I'm not a Luddite, but...

[Dreamstalker]

Every so often I need to tell my phone (Galaxy S4) not to sync everything with gmail. I still have a handful of contacts that are duplicated and triplicated and I have no idea how that happened....I go to merge them only to have the duplicates pop up a few days later.

I do have one or two apps that pretty much rely on the manual location services (that kills my battery, so I only enable it if I absolutely need the app and disable it after). If they can't triangulate even for two minutes...you'd think the world was ending. One of my loyalty apps will use location services to push mobile offers...how about just a notification "hey we have a location-dependent offer X for you, enable this if you want to use it" rather than making me enable it just to see if it's something I'm even interested in?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My first actual computer -- several years before the Amstrad -- was a TRS-80 Color Computer. Taught myself BASIC on that bad boy. Then a TI 99-4/a. C64 after that.

My first PC was a Commodore 64C that we bought at Service Merchandise on sale (keyboard was roughly $150, 1581 floppy drive was around $170 and the OkiData printer was $120 - had to spend an extra $30 or so for the serial interface so I could connect it to the disk drive. And a amber monochrome 13 inch Magnovox monitor was around $90, so all total Mom spent around $400 - not including the humongous desk/hutch combo w/corner unit and printer stand that she bought on clearance, also at Service Merchandise.)

Then I spent around $40 on GEOS 2.0 software suite and had to replace 2 serial cables after our Shih Tzu decided my computer cables were teething toys. Those two cables were around $20, which back in the late 80's was not a small amount of change.

[cindybubbles]

I remember dropping $20 after $20 on 100MB Iomega Zip disks in college and perhaps even after that. I also remember buying my first thumbdrive. It had just 1GB of space, and I used it regularly for my work.

I recently bought a 32GB thumbdrive for less than the price I paid for my first one. Sigh.

[MoonCat]

It's always a sign of how different things are from when I was growing up, when I am charging my phone, my Kindle and my MP3 player all at once. And even that is behind the times, because I have 3 separate devices (which works just fine for me).

[Gizmo]

Iomega Zip disks

You've just reminded me of one ex employer who went to retrieve the backup off one of those (or something like it) to discover that it was running out of space partway through and somehow wiping the early part of the backup to continue. So only about half the files were getting backed up. which wasn't discovered until something was lost and they wanted it back... lol

[notalwaysright]

Sometimes at school I feel really behind the times because I still use headphones. Not ear buds, headphones. Ear buds hurt, won't stay in, and if I eat or drink anything the sound is amplified in my own head. Oh, if I move my jaw (like to talk or eat) they will also fall out. I have tried different styles. I just all around don't like them.

[Silent-Hunter]

I'm really a mixed bag. I have floppy drives and a tape drive and a Commodore 64 and various old things, but I still like modern things too. Although, I will say, if CDE ever stops working I'm going to pitch a fit!

My first computer was a Compaq LTE 286. I loved that thing.

[Seanette]

I prefer my iPad because it is easier to manuver when the cats demand a lap. I like Facebook to keep up with family. I have tons of cousins and it is nice to keep up with what they are up to as well as some awesome friends. I mostly agree with everything the OP said though. I have no desire to be connected 24/7. There is an amusing side effect to getting accoustomed to touch screens...when you finally do go back to your laptop to do some writing and you spend a good two minutes touching the x to close a window and realize it is a laptop not a touch screen.

I've done that in campus computer labs.

I do have a smartphone, since I really wanted all-in-one for phone, PDA-type functions, and music while riding public transit. Got tired of juggling multiple devices and occasionally losing one. Facebook has its good points as well. Cloud storage of documents can be helpful to a student (I like Copy), but a lot of my stuff can darn well stay local, especially stuff like bank statements and tax returns!

Haven't "upgraded" to Win10 yet, and am dragging my feet on that, due to reported privacy issues. As for being walled off from system settings, if I wanted to be put in a cyber-playpen with no control of MY computer, I'd go Macintosh.

[WishfulSpirit]

I use cloud computing because all my computers in the last 7 years have been ones hubby cobbled together from recycled parts. I don't want to loose my data should one of them decide to break. Saving to dropbox is easy.

[Dreamstalker]

I also remember buying my first thumbdrive. It had just 1GB of space, and I used it regularly for my work.

I still have one or two 256MB drives kicking around here...the smaller thumbdrives are usually donors for recovery/forensics/random trash-and-fix experiments (the 1GB one I used in a forensics class may actually have a virus).

As for Win10, I've told mom that if M$ really forces the issue we are going Linux.

[prjkt]

I'm still giggling over 'FaceMyGoogTwit'.

That was brilliant.

I'm a bit of a tech-head here, not yet 30, but close enough that I grew up just as the Internet became a "thing"

I have no issues with building, modifying, updating etc a computer, will even take a soldering iron to cables if I need to, but I still remember this wonderful thing called a "book" and try to work on my memory so I remember things, not remembering how to google things.

On the topic of modern OS's, yes, I have a couple of Macs, iThings and an Apple TV, and I really like how they all sync up over iCloud. I understand that's not for everyone, but it suits my workflow to be able to access some things from wherever I am.

On the note of software dialling home, this annoys me sometimes, especially games, as I don't play multiplayer or online at all, so why the need for always online? However I am willing to deal with this for my Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom subscription, $10/m with all updates included as long as I keep the subscription, and still have access to my photo libraries if I let it lapse (just no editing in that case) rather than paying $1100/-1400 for a Photoshop license and $200 for a Lightroom license, only to have to buy the upgrade each time a new feature/version is released.

I've done that in campus computer labs.

I do have a smartphone, since I really wanted all-in-one for phone, PDA-type functions, and music while riding public transit. Got tired of juggling multiple devices and occasionally losing one. Facebook has its good points as well. Cloud storage of documents can be helpful to a student (I like Copy), but a lot of my stuff can darn well stay local, especially stuff like bank statements and tax returns!

Haven't "upgraded" to Win10 yet, and am dragging my feet on that, due to reported privacy issues. As for being walled off from system settings, if I wanted to be put in a cyber-playpen with no control of MY computer, I'd go Macintosh.

Most those "walled off" settings complaints can be directed at the fact Windows 10 has a basic "settings" app which is fairly limited, but also the full original style control panel that few people seem to find (hit "start" and type "control panel" will bring it up.)

That should solve a lot of those issue.

I'm not a fan of the Home version's forced updates, but for non-techie users this is probably a good thing to plug any potential exploits, but running a multi-CPU machine I needed the Pro version to take use of that, so I'm not affected in that way.

Btw, you've still got plenty of control over a Mac computer, the "walled garden" is more an iOS thing.

[cindybubbles]

I also remember buying my first thumbdrive. It had just 1GB of space, and I used it regularly for my work.

Update: I still have my old thumbdrive. It's in my bedroom, sitting on one of my shelves.

I also still have old DVDs that I don't watch anymore, thanks to YouTube, an old 8GB iPad that I just recently retired in favor of a new 128GB iPad Air 2 (thanks to my sister for that!), and books. Yes, I read books, too. Mostly Guinness World Record annuals, comic strip collections and Ripley's Believe it or Not books, but they're still books.

My dad has a ton of old stuff, too. He has some radios, my old Walkman, a guillotine paper trimmer and a lot of other things.

[Golden Phoenix]

I must admit I like my smartphone and the cloud.

If i take pics with my phone they are automatically stuck into my cloud account, when I get home i pull them up on my desktop and store them on an external HD, that way, if my phone goes kaput or gets stolen, i haven't lost any of my pics. Since i'm the type who only takes very few pics of important events etc, (I am pleased to say that I have never taken a "selfie") i'd be very sad to lose them. It's also useful for taking individual documents with me without carrying something small like my memory stick (I lose them so easily) pop it into my dropbox, head to library, open dropbox, print. Lovely! Basically, i treat it like a non-physical thumb drive.

As for the phone, my reasons are perhaps different to most, the smartphone means I can be in contact with DH if he needs me but is unable to use the phone that day. IM on facebook or an email comes straight through and I can sort stuff out.

Other than that, 100% agree.

Oh, and I miss my colour-coded floppy disc collection, a different colour for each subject at school.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

I'm a fan of automatically backing stuff up, to somewhere that won't get hit by a house fire, or theft, falling trees etc.

My ex had all the youngest sprogs pictures on her laptop, which disappeared during a house move. In the Old Days when you used film you'd generally be able to hunt out the negatives of pictures if the prints got lunched, digital? Not so much...

[Crai]

I have worked in the IT Field for the last 13 Years. I use to be a big PC gamer, Built my own Rigs, .... I now hate computers and see them at the downfall of western civilization.

Every single brain dead moron in the Ver's now has a platform to scream their brand of insanity. Due to my job I am digitally tethered to the world but when I retire it will be on a farm a long way from humans or their gadgets of insanity.

Sadly I see an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater happening at some point, specifically Season 4 episode 2. The Murderer! (Plot twist no humans die)