To us, this really is a form of discrimination. Like our semi-annual trips to Target™ that we used to do. Now, they won't give you the sale price on some items if you do not own a smart-phone.
No question that you are an outlier. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.
I haven't quite reached 65 yet, but my mindset seems to have shifted some time during my 50s. I was in the business of understanding technology--though I was no longer involved in designing it--and I was exploring a move to a new employer. In a phone interview, the interviewer asked me, "Would you describe yourself as the kind of person who always has to have the latest gadget, the latest technology?" I felt like a deer in the headlights, because I had never given that any thought. Technology was in my DNA!, I said to myself. But at that moment I realized that although I appreciated technology and innovations, I no longer really cared about what it would do for me personally, and I felt content with my older phone, computer, and whatever. I never got around to buying an iPod, though I admired those of friends and imagined my younger self would have jumped on that. At that moment in the interview I not only knew I was not going to get the job but that I had better hunker down for the rest of my career and just ride it out, because this change in mindset was unlikely to reverse itself.
Of course they can. It's a general term.
This is less about Ludditism (sp?) or inability to embrace technology, than an admirably healthy refusal to be monitored, exploited, surveilled and sold-to. Most of the "tech" suffusing our modern lives is a marketing ploy, designed to separate us from our money... especially in the case of subscriptions. Back in the day, enterprising kids would pirate software, be it word processing or CAD or whatnot... never paying a penny, never subscribing to anything, never "upgrading". It worked so long as Windows-NT could still work. Going from 32 bit to 64 bit changed things (old software no longer worked). Then circa 2010, we had the proliferation of subscription models.
I appreciate the compliment, but honestly it's nothing more than me not having an interest and/or not thinking it makes any sense to use this or that or at least not become obsessed with it. For ex. I had Netflix in the past and liked it, but over time IMO they made it worse and worse and there was less and less on that I was interested in, so I quit. It's not because I'm opposed to the idea of streaming services. In fact, I loved the commercial-free aspect. Likewise for Pandora. Tried the free version for awhile, liked it, tried the paid version, gradually realized it wasn't worth it, and quit.
I'll admit, I had to look it up.
I guess I'm like the O.P. when it comes to mobile phones.
We do have one flip-phone for emergencies or if we have to call some place when we travel. It cost $10 to buy. This is our 2nd flip-phone. Our old one was a 3G model and we were forced to buy a new one when 3G was phased out. With Trac-Fone it came out to around $5 a month the last time we bought minutes for it. (I think we ended up buying a 3-month plan at a discount and then added another 365 days to it so we got 15 months for around $75) Why pay more for something larger with features we wouldn't use? We only turn the phone on when we need to make a call and then turn it back off when we're done.
I am burning out on social media. Since whatever happened with artificial intelligence, the number of content creators who are having their stuff stolen and repurposed in other places has skyrocketed. Facebook does nothing about any of this. My perception — which may or may not be wrong, is that they are saving money by letting AI make these decisions so reporting them does nothing.I can and do go whole days without looking at my phone, which I was upset at having to spend a whopping $100 on (but now realize was a good deal). I have some apps that came with and never use. I added exactly one (Mapquest for GPS purposes). I occasionally use the phone to call someone (remember that?), occasionally a text, that's it. I never look at it when in a social situation like out with friends and frankly find it rude when others do.
My laptop is rather modest, maybe even low end by today's standards, and I don't care because it's enough.
I don't have an i-anything.
I spend very little time on Facebook, mostly to see if anyone posted anything interesting like pics etc. I almost never post. I don't have accounts for any other social media unless you count LinkedIn for career purposes, which I will totally ignore when I retire (and mostly do now). I do browse the net at night sometimes (like this site, a few others like news or sports).
I am not subscribed to any streaming service.
And my career has been in I.T.
Anyone else? Humbug I say. To each their own but I never got the obsessions, esp with checking one's cell phone 100 times a day.
Yeah, I think it's the addictive behavior that I eschew. I see tables of people huddled over their phones, not paying attention to each other. I've intentionally NOT gotten into that mode with my phone. Luddite? Guilty as charged. Addicted? Well, not to my phone, anyway.
When I think of "Back in the day", It reminds me that the children used to be the ones trying to sell people stuff and separate them from some of their money.
