Some newer things just don't seem "right"

Post Reply New Topic

It's said we aspies resist change, and I guess that's definitely me. As the world changes, and the things I use and see everyday change, the stuff I remember in the past that were commonplace are now becoming unusual rarities, replaced by modern things, and the modern replacements just don't seem "right" or "normal" or "regular" to me. I sort of long for some things to go back to the way they were, so they will seem "right" to me in the world, as I see the modern replacements as not authentic.



A normal, real,l telephone to me is a corded Western Electric model 500 with a full-sized handset with round ends, and a real bell inside. Newer phones, with the pushbuttons in the handset, and one of those electronic beepers for a "ringer" just don't seem right. Cell-phones don't even make a dial tone, although they do everything a land-line will, I hardly consider them a "telephone" but more of a two-way radio.

A typical suburban house is a brick rancher. It's what I grew up in. These big multi-story McMansions built today with a wood frame, while bigger, just seem so fake, and not "normal" or "average" Inside, they just don't feel like a home, but someone's display piece or something that's just a temporary construction ...Walking into an old brick ranch home, it feels more like someone's house that they actually live in, a more permanent place.

A real camera is a 35mm SLR camera, made out of metal, and a big fat lens sticking out the front. All those little plastic "point & shoot" digital cameras with those tiny lenses just seem like toys to me. A digital SLR to me is a "real" digital camera, but they still are made out of plastic, so there is something that just doesn't feel authentic to me.

A real television set is a big tube TV in a wooden cabinet, with two tuning knobs on the right hand side, just above the speaker. The flat-panel HDTV's that are out nowadays have great pictures, but I feel more like I'm watching a computer than a TV, especially since they have such whimpy speakers in them.

The new front-loading washing machines are nice, but they just are not quite right...I remember a "real" washing machine had the big control panel on top with the big timer knob. They whirred and whined as they swished the clothes around. The new front loaders are great, but they don't make the "right" noises when they run, and they are seriously lacking in the chrome department too!

A "real" automobile too is a full-sized sedan or wagon, with rear-wheel drive, a V8, and a full frame. These little front-drive cars that are built today just seem like little miniature toys, or some kind of stop-gap between a golf-car and a real car. An SUV, while as big as an older car, to me is still a truck, and trucks are meant for making deliveries, working a job out of, or going through mud and dirt...not hauling the family around, commuting, and taking road trips in.

Okay, and while I'm at it, what's up with the new McDonalds?!?!? They don't have the well-known "hut" style roof anymore with the lights on them. Two McD's just got built near my neighborhood, and they are these square brick buildings that look like a double-wide trailer. Inside, they have all this danish-modern looking furniture, not those brightly colored plastic booths, and there's not even a playground, or a paper-mache Ronald in sight!

While were on to corporate identities, Why the heck did Phillip-Morris change their name to Altria? That sounds like some sort of cleaner to me. I remember my grandmother smoking Phillip-Morris cigarettes, and that name had a prestigious sound to it...and so did their logo. Yes, cigarette smoking is bad, but I still fondly remember my grandmother whenever I smell certain cigarettes.

You're 34? Because I'm 33, and I don't remember seeing those kind of phones since I was really little.
Brick houses, sure. Or wooden ones.
Cameras, my first camera (I was 5) was a Kodak Disc, little and flat. I didn't see any like you're describing until I was much older.
We never had a big wooden cabinent TV.
Ther rest of it I can't really even comment on.

Are you sure you're 34, cause you sound more like 54.
No offense.

I'm 35, and I remember those phones. You actually had to dial them rather than just push buttons.

I'm not that nostalgic, but it is amazing and a little alarming how quickly everything changes these days.

In the area where I live, everything changes so fast that if I haven't been down a street for a while, I might not recognize it when I go back.

Oh yeah, I COMPLETELY understand. I'm writing a story I hope to turn into a graphic novel, and I've been thinking about buying a typewriter from an antique store. Back when I was in Uni, that's how we wrote papers. It seems more REAL than putting the words on my computer screen. You had to really concentrate on what you were writing so you didn't mess it up. I remember writing papers over and over in longhand, then typing them up.

And cameras, don't even get me started.

Also nobody collects things as a hobby anymore. Coins, stamps, that sort of thing. It took patience, and saving your money, and learning a lot about a particular subject. Nobody can be bothered with that sort of thing anymore....

Oh, come on. I'm 23, and I remember those phones. I remember not being able to use automated phone systems because we didn't have a touchtone phone. But really, I don't miss those at all. Except the more gratifying hang-up.

I kinda miss using a typewriter, but a computer keyboard is much faster and easier to use. I just like the feel and the sound and the look of the print.

I don't miss typewriters at all. The keys were too hard to press -- my pinky fingers were always sore. And the hammers always got tangled up causing the keys to jam. And fixing mistakes was a royal pain. Not to mention trying to get the paper in straight, or changing the ribbon without getting completely covered in ink. And they were noisy.

Give me a computer any day.

The only one I can agree with you as it perteans to my life,(I of course can not dis agree with you to how you feel, I hate it when people do that, they cant say you dont feel a certaon way, just that they dont feel the same)is the houses. And thats because I really hate stairs and prefere things on the same level. I prefere the cellphones, digital cameras(though metal is ore sturdy construction, and face it, the bigger the lensethe more light it can capture.) I prefere my tvs large in two dimenisons, small in one. Front loading is sweet, and i love my small car. Never did love McDondalds, never will. It's change to my routine I don't like.

Digital cameras for the loss, Analogue for the win bring back AVI uncompressed files

I hear ya! We recently had to buy a new telephone for the house. There were some silver ones in the shop that I liked the look of, but when I picked them up to have a good look, they were really light and flimsy. Also the plastic looked like it had been sprayed silver - cheap and nasty looking, but they weren't a cheap price!

I liked the old typewriters, but the manual ones could be quite painful. I remember the keys having big gaps around them and I used to get my fingers stuck between them sometimes. The old electric ones were my favourites...I liked the sound they maked when you hit they keys, clack clack clackety clack...I'd like a modern keyboard that would make that sound.

As for cameras, well, I prefer digital. My old metal digital one has broken and I'm looking around for a new one with the same feel but I'm having problems. The new ones are, like the phones, too light and flimsy.

The rot really started to set in around the time they renamed Marathon bars Snickers

Well, I am between 34 and 54. Almost in the center, in fact! My father had a big cabinet QUASAR TV. Ultrasonic remote control! Ultrasonic controls were popular on high priced sets back then. There was a kodak camera standard that was VERY popular. I forget the number, but it was a cartridge that was flat in the center, had a roll of film, and a takeup roll. OH YEAH, the phones were the same as well! I lived in the LA area, and things didn't change until sometime in the 70s! Micro computers didn't even become financially feasible until 1971! Microsoft and Apple started in 1975!

I'm 24 and I have one of those phones

It's kind of funny, if you open one up, they've got a huge chunk of lead screwed inside just to make them heavier...contrast that with today's telephones that fall over and break just by looking at them.



Pressing the "talk" button really hard just doesn't have quite the same effect =/

I remember the old cable TV boxes and you had to call a toll-free number to order a movie or wrestling event, now you just click a button and it starts instantly. I also miss the old videogame systems and arcade games, I have a couple emulators so I can play the roms( which is the memory of the games).

HI AV-geek,

It's funny but I do understand where you are coming from! I am 46, but my parents were a lot older so I was surrounded by antiques as a kid. In some ways, it's like I am 20 years older than I really am! You should hear my parents! They are constantly complaining about all the changes in life especially technology!

As far as cameras go, I hate the little tiny P&S cameras or ones on cell phones. They're just so hard to get a grip on. I did run across a Canon P&S that's fairly substantial. But for most of my photography I use a digital SLR. It's actually heavier than my last film SLR, & more sturdy. Bad thing is, the company went belly up so I can't upgrade it.

Somethings I don;t miss like corded phones. Always got them tangled, & hated having to deal with a too short cord. I prefer wireless. I do miss the old tvs with knobs instead of a remote control & buttons to push. I do like cable a lot! Didn't have it as a kid!

I recall Marathon bars-they were caramel covered in chocolate, shaped like a long flat braid, inside red wrapper. Snickers are comprised of nougat & peanuts, in addition to chocolate coated caramel. Of course, products vary from place to place, this is just my memory.

Remember when one slammed the handset down hard on one of those old phones, it would make the bell ring? I always laughed when someone slammed a phone down on a TV or movie and PING! went the bell...others thought I was weird for doing that. I then started occasionally slamming the handset down after a call at home just to make it ring. The other family members would always ask what I was upset about, then my Dad would fuss that I was damaging the phone...like I could really break one of of those old Western Electric phones doing that!

My #1 peeve at tech "advancement" is the color screen that newer celphones and personal audio devices have. The monochrome LCD that devices all use to have is optimal for me, because I only need a screen to convey operation signals to me. The color screens use a lot of power and so does the camera in a celphone. If I turn the backlight off, I usually can't read the screen. So because of frivolous consumer markets, I have no choice but to use a crappy, new celphone that has poor battery life.

My #2 peeve is that most personal audio devices now are powered by proporietary batteries. I like common standard, replaceable batteries because the life of the device is not governed by the life of the battery, and if the battery runs down while I'm using the device, I can easily switch batteries on-the-fly.

I use an iaudio G3 as my personal audio device, which both has a monochrome LCD and uses the AA-standard battery. It's perfect for its purpose, except that it doesn't have enough memory to hold all the music I want to bring with me. I use rechargable batteries with it. I already had the charger since my digital camera uses the same battery-standard.