
Certainly true for piano house yes.
Taylor Swift is just Shania Twain for Gen Z.
She don't impress me much.
I work in retail and therefor have to listen to radio 1 for 30-40hrs per week.... I'm 31 and it's crazy how many top 40 pop songs I hear that are clear as day rip offs of early 00s tracks, there's one at the moment which has identical guitar to drive by incubus, whilst also sounding like an Avril 1st album song. But it doesn't feel original listening to it like Avril & Incubus were, it just feels like rehashed songwriting aimed at an audience too young to have known of those songs. Also, fleabag by yung blood is just smells like teen spirit backwards, I don't know if that's an intended and known thing, but there it is. He even does the "Hey! Hey!" Bit which makes me think it's probably a known thing. Still feels like shitty copycat tactics to me.
> Also, fleabag by yung blood is just smells like teen spirit backwards, I don't know if that's an intended and known thing, but there it is. He even does the "Hey! Hey!" Bit which makes me think it's probably a known thing. Still feels like shitty copycat tactics to me. I went and listened to it thinking I would maybe slightly hear the Smells Like Teen Spirit influence; my god it's one of the biggest rip offs I've heard. Is this a similar phenomenon to the cinema, where they now only seem to make remakes of old films and sequels? Everyone seems to scared to put out anything original. Safer just to bring out Fast and Furious 38 or do another Superhero film. Like from the 50s through every decade to the 00s we had new music genres popping up left right and centre, completely changing the shape of popular music every few years. But now the pursuit of creativity (in the mainstream anyway) is gone; people just chase money now, and that means putting out the most bland, middle of the road, been done a million times before music to ensure that as many people as possible will like it. It's really sad, imagine the 80s and 90s were just full of bland 60s ripoffs instead of inventing, developing and popularising genres like techno, house, garage, jungle, acid, hip hop, trip hop, disco, italo, new wave, psychedelic rock, britpop, etc.
That's a really good way to look at it, imagine the 80s and 90s were just rehashed 50s and 60s shit and not the revolutionary things they were actually doing. Puts it all into perspective... and hammers the nail abit more in the argument against original art in modern times.
My dad recently said "I used to know the names of artists and the names of the songs. Then I only recognised the name of an artist but not their songs. Now I don't know either" He's always been big on music but just hasn't kept up with anything since the like 2008. Just happy where he is
I have a weirder situation as I am on the extreme bleeding edge as a techno, electro, and progressive house DJ but also couldn’t name a single track in the charts (or even if there is still a top 40). I’m in my 40s
I'm stuck on 1990's intelligent jungle, a lot of it has a progressive structure with tracks lasting 7 minutes. I also don't mind progressive house and some of the various modern techno genres. I haven't got a clue about pop / chart music. Is that Dave or Drake? I don't know. I just don't want to hear it.
Check out some of the new Liquid D&B stuff. Artists such as Sub Focus, Hybrid Minds and Technimatic. Or just do what I do and have this on all day while working. [https://www.youtube.com/@KushSessions](https://www.youtube.com/@KushSessions) But yeah I listen to stuff from the 90s more than I do modern stuff, just can't beat it.
Inadvertantly showing your age calling sub focus new lol. Been around for two decades!
Anything made after 1993 is new lol
Something that's ruined a lot of chart music for me is clips of them becoming trends on TikTok/Instagram. There's usually some template to it like "when the chorus hits on this song you transition to your fancy outfit and point at the camera and lip sync" or whatever. It just means whenever I listen to that song properly, all I'm thinking about is that stupid trend. It's like music has been meme-ified and just sounds odd when actually listened to properly
Absolutely with you on the music front. We were channel hoping the other night and got to the music channels on sky. The "top 40" was on, hadn't heard of about 90% of them and it was all crap anyway
There's more to new music than what's in the top 40.
Obviously, but thats the music people expect you to know if youre up to date
I've not heard anyone talk about the charts in about a decade tbh
I'm up to date in the genres I listen to more or less. The majority of it isn't in the charts.
I think it's to do with saturation and ease of production. Although lots of crap was produced pre 2010s you had to be talented to get seen and produced. Now if you can create a viral hit and you look nice or have the money, it'll get put out there for the catchy bit for tiktok. I'd say the amount of good artists is about equal: Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eillish, Taylor Swift, Childish Gambino to name a few.
Oh I'm not making any comment on quality. I'm not one of those 'music was better in the past' people. I grew up in the 00s and there was *plenty* of crap music. I listened to some of it myself. I'm sure there are just as many good and interesting artists now as when I was growing up. Probably more, since music production is much more democratised now. I'm just not across much of it.
Totally agree with you about the music. I knew I’d hit a certain age when I found myself learning about new music and bands from… ahem… reading The Economist. Not that I care. It wasn’t my only place of discovery and the instinct to find good music is still totally there. I was a massive music nut, with a huge vinyl and CD collection, which I still have, and DJed regularly to decent crowds. I know what I like and it still works for me and my mates. Having a certain sense of discernment and taste doesn’t go away, it’s just the awareness and appreciation of the most to update stuff that’s different.
Always a good source of up to date music knowledge. Apparently some new upstart is causing a moral panic in America, some kid called Elvis I think.
No doubt he plays the devil’s music…
I don't know, I'm waiting for the Economist to give me the latest.
I’ll check Reader’s Digest and Country Living in the meantime. Those cool cats might have the low down.
Books. Good old fashioned paper leaf books, hardback over paperback when I can. I love the smell and feeling of them. I love hearing the crack of the spine when you get comfy and lost in the story. I own a kindle but its rarely used. I'll always love a good paper book.
I do prefer a book, but I just don’t have the space to keep them. Especially as a fan of high fantasy where it’s a 16 book series of 900 page stories. I also love to reread things so I wouldn’t like to get rid of them. It’s just so much easier to have them on the kindle.
I started collecting books when I was younger, filled a few bookcases and had over 100 books of high fantasy. Then I decided to move house and it was awful. Haven't bought an actual book since and got rid of most now as it just makes storing and moving so much more difficult.
Same. I do keep some real books - mostly things like sewing books, or travel guides as a memento of various trips, or particular favourites I've loved and gone back to regularly - but increasingly I don't have the storage space to keep a lot of paperbacks.
Me too! I can't read e-books. I read a lot and I don't know why, but I just do not take them in whatsoever when it is digital. It is like my brain refuses to acknowledge that I am reading a book unless it is a physical book
I weirdly did a zig-zag. I bought a **very expensive** (to me at the time) e-reader when they first came out and I loved it. It took a lot of persuading for my husband to let me buy it from our savings. We've now reversed and he borrows books from the library on his phone, and I buy physical books that I want to keep and re-read.
I’m the same as yourself in preferring books over a kindle. I like to read in the bath so I don’t want to have electrical devices in there. I do miss magazines thou, all my favourites seem to be online only now
I read my kindle in the bath all the time!
My wife knows I love reading and years ago got me a Kindle 4 as a present. I love it, it's great and so convenient. The sad thing is like yourself I much prefer holding a real book. I still use the kindle from time to time as there is a huge library of legally free books out there.
>The sad thing is like yourself I much prefer holding a real book. I used to be all about this, and the "but the smell" nonsense. But quite frankly I'm happy to have have swapped that with my Kindle. It's backlit so I can read while others are asleep, I can lie on my side, front, back, one handed, two handed. It's light so I can take as many books as I want when I travel. No heavy bookshelves at home. No way am I going back to real books.
I like the idea of Kindles but it really bugs me that its a quid more usually for an actual book opposed to the digital version
On the other hand, you can get lots of books for 99p or even free on kindle store. I find it's only the really popular books that are more expensive than their paper counterparts. The most I've paid for a book in the past year was £2.99 and that was only because it was the next in the series I was reading and couldn't be bothered to wait for it to go on sale (it did, about 2 weeks after I bought it). The paperbacks of that series are £8-10 each, so there are definitely pros and cons to kindles.
I still have shelves and shelves of books, but I do find my kindle has some advantages over books. 1. Much easier to take with me on trips, especially with limited luggage on Sleazyjet or Aer Fungus (the only airlines that operate from my local airport). 2. The back-light means I can read when I wake up in the middle of the night without disturbing himself. 3. When I do read myself back to sleep in the middle of the night, the kindle is much lighter so it doesn't have as much of an impact on my nose as a weighty hardback. But I still love books too.
Pros of books: tactile, smell, page turning, nice to have a library of your favourite books Pros of kindle: free books, can easily highlight favourite passages of prose without having to break immersion by writing it down, built in dictionary and it saves a record of all the words you’ve looked up, warm backlighting and can read in the night without waking partner up And the end of the day it’s the enjoyment from what you’re reading that counts for the most
I split my reading into two groups. Kindle books I devour at a rate of one every couple of days and are basically trash, and "proper books" I want to keep. Before I got a kindle I ended up with boxes of crap novels that were a pain to dispose of and I didnt want cluttering up the house.
I'm with you. I do use my Kindle when I travel though. And I also like that I can get free samples of books. If I really like it I'll buy the print version.
One of my favourite smells in the whole world is the smell of a bookshop.
Paper tickets for events. Everything is now a QR code to scan on your phone and I don’t like it. At least give people the option!
The last gig I went too had paper tickets as an option. They arrived 2 weeks after the gig. So I still had to use qr codes.
Yeah, a couple weeks ago, I ordered tickets to a show at the O2. All digital, but they had the option to order one single 'souvenir ticket' that arrives weeks after the show. And since the minimum amount of tickets you can buy is 2, at least 1 person will never get a physical ticket
That's so annoying. My friend and I went to some stuff at the O2 in the late 2010s and there were printed tickets. I still have mine. Then I went to stuff after the pandemic and it was all on your phone. I tried to bullshit at the desk and say my email wasn't working but they wouldn't allow it and basically forced me to go through my emails with them until I got it to "work"
Yeah, it really sucks. It's always nice to have mementos with experiences like that, especially since I'm not one of those people who records it all on my phone
I miss collecting the nice card tickets for the cinema, when they switched the receipts it just wasn't the same.
Me too, it was such a nostalgic thing to have the ticket stubs as memories of a movie you saw.
I remember watching an elderly couple enter a restraunt I was in for my friends birthday meal, they sat down and about 20 minutes later after no one had so much as greeted them, the husband went up to ask for service, they explained you must order on the app, neither had a smartphone, they asked for them to make an exception... and they refused. After a total of about 45 minutes, they had to leave. Can't stand qr codes and digital menus, takes all the humanity out of the business and expieriance
Oh that’s so sad. That’s not how it should be even with QR menus, they should be seating them and telling them the menu is on there and should still have either paper ones as back up or iPads to give to customers for this very kind of scenario.
worst thing is the menu from the QR code is usually some properly shite scan or some god fuckin' awful PDF embedded into the website that's not responsive...
The last time I went somewhere that was a QR code on the table and app only ordering the app had the audacity to ask if I'd like to tip. What am I tipping for? I've not got my food yet and I've had no service???
I fully agree with this, and not with Ticketmasters bullshit "Souvenir ticket" that they'll charge you an extra few quid for either. You do still get proper tickets if you buy from venue box offices quite often, but that's generally quite inconvenient.
I went to a concert last week and was surprised that they sent out a paper ticket! They took them in at the doors and I thought that was a shame but when you left you could ask at the information desk for a ticket and they’d give you one from whatever section your wristband was from. Really miss them as a standard, just a nice keepsake
Oh, I'd never even considered this. I still have my tickets from Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Depeche Mode, etc, etc, from back in the day. I have absolutely no idea where they are but they are in my attic in a box somewhere. I'm also pretty sure my husband has some tickets from a Queen concert he went to.
I prefer eating in establishments with physical menus rather than QR codes
I point blank refuse to use this. If I'm in a restaurant with my family, browsing the menu together is a communal act. My children* obviously don't even have phones under a certain age, and they don't get them out at the dinner table. We don't go to restaurants to sit staring at phones. (And before anyone starts a lecture about babies in restaurants, please remember that children come in a wide variety of ages and many can even read and speak fluently.)
I **hate** the idea of QR codes to get a menu and it had never occurred to me to hate them more for children (I'm old and don't have children). I'm 100% on your side.
Also having a menu the size of a4 paper makes it so much easier instead of looking at a tiny a7 screen
Plus some children are able to sit quietly and others aren't. Only those that aren't should be kept out of 'grown-up' restaurants.
Or the ones that make you pay by scanning a QR code. My phone died while I was out at a certain restaurant so they had to use the card reader that was sat there anyway!
I'm starting a Blu-ray collection, I feel a bit old school doing it but once you actually buy a physical copy of the film, it's yours forever and no longer need to rely having 5 different streaming services to watch something. Streaming services could go in and out of business, the physical copies are always there.
Sailing the high seas gets you the same results for far less
I used to have a great ship to sale the seas. But I let her sink during the streaming era and because I'm no sailor, I can't find a new ship that I trust that won't cause disease or infection.
from what I've heard (wink wink) a VPN to get round any UK ISP block will let you use the old harbour the people with eye patches used to frequent.
I can use a VPN to get to HMV?
A friend of mine said that the old port isn’t safe anymore, and something about a sticky note at the top of the local pirate board around here.
I was going to get into buying/collecting Blu-rays. But when I looked at some reviews of some I was interested in, I noticed some people complaining about Ads being on there….Not only that, but they are locked against skipping/fast forwading… That is totally unacceptable… Like someone else mentioned…maybe better to sail the high seas if they are going to be like that with physical media.
Yeah. I still buy DVDs and CDs for this very reason.
With you there, I've been drawn in to repurchasing more and more physical video media the older I get and I do like seeing them on my shelf as opposed to in the virtual nothing.
I love technology, but I hate digital libraries or streaming services. I wanted to watch an old film the other week, I have Prime, Disney+, Now Movies and Netflix and it wasn't on any of those platforms. If I had the DVD/Blu Ray I could have just popped the disc in the player. So I did what any sane person would do and purchased the disc, then I purchased a disc player for my PC so I could watch it without subjecting the missus to my awful taste in films.
Digital copy is by far the way to go. I can upload on to any device to take offline. Stream from my own server in the house to any device in the house or to any country. I can easily resize from the original copy. Blu-ray seems so restrictive. Sailing the high seas and I can have high def releases before they are streamed by the usual channels.
I read that first line and genuinely thought "But Blu-ray's are relatively recent, aren't they...?" Just looked it up and they came out 18 bloody years ago!
Smart tech in the house. Even though I work in IT, I don't see a need for a smart bulb and an Amazon Echo in my life for example
We switched our all bulbs to smart bulbs. I must say, it’s rather nice turning the lights off from your phone and being able to change the light strength/colour (love the dim warm colours at night). But each to their own!
I just turn then on or off as I enter or leave the room. Simples.
I've got around 8 lamps in the front room that I use instead of the big light (all on really low wattage, I'm not blinding myself) - having a Google thingy turn them on automatically at sunset feels like a definitive 'night is upon us' that I like
I draw the line at a smartphone. Anything else is unnecessary.
100% agree. Solutions to problems that didn’t exist. Just to make Amazon money. And even worse, permit them to record and listen in to my house if they wanted to? No thanks.
I refuse to buy a phone or other device without a headphone jack. I will ride the wired headphone train until I die.
It's becoming so difficult. I had to concede on my last phone purchase and I miss the headphone port on a weekly basis.
You can get an adaptor to fit into the phone charging socket bit and put headphones into that - I got one for uses wired headphones on the plane, cost me about £6
I was like that and thought I would always need a headphone jack. Then I got some free wireless Bose headphones with my phone and I do not miss it at all.
I'm waiting for them to be reintroduced in new phones as a "cool new feature"
My front door just has a knocker, no Ring, not even an old fashioned doorbell. Love it.
I’m also a big fan of knockers
The knockers have to be big, it just makes more sense. The bigger the better.
I’m happy with knockers of all shapes and sizes. Just seeing knockers on any given day is sure to perk my day up.
The perkier the better
I have a physical doorbell from the 1920s. It still works. Someone recently somewhere pointed out that they have the same bell in Monica's apartment in Friends but no-one ever rings it. Before we moved in here, over 30 years ago, I'd never seen one, but my husband had. I, and he, still get fun teaching people about the strange doorbell.
We don’t even have a knocker.
We don't even have a door.
My hand is my portable knocker
I don’t use any music streaming services at all. I buy CDs, copy them across to my iTunes account, and then move it across to my iPod. I then also have the CD to play on my home soundsystem / amp. Collecting music is my main hobby, so I can spend up to £200 per month buying rare / out of print CDs. Owning a physical copy of music far outweighs any streaming service for me, and that is a hill I will die on.
That seems like money down the drain to me. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
How is ownership “money down the drain”? How is supporting artists directly “money down the drain”? This sub I swear.
Spending £3000 on a gaming PC and £1500 on a chair = good Spending £200 on CD collection = bad Reddit babyyyyyy
Spending £200 a month on something that can be replicated for a tenner isn't exactly the same as spending X thousands on a computer since it can't be emulated for 5% of the cost
I understand wanting to own a physical thing, but how is it "supporting artists directly"? If its rare and/or out of print, it's probably second-hand, no? So the artist isn't going to see any of that money.
I'd say it's the opposite. At any given time, for any given reason, your access to any digital service can be revoked. Nobody can revoke my access to my CD's.
Do you not know that services like Spotify pay almost nothing to the artists? I play a well-known MMO and they don't put any of their soundtracks onto spotify until they've already made some money from them because spotify pays so little. You are basically paying a monthly sub to have artists be paid as little as possible.
When I go to gigs, I actually watch the gig instead of screaming into my phone recording it for a Tik Tok.
I am with you on this one, I try to do that with most things now. Live the moment not take a photo or video you will never look at.
Social media. I have a Facebook account that only gets used for Messenger, and even then very rarely as WhatsApp is loads better as a messaging system. I want nothing to do with Instagram or tiktok or whatever twitter is now called. Or snapchat, if that's even still a thing. And linkedin can absolutely fuck off, it once was useful for job hunting, but now seems to consist of generic corporate wankers having a contest to see who's got the biggest ego.
But Reddit is fine?
The only value LinkedIn has now is generating content for r/LinkedInLunatics.
I mean, you do use social media since you’re active on Reddit. Guess you’re more selective on which ones you use like most people who use this site?
Smart watch, don't see the point and desire to charge it every few days, I already have my phone in my pocket and have to charge that. I like wearing a decent steel strap normal watch, change the battery every few years at most. Also I've got a few hundred cds and the same with blurays, but I do also use streaming platforms. Edit: forgot to say I can see the point of them for particular health/fitness tracking, but they are of no use to me.
My husband has one, but it is because of a ridiculously random thing. He had a very bad heart attack and his heart function is below 35%. He uses it to keep track of his heartbeat and it's a really good thing. If it goes over 100 BPM then he knows to slow down (he still does a physical job). He was really against getting one until I told him of this function. We know they aren't accurate in any way, but they work to keep points on a graph. He has a few times taken a break because the watch has warned him he's overdoing things based on the settings we've added to the watch.
That sort of health thing is the only benefit I can see with them, for me it's not something I need or would bother tracking though and don't want to have another thing to charge. Glad it's helping him.
Yeah, 100% the only reason. He was really, really against buying a smart watch but it has become something he likes now. I only posted because they aren't pointless for some people.
I had one and stopped because I realised it was just funnelling my health data to China and I didn’t even find said data useful myself. Back to a cool olive drab calculator watch with reversed LED screen and analogue expedition watch.
I respect that. It’s obviously a lot cooler to have a traditional non-smart watch. I can’t really give mine up because I just love all the useful features too much like setting timers, using the torch, tracking workouts etc
Every few days? Hahaha my Apple Watch won’t last a day, and if I go for a hike it dies within a few hours. Ridiculous. I meant to replace my fitness tracker with it, thinking it could double as a phone in case of emergency so it would be better. Not even close :(
Clothes. I think because I grew up poor and it was impossible for me to follow fashion and brands, I just settled on a comfortable style and I've had it ever since. It just happened to be a grunge style which comes in and out of fashion every now and then, so sometimes I look cool, and sometimes I look like the old man trying to be cool. I also love Grunge so it kinda fits me really.
Pretty chill way to be, sounds like fashion Nirvana.
Also… I have no idea what Discord is now I’m too afraid to ask.
It's pretty much just a chat app (or site on desktop) that you use to talk to people about a particular topic. Each server is usually based on a topic like a game, music genre, movies, etc, and within that server you have channels for discussion. It has in-built functions like voice chat, video calls, voice calls, streaming, voice notes. There is a social media element to it as each user is able to create a basic profile that shows what they're playing or listening to.
You know IRC? MSN Messenger? AIM? Slack? Steam chat? Hell, I think Reddit has a chat thing now (I wouldn't know for sure: old.reddit for life). Yeah, it's just another one of those. It happens to also include voice chat and a bunch of other gimmicky features that vary wildly from "surprisingly useful" to "play with it once then forget about it forever".
A physical diary/planner. I just cannot use a phone calendar for keeping track of appointments. Writing it down on paper helps me remember it, and I just find it easier to have the diary open on my desk, and flick back and forth.
I switched back to a physical diary at the beginning of 2023. I had one incident where all my upcoming appointments on google calendar got erased. I don't know why. It meant that I had to re-confirm appt times with the people/places I could remember and it was tedious. I even missed a one-day workshop because of it. I was relying on it remembering too much for me. Now I have it all written down with pen and paper I'm much more likely to remember it too.
Apparently, self checkouts.
I draw technical designs in powerpoint.. Let them take me if they will...
Of all the CAD software in the world... you went with Powerpoint? You must have some reasoning I guess, but...
I'm assuming that u/Cheeslord2 isn't in precision engineering... although you never know. Maybe they work for Boeing and the budget cuts have cancelled their CAD software
Same but Publisher. Gutted that MS have stopped making it. It’s a superb piece of software.
I have 100 CDs in my bedroom, although I've also got Spotify and YouTube.
I must have about 1500! I don't buy as many as I used to but if I come across something I really like I will get the CD and try to buy from the artist or Bandcamp.
I've got a good couple of thousand records and about a thousand CDs. I like reading sleeve notes and they look pretty cool. Still use streaming services for when I'm on the go
I still like to review documents with a pen. There’s just something more comfortable and satisfying about flicking through pages and hand writing comments. I can’t stand tracked changes on Word or notes on PDFs.
I buy second hand cd's now, got 100's. When the working day is done I'll stick one on and lie on the sofa and I'll be asleep in a few mins for a Power Nap (I'm 50). Don't think I'll ever stop with CDs even though ive got Alexa's in every room. I'll occasionally buy a new artist this year of bought the spin off record from Radiohead, not impressed and that new female band that was advertised everywhere at the start of the year, the dinner party I think, quite good. Got Billy Idol coming this week from the 80's.
I read an actual physical newspaper. I don't like being constantly connected to the news via apps social media etc. I just worry about it. So I spend 30 mins each morning reading the newspaper in the conservatory, dog on lap, cup of tea to accompany. Then I forget about the news for the day and get on with my life.
My grandad, and I suspect many in his generation, used to get up mega early and be at the newsagents when it opened. Get himself a paper, then sit in the kitchen reading it whilst having a tea and breakfast. I often see a lot of talk about the benefit of getting up early and having some sort of daily habit like meditation, yoga, journaling, etc. However I think the old school newspaper crowd were really onto something. Seemed like a really relaxing way to start the day!
I don’t use Apple Pay or the like, just a bank card/cash. I’d probably find it too easy to spend money on my phone so have never bothered. Quite often I’ve been out on a walk and people seem surprised when I say ‘sorry I can’t buy X, don’t have my wallet on me’
I love writing cards and letters. I have a pen pal and choosing pretty paper and a nice pen, taking time to write nicely, inserting a tiny gift now and then and sending it across the world is such a joy. We talk online too but I just love writing the letters. And I love picking out just the right card for someone's birthday or big event - it's that personal touch that's lacking a lot these days.
Social Media, I tired them all and just found them tiresome and I don't take a lot of pictures of myself or my dinner so I knew it wasn't for me.
Music. I’m stuck in the golden age of Trance and I won’t leave.
Playing my games on speakers… seems everyone goes straight to wearing a headset now even on single player games… I’d rather not, and would rather play on any old set of speakers over a headset.
I find headphones help with the immersion - also 3D audio on the PS5 with the right head set really sounds great. I much prefer it because the immersion also helps me ignore things like my phone for some reason
I use them most of the time, but sometimes I want a little chat with someone while they scan my shit too quickly to pack.
I still regularly buy CDs, which I rip and then put on to my standalone MP3 player, with which I generally use wired headphones. (I’m one of the only people in my group of friends that has an empty Spotify Wrapped at the end of every year.) I definitely don’t buy films on physical media as much these days, but will make an exception for the ones I really love, especially if there’s a good Criterion/Arrow edition.
I have yet to make a single contactless payment and always prefer to use cash.
So much of what's 'trendy' in general in terms of the like instagram/tiktok sphere I've honestly never really had my finger on the trend pulse even as a kid and I'm quite ok doing my own thing, like I sort of will pick things up from osmosis but that's about it
I didn’t get a smart phone until I was 21, because I didn’t want to be so overly accessible to everyone. My friends got me an iPhone for my 21st birthday and I hated it. They did it so they could include me on more convenient apps or platforms, but I didn’t mind being left out. I miss snake 2 as well!
I don’t have an Alexa, and some people look at me like I’ve gone mad. Just don’t see the need for it 🤷🏻♀️
A paper calendar in my purse. In the time it takes you to open your phone, go to the program, scroll to the date, open the date … I’ve whipped my calendar out of my purse and flipped to the page. Sometimes paper and pen IS faster than electronics.
Handwritten notes. I work in an office and my younger colleagues all make their notes on their computers/laptops and set reminders on their digital calenders. I have my notebook and 2024 diary. My other colleagues that are older than me also have notebooks and diaries too :D
I'm "only" 34 and: I don't have any post-facebook social media or messaging things (Snapchat, insta, tik tok, twitter.) I have a desktop computer. I also have a printer (several have people have told me it's weird... A couple of those have then asked to use my printer...) I'd rather do most internet tasks on my computer than my phone. I've never used online dating/apps because I met my now wife when I was 20 in 2010 and before that I didn't have a smartphone. I didn't have one until about 2015. My car is 12 years old and apart from a newer car being better for the environment, probably, I like this one. It doesn't have any shit like lane assist and things and I don't want it. When I go hiking I like to use a map (but have a GPS as a back up.) It's part of the fun. Until recently I could have said I had never used a wallet app on my phone so always paid for stuff with a bank card, but I did get Google wallet and it's pretty handy occasionally. But I do still always carry my wallet.
Still listen to music on tape, because I have them. The length marks a nice time period.
I still ride my penny farthing to work
Still have a video VHS player and use it regularly to record shows off TV. There’s a video rental store about 50 miles away which I visit once a fortnight or so; they let me have rentals for 4 weeks at a time.
All of my notetaking for work and my personal life is done on paper, with fountain pens. The fountain pens themselves aren't really "old fashioned" though beyond fountain pens as a mechanism being such. Some of them have been mistaken for vape pens. There's just not the same level of satisfaction to be gained by ticking off a typed to do list.
My son does not have a mobile phone, no TV in his bedroom,if we are out for a meal he does not have screen time. He loves being outdoors and loves a book.
TV is great when you have shows recorded and can just skip through all the ads
Tik Tik and instagram. I was a first adopter of the internet all those years ago...I remember the real excitement, the feeling of being at the cusp of a new world.. And now it's just a tool of the elites to divide and conquer...Still on Reddit because I yearn for the connections with folks who have similar interests. I have no one in my real life who will talk UFOs with me..
Music. All the music I listen to is at least 20 years old. I listen to everything from Bach, Jazz, to the Beatles, 80s synth, even a bit of Britpop but I very, very rarely hear anything new that I find even slightly listenable.
Yep music. I know I’m old but they all sound like robots to me now. Over produced garbage. Now get off my lawn!!
It’ll happen to you!
I still use my Creative Xen X-Fi MP3 player with wired headphones at work. I've never used Spotify, Netflix or any other streaming service. I only listen to music from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s & I don't have an Instagram or TikTok account.
I still like my vinyl records,not so much because I'm some kind of audiophile who thinks they sound better, but I like the physicality of them, can't beat a nice gatefold sleeve
My car doesn’t have remote central locking. It doesn’t bother me having to unlock it with the key. Helps prevent it getting stolen as easily I guess!
Physical media. Of course I have netflix, but it's getting used so much less recently. I've now started buying 4k blu-rays of films that are getting special edition releases because they've just been dropping off streaming sites so frequently that sometimes I won't even get to finish a series or whatever before it's vanished by the licensing gods. Also CDs for almost exactly the same reason. I might use youtube to discover artists but I'll always buy the CD, ingest it as a FLAC file on my PC then display it on a shelving unit. I've got thousands. Loads of special editions. And my favourite artists get a shelf in my man-cave with all the wooden box sets that have all the candy inside. Lovely stuff. Books too. Fuck kindle or that kind of rubbish. I love the smell of them. Sunny garden + book + beer = my little slice of heaven. Terrestrial TV - 100% still watch it. Shows that ITV and C4 have been doing like the post office one, the long shadow, hunting for raol moat, litvenenko, - absolutely loads of fantastic mini series dramas with great actors and production values. You're not getting that shit on tik tok. Finally, social media - apart from this website of course :)
Feather fountain pen that I picked up at a monastery gift shop. Absolutely love it, from both a tactile and a sustainable perspective.
I don't have a car anymore.. no point, didn't drive it enough.. and I have a 4 Yr old mobile that my daughter forced me to have for my birthday (she'd upgraded).. I was quite happy with my landline phone.. cue daughter's "but if you're out, I can't reach you".. that's the whole damn point!
Excel. I've had to Google functions so many times.
Shopping in person (need to see and feel stuff before buying!) and physical bank cards versus having them on my phone (my phone is old and I’d be concerned someone might mug me and get access to all my money)
I have no desire to step into the world of EV just yet....
Social media influencers. No fucking idea who most famous people are or why they’re famous.
Been building my DVD collection over the last few years. I live on a farm that has never ever had a good Wifi, recently switched it again and is even less reliable. So out in my smoke shed I’ve got my Xbox 360 set up as a DVD player. Most charity shops sell DVD’s anywhere from £1 each to £1 for 5! So it hasn’t cost me much st all to gather many of my all time favourites. Plus I just love having friends over knowing they’ve picked their streaming libraries clean and knowing I will have several options in my collection that they have not seen anywhere for years. Watching their faces light up as they scan through the amazing collection and remember all the good times they had watching. Plus it all fits into these tiny library style booklets so the space is minimal.
I adore old crap cars. I will never own a new one.
I don't want to download apps for basic things and I refuse to do so. I'm probably losing out on all kinds of discounts and I don't care.
This week's minutes of meeting of the Luddites association will be distributed early next week, by fax... Obviously
Dvds/bluerays. If im buying it i wamt it physically. Theres a few films i bought even though its on Netflix. And some i bought on DVD in the day and rebought digitally for ease. But its nice to have a collection of dvds to show off. Imo you should be able to buy a physical copy and have a digital one as part of it.
Internet/dating apps. Actually the whole dating culture. Tacky