According to one popular saying, change is the only constant thing in the world. However, we humans enjoy our routines. So, whenever something threatens to disrupt the status quo, we put our guard up. With time, it might let certain novelties through, but not all.
This is especially evident in a Reddit thread started by platform user Wizzmer. Last week, they made a post on r/AskOldPeople, inviting the community's members to list the technologies they avoid as much as they can. Below, you will find their replies.
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I hate the internet connected dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, etc. I do NOT need to talk to my appliances and I do not need to pay extra for it. It's just one more thing which can break.
We got in touch with Wizzmer and the Redditor agreed to have a little chat with us.
"I was hanging clothes on the clothesline, and I realized we don't own a clothes dryer or dishwasher," the author of the post told Bored Panda about its origins.
"That's when the idea to ask this question popped into my head."
Alexa, Siri, any "smart home" voice thing.
SlayerOutdoors:
This. I'm 41. Not that old and very tech savvy. These things have no place in the home. If you start getting ads for roofers after talking about needing a new roof with your wife? You'll see why.
Totally bothered me when I found out the Roomba makes a map of the house and sends it over the internet.
TikTok.
I work with teenagers. Several have asked if I have a TikTok account. They promise my (future) TikToks would be popular & I could grow a following.
I roll my eyes or sneer at people who're obviously performing for their phones.
I don't want to be TikTok popular.
What will they do if /when it gets banned in the US? I saw a news story where a tik tok influencer was wondering how they were going to make a living now. Hard to feel sorry for someone without a backup plan.
Interestingly, refusing one technology or another is probably more of a personal choice rather than a generational trend toward tech in general. For instance, a recent AARP survey found that older Americans are about as likely as those under age 50 to own a smartphone, tablet, or other device.
Nearly 9 out of 10 Americans (89% of those 50-plus and 90% of those aged 18-49) own a smartphone, according to the national poll conducted online in the fall of 2023. Among both age groups, 75% of respondents have smart TVs, and 59% own tablets.
Notably, as overall spending on tech dropped from $912 per person in 2022 to $798 in 2023, purchases by adults in their 60s and 70s rose.
QR menus.
Verukins:
QR codes to order food/drinks.
Hard to find what you are after.... but impossible to explain allergies... there's no talk back and forth to clarify things in case "if there is sesame on the burger, it will kill me" isn't well enough understood.... and people without allergies never understand it.
brownishgirl:
I don’t own a cell phone. It gives me great pleasure to ask for a menu.
I have no use for keyless door locks. I’m an avid early adopter of most technology, but I don’t like the idea of a hackable door into my residence.
edit: I know that if someone wants to get into my home badly enough, they are getting in. I just want them to work for it.
The Senior complex I live in is smart enough to know that fancy locks and seniors do not mix,so we all have "old-fashioned" keys.
Wizzmer is a living example of this. "I was in software development for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control," they said. "I'm fine with all technology."
So when it comes to factors that drive people to resist certain innovations, the Redditor believes they can vary dramatically depending on who you ask. "I can't speak for all people," they said. "The appliances [I'm not using] are [simply] rare in Mexico where I 'snowbird.'"
AI for writing. I'll compose my own goddamn e-mails <—note the hyphen), thank you.
AnotherPint:
This. The examples I've test-generated come out smarmy and synthetic-sounding, like a book report by a glib a**-kissing teenager who hasn't actually read or understood the book.
What's depressing is how many people think the AI-produced output is just fine, because it's spelled right. But it's voiceless mulch.
Never tried AI to write anything, but hated predictive text (particularly when talking about medical stuff re work - some of the goof ups it caused!) I make sure it's disabled on any device I use.
90% of my internet usage is still on a laptop. Why work with a tiny keyboard and a tiny screen when you don't have to?
One area where there seems to be some sort of negative generational consensus is artificial intelligence.
The aforementioned AARP survey found that 85% of Americans aged 50-plus have heard of generative AI; however, just 9% reported using it, and 60% of respondents are undecided about its impact.
So many new appliances and devices have apps. Sometimes you don't have a choice but to download their app to setup whatever the thing is. My fridge has an app that gives me a report on how many times the door gets opened. I don't give a s**t and I have notifications turned off for these apps. I just want to plug a fridge in, set the temp, and have it work for a hundred years like my parents' old Frigidaire did when I was a kid (although maybe use a LITTLE less power).
I'm 72 years old. I, too, refuse to use this technology. Silly, and just asking for frustration when it doesn't work. Also not very secure.
Facebook.
skyshock21:
Anything owned by Meta.
After Suckerbergs "fact checking is censorship" announcement (it is not you moron), yeah. Hope he suffocates with his head up Tr*mp's a**.
Honestly, most cloud storage solutions as primary. If I want to save something, I want it under local control.
I do not use the cloud. My stuff is mine. I use a thumb drive to move stuff between my desktop and my laptop.
It’s not necessarily technology, but a service made possible by technology.
I won’t DoorDash/postmates/grubhub. It’s ridiculously expensive and would make me feel very lazy and entitled.
(I acknowledge that If I were disabled at all, I’d probably feel differently.).
Doordash is the worst. At my local Wendy's, a "Biggie Bag" is $6 (and you can choose their "saucy nuggets" at no extra charge). On Doordash, the biggie Bag is $8.75 plus a $1.25 "upcharge" for the saucy nuggets. Plus the service fee and tip. That $6 meal ends up costing $15
A car driving itself. Stupid.
When we perfect it, the massive drop in injuries and fatalities won't seem stupid.
QR Codes.
hey_nonny_mooses:
Anyone can slap a qr code of a virus on a menu and people just download mindlessly.
My older sister bought a pack of 500 QR codes, for her and her kids to prank people. If you scan one you get rickrolled! They've stuck them all over Scotland on everything from buses, trains and ferries to random posters, shop windows etc. It's so wholesome watching their joy when they imagine people's reactions, they just want to make people smile!
I don't have a system that automatically puts the blinds down in the evening and somehow my life is still tolerable.
I wouldn't say I *refuse* to use ChatGPT, but I've never bothered to learn how and I don't really care.
cingalls:
I took a few classes on how to use AI. It was presented favourably, I understood it well and still consider it hot garbage.
I would rather they find a solution for natural stupidity than work on artificial intelligence. If you look at a lot of professional (work related) correspondence, and some subject/comment matter online, composition and structure are starting to fade away, to join spelling as a lost art.
Twitter.
Twitter used to be a decent place to get information and was fun sometimes. I now use Threads for the fun and Bluesky for news. Eff that X app.
I will not read books on my phone or a kindle or anything like that. Some of the glory of reading is the faint smell of the book, how it feels in your hands, the turning of the pages, and also just generally doing something that is not staring at a screen.
I like printed books. However, as I get older and older, electronic text is much easier to read. I can easily increase text size, etc.
An Apple product. Purely and simply because of what they did to the Apple II community when the Mac came out. It's my longest running grudge and I'll take it to the grave with me.
A TV. Got one in the living room that hasn't been on in over 15 years.
Smart thermostat, doorbell, appliances, speakers. I read about a guy who couldn’t turn on his ceiling fan when AWS went down. Seriously- who needs a cloud enabled ceiling fan. I only use a streaming device on my TV - I won’t give LG access to my network. Electronic companies can brick your stuff if they want. I can always get a cheap streaming device if they want it bricked. I get my streaming device from my internet provider. They already know what I am doing.
I stopped using my fitbit when I decided I really didn’t want google to know my sleep patterns.
Smart watch.
Joeuxmardigras:
I’ve never really wanted one, and don’t feel like I need it. I have a friend who bought the new $800 one from Apple and added cellular to it. I can get a nice Swiss watch for that price and it’ll last a lifetime.
I use a cell phone, but I refuse to have any banking apps on the phone. And not Venmo or any of those other money transfer apps.
There is no private data on my phone; no banking or financial or shopping aps. I think you are just asking for trouble.
Self checkout. If there are no cashiers, I'll take my business elsewhere.
MidAmericaMom:
I am not a fan 1. as I am one of those people with a full grocery cart. It can’t handle it. 2. they Always seem to be broken or need someone to clear some whatever issue 3. A grocery I used to shop, no cash allowed. The lineup for the normal line can be huge as many use cash at that store. As I do 1 - I skip that store.
PositiveAtmosphere13:
I'm not being paid to do it, and they're taking away jobs for others.
Your f*****g app that re-invents the web browser with less functionality. No, I would NOT like to download and install it now.
Cash apps linked to my bank accounts.
In Canada we don't have cash apps. We use debit cards that take the money right out of our bank account (not using credit) and we have E-Transfer where you send money directly from your bank account to someone else's, but you do that on your bank account site. I'm not aware of doing that with a phone.
Ring doorbells and similar.
I don't want any personal data in the cloud, unless its encrypted with a key *I* control.
Robot vacuums that can livestream while I’m on the toilet.
One technology that is proving unpopular is a toilet that livestreams.
I try to use and embrace as much technology as I can, but I refuse to use a kiosk to order fast food. No thank you, I will do without.
I use these, as often there is no one at the register for endless moments,
Amazon.
Apprehensive_Run_539:
It’s ruining our economy one item of junk at a time.
Pod coffee makers. They're my probably-irrational rant topic.
Don't own dishwasher or microwave. or air fryer. sous vide cookery sounds ridiculous to me.
bentnotbroken96:
Pod coffee maker: an expensive way to make sh**ty coffee.
I am often mocked for not using a dishwasher, but honestly I don't use a lot of dishes and can easily just wash them myself in 30 seconds as opposed to running a dishwasher for 20 minutes. Never had one growing up. Never needed one.
When I had one in my pervious home, I always ran out of dishes before I had a full load, or I had to wash something that was sitting in the dishwasher because it was the only one I had. It's only me now, and it's not a big deal to wash the few dishes I have.
Snapchat.
I mean.. It's 100% marketed and used by young people so this isn't very shocking
Home Pod. Ring Doorbell. Any Security company.
Get past the dog, I'll hear it. Coming up the steps, a 4 D Cell Mag Light to the head.
Then i'll call 911.
Such an aggressively gross post. This is why there are so many shootings in the states.
I refuse to get a smart watch, or blue tooth headphones, and only use my clothes dryer in the coldest months.
I wish I didn’t have any of it but life, work, kids. Have a love/hate with the kindle. My eyesight makes it unpleasant to read an actual book, but I miss them.
I'm hard of hearing, so bluetooth headphones stop my wife from telling me to turn down the tv.
Rice cookers, bread makers, Alexa, Ring cameras. The first two just take up counter space and the last two suck up more information about you than giving you information about the outside world.
I live in Japan and the first two are my go-tos (although only the rice cooker gets kitchen counter space- room is too small so the bread maker lives in the dining room-cum-office next to the computer printer). EVERYBODY has a rice cooker, in a culture that eats rice up to three times a day, and I will never go back to cooking it in a saucepan. Bread maker because Japanese bread is soft, pappy, white and tasteless so as someone who grew up with decent bread I need a bread fix sometimes.
We don't have a microwave. We don't eat much processed food and I can melt butter in a sauce pan.
I don't use GPS/navigation, because I've noticed it causes people to lose their sense of direction. People don't even know street names, so I was trying to help someone with directions, and they didn't even know the names/numbers of the major interstates and highways.
This is just stupid. Multiple peer reviewed studies -some of them by the NIH- demonstrated that GPS navigation greatly improves driver's safety, reduce workload wile driving, improve driver's alertness, reduce stress and reduce wasted mileage. Analysis of database of insurance claims in the Netherlands demonstrates that people driving without Satnav are more cause damages and on average cause more damage costs per km. Connected GPS systems are also very useful in danger avoidance and advance alerts, as well as beacons for calling help. If anything, GPS should be mandatory.
All of this would sound a lot more convincing if they weren't posting to a *social media site* from their *phones*
Why are you assuming they are on phones? I'm not currenly on a phone.
Load More Replies...I never understood why anyone would want a toaster or refrigerator that's smarter than they are.
Sounds like that's a perfect reason lol If they're not smart enough to figure out toast or when they need to buy milk maybe they NEED all the help they can get.
Load More Replies...All of this would sound a lot more convincing if they weren't posting to a *social media site* from their *phones*
Why are you assuming they are on phones? I'm not currenly on a phone.
Load More Replies...I never understood why anyone would want a toaster or refrigerator that's smarter than they are.
Sounds like that's a perfect reason lol If they're not smart enough to figure out toast or when they need to buy milk maybe they NEED all the help they can get.
Load More Replies...