The digital age, do you prefer living in it now or prefer life without?

[Golfmmad]

Dont know if this has been done before but something else to think/talk about rather than all the Political goings on.

Personally I think I'm very lucky in that I've lived most of my life without the internet. Growing up and making my way through childhood - not much peer pressure - out playing every day from dawn til dusk, building camps in the woods as a secret hiding place, or so we thought, until some oiks came along and destroyed it. We even had a matress in there! When we weren't doing that, playing football all day or having wars with our catapaults firing at each other, although we soon stopped as it was getting a bit too dangerous when someone got whacked just above the eye!

And now in todays age with all the technology the world can throw at us. I think it's great and like to think that I embrace it all as much as I can. Things like internet banking, online shopping, member of forums, emails, smart phones with the ability to take and upload great quality photos.
But I have to say that I draw the line at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc. I know the benefits of being able to keep in contact with family and friends but for me I can do that directly by phone.

So what are your thoughts, dont know how you could manage without, or wish someone could just stop the world and you get off?

 

[fundy]

Im certainly glad I spent my time at school and university pre internet and mobile phone days, expect my time wouldve been very different and I wouldnt have had such a varied experience.

The last 10 years Ive made most of my income from the internet so hard to be too critical, there is times where I feel it is clearly a negative influence and have greatly reduced my use of social media in recent times for more "real world" experiences.

Definitely think its a massive positive, but if overused can become addictive and destructive to a small percentage of people. Have to make sure its use is not at the expense of having proper relationships and communications with people

 

[Beezerk]

Personally I think I'm very lucky, playing out everyday, dusk until dawn, building camps, tree houses and fires in the woods. Playing football and cricket all weekend on the local field, catapult fights, climbing trees.
Then I got a Vic 20 (my pal got a zx81) and it changed my life, we still played football all weekend but went to our houses to play games on an evening. Many a late night/early morning was spent completing a game (Tir Na Nog anyone). Spending hours typing in programmes from Computer and Video Games magazine only for them not to work. Then came games consoles and subsequently the Internet which certainly opened the world to my eyes anyway.

It's a perpective thing, imo if you lived through these things and were young enough to embrace them it was all good, I know my uncles hated computers and consoles, they didnt get it at all.

 

[Pin-seeker]

I was born in 82 & I definitely wouldn't swap my childhood with kids today.
I could have written the OP myself.

 

[full_throttle]

another Radio 2 listener?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Grew up in the 70's and really enjoyed it. No mobiles no internet and no worries. I was allowed on a bus to the golf club from 11 onwards and was out with my mates every day playing footie or cricket in the local park Cubs and then scouts taught me some core values. Even when I started work in 83 there wasn't internet

 

[Tashyboy]

Oh how I long for the days when you could bugger off all day. Miss yer dinner and get home a stoopid o'clock. Yer mum, she never battered an eyelid.
you would then do the same the following day.
In the pub at Southend on Saturday watching City v Saints. Two birds came in, sat at the table for half an hour and spent the whole time on there phones. Never talked to one another. Why go out with one another?
use the WWW. But it is not my god.

 

[Golfmmad]

another Radio 2 listener?

I did tune in today. I thought it an interesting topic rather than all the politics.

So what are your thoughts my forum friend?

 

[Imurg]

Reminds me of a tweet j saw a couple of years ago from a guy who's Son needed a blank sheet of paper some opened a new Word Document and printed it out....
If the electricity ever goes off for more than a day - we're screwed.

 

[JohnnyDee]

I'm another one who played out in the street and in the woods during those golden Summer days long long ago.

However I think modern technology is amazing but would ideally like to see kids today have the best of both worlds.

Sadly the Genie is well and truly out of the bottle and he sure as hell is not about to retreat back in there again without a fight.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Dont know if this has been done before but something else to think/talk about rather than all the Political goings on.

Personally I think I'm very lucky in that I've lived most of my life without the internet. Growing up and making my way through childhood - not much peer pressure - out playing every day from dawn til dusk, building camps in the woods as a secret hiding place, or so we thought, until some oiks came along and destroyed it. We even had a matress in there! When we weren't doing that, playing football all day or having wars with our catapaults firing at each other, although we soon stopped as it was getting a bit too dangerous when someone got whacked just above the eye!

And now in todays age with all the technology the world can throw at us. I think it's great and like to think that I embrace it all as much as I can. Things like internet banking, online shopping, member of forums, emails, smart phones with the ability to take and upload great quality photos.
But I have to say that I draw the line at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc. I know the benefits of being able to keep in contact with family and friends but for me I can do that directly by phone.

So what are your thoughts, dont know how you could manage without, or wish someone could just stop the world and you get off?

I think technology, especially the internet, is mostly a wonderful thing if used correctly. It opens up so many possibilities and makes my life so much easier. For example it allows me to work from home and I would have killed for Spotify when I was growing up. I quite like a song, 10 seconds later I have the album ready for me to listen to immediately plus recommendations on other music I might like that I can listen to straight away. Utterly glorious invention. Plus I use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, again all great things if you know how to use them. It's not the technology that is the problem, it is the users.

 

[Golfmmad]

I'm another one who played out in the street and in the woods during those golden Summer days long long ago.

However I think modern technology is amazing but would ideally like to see kids today have the best of both worlds.

Sadly the Genie is well and truly out of the bottle and he sure as hell is not about to retreat back in there again without a fight.

With the kids its all about getting the balance right and there are a lot of people trying to address the issues. But in a lot of cases I fear it may be too late.

Todays parents have a tough job getting it right - I certainly don't envy them.

 

[Hacker Khan]

With the kids its all about getting the balance right and there are a lot of people trying to address the issues. But in a lot of cases I fear it may be too late.

Todays parents have a tough job getting it right - I certainly don't envy them.

Kids today are a lot smarter, intelligent and generally socially aware then we ever were. Don't believe everything you read about kids today staring at screens constantly and never going out. Or either that or they are all in gangs. Yes of course that goes on, but the the vast majority are well adjusted.

 

[shewy]

I miss being able to go out without the missus texting me every 5 mins! Tracking device

 

[USER1999]

Sneaking in to the news agent to buy dirty mags. Beats on line smut every which way. No sense of the naughtiness now. And its all very samey. No imaginaton. Boring.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Sneaking in to the news agent to buy dirty mags. Beats on line smut every which way. No sense of the naughtiness now. And its all very samey. No imaginaton. Boring.

Yes, I forgot about that, thanks to the internet porn is now available at the flick of a wrist.

 

[MegaSteve]

Reckon I got a whole lot more pleasure [in my day] visiting the music venue pubs that abounded listening to new bands, than the kids of today stuck in front of a screen watching youtube...

 

[Reemul]

My Kids are 10 and 7. They play outside all the time, football, cricket, golf in the woods, marbles. They also play Scalextric, Subbutteo, board games, colouring and card games. They also have an xbox 1 and tablets and access to Sky.

They are really lucky to be able to do all they can and with such a wide choice from movies to shows to TV to sport to outdoors to doing photography playing golf.

People are too quick to believe the rubbish in the papers and on facebook that all all kids do is stay in doors using technology. In my day there were still kids that wouldn't ever come out to play or ride bikes or play sport and stayed in the same as now they just did different things.

Parents do need to make sure they allow their kids to get out but I see plenty of people down the park playing, at sport events and out with their families at weekends.

 

[Robster59]

My kids are now 24 and 26 and so have grown up throughout the advent of the digital age. But that didn't stop me from making sure they went out and about and enjoyed themselves. They embraced a lot of the digital age as they grew up but now it's part of their life but they are still both very physically active and enjoy the outdoor life. It is down to the parents. Some see it as an easy way to keep them quiet instead of getting them out walking, playing, participating.

 

[road2ruin]

I was born in 1980 and I thank my lucky starts that Facebook wasn't around during my University years. Waking up to the notification that I've been tagged in 134 pictures after a big night out. Would be almost impossible to keep anything quiet!!