What is this generation going to do when they hit old age? If we’re all living on computer screens and mobile devices, we’re all going to be left immobile by arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, monitor-blindness, withered and atrophied limbs…
At some point, mobile technology is going to have to acknowledge that the sunset generation are still addicts. While they may no longer be the early adopters they once were, they’ll still want to keep up with their great-great-great grandchildren in some ways. (I’m being optimistic, and hoping that despite having useless bodies, medical technology will have advanced to the point where disease won’t kill us).
Will we return to giant screens? Or will the information be relayed to us through direct retinal intercourse? (Hehe, I said intercourse). Of course, when we’re 95, retinal intercourse will be as good as it gets.
People won’t live forever, of course. We all have that charming built-in obsolescence, but it would be good if we aren’t all left behind like aging zebras nervously skirting the periphery of the Serengeti's of society, waiting for the lions of technology to chew us up and spit us out for nearby scavengers.
At some point, you’ll pack it in. Your computers and phones will no longer be replaced at a rate fast enough to stay in the game. You’ll be as useful as a ZX Spectrum. Even in my lifetime, we’ve gone from Pong to Wii (which also sounds vaguely obscene), and the pace is picking up. Best I design all my updates, entries and comments now, and set all my software to automatically publish them over the course of the next hundred years:
@Tertia: Congrats on the birth of your great-great-great grandchildren.
@Neen: Hope you recover from your hip replacements and your hand transplant.
@Divinebee: Sorry to hear about the death of your Ginger the cat, but 80 in cat years is 560 in human years, so that is a good innings.
@MyDailyList: 100 years of lists is 36, 500 lists, which is admirable, but frankly, the material is becoming stale.
@BrianeP: The Best of Everything? Feels like someone’s been having some reruns since about 2087.
@SassyMissP: Remember books? You used to like those before the government went all Fahrenheit 452 on us.
@AngelsMind: Congrats on your’s and Glugsters’ triple platinum anniversary.
@everyone else: Ran out of inspiration, but you get the drift…
See you in the rocking chairs, bickering over the jelly and weak tea.
At some point, mobile technology is going to have to acknowledge that the sunset generation are still addicts. While they may no longer be the early adopters they once were, they’ll still want to keep up with their great-great-great grandchildren in some ways. (I’m being optimistic, and hoping that despite having useless bodies, medical technology will have advanced to the point where disease won’t kill us).
Will we return to giant screens? Or will the information be relayed to us through direct retinal intercourse? (Hehe, I said intercourse). Of course, when we’re 95, retinal intercourse will be as good as it gets.
People won’t live forever, of course. We all have that charming built-in obsolescence, but it would be good if we aren’t all left behind like aging zebras nervously skirting the periphery of the Serengeti's of society, waiting for the lions of technology to chew us up and spit us out for nearby scavengers.
At some point, you’ll pack it in. Your computers and phones will no longer be replaced at a rate fast enough to stay in the game. You’ll be as useful as a ZX Spectrum. Even in my lifetime, we’ve gone from Pong to Wii (which also sounds vaguely obscene), and the pace is picking up. Best I design all my updates, entries and comments now, and set all my software to automatically publish them over the course of the next hundred years:
@Tertia: Congrats on the birth of your great-great-great grandchildren.
@Neen: Hope you recover from your hip replacements and your hand transplant.
@Divinebee: Sorry to hear about the death of your Ginger the cat, but 80 in cat years is 560 in human years, so that is a good innings.
@MyDailyList: 100 years of lists is 36, 500 lists, which is admirable, but frankly, the material is becoming stale.
@BrianeP: The Best of Everything? Feels like someone’s been having some reruns since about 2087.
@SassyMissP: Remember books? You used to like those before the government went all Fahrenheit 452 on us.
@AngelsMind: Congrats on your’s and Glugsters’ triple platinum anniversary.
@everyone else: Ran out of inspiration, but you get the drift…
See you in the rocking chairs, bickering over the jelly and weak tea.
Posts
"Everything" will be all used up by 2087?
ReplyDeleteOh, who'm I kidding -- I've been essentially rewriting the same thing since the start.
Excellent post. "From Pong To Wii" is going to be my autobiography title.
But you should know: This guy:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1
Says that we ARE going to live forever. As computers. Or something. So you might literally go from Pong to Wii, assuming that "Wii" is what we (Wii) all call ourselves when we (wii) are one universal mind.
@Briane P: Apologies for pickin' on ya! You do what you do excellently. Personally, I'm gonna have "From Pong to Wii" on my grave marker :-)
ReplyDeleteNow I'm sad. Sad for the old obsolete zebras.
ReplyDeleteI've actually got this planned out. After year two, I'm going to start padding lists with "ummm, errr." By the time I reach year four, this will be 100% of my content.
ReplyDelete@Abby:But they do make for fetching rugs and car seat covers.
ReplyDelete@MDL: I'll be using a lot of those in my comments, too.
Have you taken your ritalin today, dear? *tease*
ReplyDelete@SMP: "Dear"? What are ya, 97? *twitches convulsively*
ReplyDeleteI already need to get a hearing test (likely from all those years dancing next to thudding speakers at rock/dance clubs every weekend) so Im inching my way into *oldie*-ness.
ReplyDeleteIf I cant use the laptop...ugh...Ill be DOOMED!
i think us information and internet junkies will figure out ways to get out fix - we'll have "intercourse" one way or another! ;-)
ReplyDelete@brandy101: Ears, then eys, then pretty much whole body failure. Yay.
ReplyDelete@cybersass: It's the inverted commas that make that look dirty, I think :-)
LOL... triple platinum, eh? Whats the gift that goes along with that?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed interesting... what is going to happen when I can no longer type?!?!??
I'll be happy if I'm 95 and can still wii
ReplyDelete@angel: The gift could be some of those ExMi thingies. At least you can type now.... enjoy it while it lasts.
ReplyDelete@Herb: hehe, wii, hehe.