

Meet the Family That Shuns Technologies Introduced After 1986 - trysomething
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/meet-the-family-that-shuns-technologies-introduced-after-1986/279496/

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chasing
Person 1: "I have a great idea! Instead of thinking critically about how we
use technology and its impact on our lives -- good and bad -- let's just make
some arbitrary restriction that'll actually probably retard our kids in this
modern technological world more than it'll help them. Because, as we know, the
best way to get children to do anything safely -- from driving to drugs to
sex, or all three at once -- is to give them absolutely no preparation or
understanding of these things in advance. (Although, to be frank, the mullet
thing probably makes sex less of an issue until Junior gets his first used
IROC-Z when he's 31.)"

Person 2: "I have an ever better idea! I'll write a short article about it as
if you're making some big statement about our over-reliance upon technology
that in no way considers what you're actually doing in a thoughtful way! Like
how you're losing work which translates to less money and might impact your
children's abilities to attend institutes of higher learning, or in a bad
economy could cause you to lose your home or worse! Or how you might be
negatively impacting them socially! Not to mention making them less able to
operate in a global economy which, like it or not, basically requires low-
level understanding of modern technology! Because, y'know, iPads are all,
like, annoying and stuff."

Person 1: "Gnarly!"

[Fin.]

~~~
contingencies
_Because, as we know, the best way to get children to do anything safely --
from driving to drugs to sex, or all three at once -- is to..._

... make them do it exactly how we did it. Because that's clearly superior to
all this goodarned whipper-snapper fandanglin'.

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eksith
I'm reminded of those 60's futuristic reels of what the 80's would be like.

Slight tangent:

"The 1950's was the last time in our history people had any taste in clothing"
\- Patton Oswalt.

In an ideal world, we'll all dress in 50's - early 60's fashion. Computers
won't look, sound or even interact with us like computers I.E. they should be
invisible and only have their presence known when we have a guest at the door
or an appointment. For this, they should remind us with the soothing voice of
HAL9000.

Facebook shouldn't exist and news came in the daily papers made of e-ink. My
chair would still be made of wood. In fact, "Things" would mostly be made of
wood (new-growth renewable) and maybe a bit of steel for extra support.
Concrete would also look like timbers.

At the start of the day, HAL will wake you out of your bed in your 16" x 20"
rustic cabin in the middle of a forest and start the coffee machine with a
carefully measured Arabica with a water temp at exactly 109C all powered by
solar + wind. You put on your bedroom slippers made of recycled materials and
head to pick up the paper (same one as yesterday, but now with today's news)
and it _will actually contain bloody NEWS, not some random malarkey dipped in
mediocrity_. You sip your coffee with your e-ink paper as you watch snow fall
outside (it's September, but the windows will perfectly display the outside in
winter, because.... well, just because).

... OK, I'm done.

Edit: I initially wrote August. Forgot, it's already September.

~~~
Aloha
That future still sounds a whole lot better than our present. I'm not anywhere
near convinced that the 24 hour news cycle and social media are good for
anything or anyone.

~~~
eksith
Breaking news is probably the worst invention we've had so far. Unless
something is killing me _right now_ , I don't want to know about this not-
quite-news-thing until most of the details (preferably all of the details) are
totally sorted out and presented in one serving.

Instead, we have "Breaking: We don't know how, what or why, but it looks like
something bad happened... probably". It sucks and it stresses me out for no
reason except ratings.

I've started moving away from TV altogether for news just for that reason.
There's a set time of day I take in news and that's about it for news for the
rest of my waking hours.

------
ars
> And he's had trouble getting more work, as well, because so many workplaces
> now only accept job applications online.

There is an intelligent limiting of technology for a purpose, and there is
brainless dogma.

They started with the first, and ended with the second.

~~~
WalterSear
That is the usual direction, when brainless dogma is involved.

------
GuiA
Nothing new to see here, we've seen those experiments countless times before.

If one of them falls sick, they'll be glad for 2013 medical practices and
technology.

~~~
Aloha
Medical technology has not really moved forward too much for basic care from
1986 (HIV and new Chemotherapy drugs are the two things I can think of brought
to market since then)

~~~
bronson
Are you forgetting about gene therapies? Or noninvasive surgeries? Or the
incredible medical imaging techniques that are routine these days?

Have no fear, medical advancements are still coming as fast as ever.

------
mindstab
Seems kind of harsh on the kids. Sure they don't need tech to play and won't
notice it immediately but tech proficiency is so important and this day and
age and he's setting his kids back with this, I want to say selfish, project.

~~~
indrax
Having an Apple ][ for a year would probably be far more educational than an
ipad.

~~~
greenyoda
They don't even have to go back to the Apple II: the first Macintosh was
released in 1984.

~~~
kunai
The Mac is/was a competitor to the PC; it's a general purpose computing
device. The Apple II was designed to be a hackable computer for hackers while
also being terrifically capable as a GP machine.

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Yver
So to sum it up: the dad uses a computer at work and drives a 2010 car, but
his son wears a mullet and can't have video games. Why are they (minus dad)
living like it's '86 again?

> Earlier this year, Blair says, he was hanging out outside the house, and he
> asked his 5-year-old son Trey to join him. Trey refused. He was too busy
> with his iPad.

Oh, that explains it.

------
unsignedint
The biggest risk of this kind of lifestyle is when parents get older they will
be disconnected from their kids. (Kids will do just fine... all they need is
some inevitable exposures to technology, albeit with some steeper learning
curve...)

I actually know someone (not really my own contact directly) with similar
lifestyle and what I have been observing is that she is so isolated from
information inlet that she started developing high sense of skepticism as with
current standard of technololgy adoptations by her peers, she'd be often last
person to know everything. (I guess this also gives plenty of time to think
about things, and every little things becomes very very big deal for her, but
then that might be just her personality. She does show some hostility to
people who are "informed" and they tend to become a target of complaints for
just about anything...)

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D9u
We got cable in my rural community in the late 1970's so I don't see why
they've shunned cable while claiming that they won't use technology from 1986
and later...

Looking back, I wish that we'd had the internet when I was growing up, as well
as personal computers, for I would like to think that my life would have
turned out differently had I been exposed to programming while still in
secondary school rather than during my mid twenties.

I kick myself for not joining the Air Force, because my test scores were high,
but in my youthful indiscretion I chose the Army because it seemed more
"manly." (hindsight is 20/20)

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timmyelliot
I guess that means watching a lot of ALF reruns.

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tudorconstantin
Those kids are really lucky that their parents werent born in 1750, because
the kids should already go to work.

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jhonovich
Has the Atlantic ever heard of the Amish?

~~~
jpatokal
Yes, and they can even distinguish between the years 1886 and 1986.

~~~
jhonovich
Is it really that fascinating to cover a single family living in 1986 when a
half million people in the US still live essentially in 1886?

~~~
MichaelGG
The Amish selectively choose what's allowed, then add on all sorts of
arbitrary stuff. Own a computer? OK, but someone else runs it and it must be
for business. Phones? Sure, but 100 yards from the house. Tractors? OK, but no
rubber wheels.

Sure, the rationale is to make sure none of those things "pollute" their lives
or allow them to mingle with the outside world. It's still quite cultish
though and it's sad so many kids are forced to deal with it.

------
Aloha
I have a dumb terminal, I figured out one day - that on that serial terminal,
I could do about 80% of what I normally do with a computer with it. Next step
is to figure out the oldest hardware to use with it, that would still let me
hit that 80% target.

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danso
I didn't watch the video, but I read the original newspaper article about this
family...and newspapers should be somewhat troubled that the family didn't
talk about how they were going to re-subscribe to the newspaper in order to
keep informed...Maybe they never liked newspapers to begin with, or maybe they
just see that newspapers -- in print form -- are far less informative and
useful than they were 25 years ago.

~~~
WalterSear
I would argue that they aren't any more useless than they have been, but that
they've been showed up by everything that's come since, and since everyone
else is connected, it's more worthwhile to ask someone than to buy a daily
rag.

