Hello. I'm Mike and I'm an anti-tech.
(Hi, Mike)
I do realize the irony of typing this on a laptop that is less than 6 months old.
I really don't get the obsession with all things electronic. Cell-phones, blackberries, video game systems, WoW type games, digital cameras . . . I have very little use for any of them. Well, maybe a digital camera, but even then it is a limited use.
Cell phones drive me nuts. They are so fucking intrusive. Restaurants, movie theaters, classrooms, everywhere, and usually with the most annoying method of letting their presence be known. And they create rudeness. I don't even want to think about the number of times I have been talking with someone, only to be pushed aside because of a call. No matter what anybody is saying, whoever is calling automatically has something more important to say. I once went to a bar with a few friends after one of them graduated. We were doing a bit of a bar crawl. At every bar we hit, they would all get on their phones and call whichever of their friends WEREN'T there to tell them where we were. They'd have a couple of drinks while this was going on, but basically ignored everyone who was sitting with them. Then, at the next bar, it would start all over, telling them where we were NOW. One of them even had a list of people she had promised to drunk dial at different times of the night. I got so fed up with it that I just left them and walked home.
And texting isn't any better. I have a cousin who can't seem to go 5 minutes without texting her entire phone-book. Doesn't matter if it's a family dinner, a night at the movies, or her sister's wedding, she has to have that little piece of shit out and be typing away at it.
My uncle who is an artist put it best: I have no desire to have my life run on someone else's schedule. And that is what all that instant communication does; makes you instantly available according to the whims of other people. Sure, you don't have to answer the phone, but how often does that happen?
As for video games and home electronics, that comes from the way I was raised. We were the last people I knew to get a TV with a remote control, and that was only because one of my uncles dropped the old set when we were moving. We did have a VCR with a remote that could change the channels, but there were about 5 steps to get all that to work. We never had cable until I was about 14 years old, and even then it was just for a year. I had it again in college, but there wasn't anything on. I still have rabbit ears, and when the digital change comes next year I might just toss the whole thing out. I have DVDs, but I can watch them on my computer.
I never had a game system while growing up. Didn't need one. I had imagination enough that I never really felt the loss. Sure, I tried to play on the ones my cousins had, but I don't really ever remember wanting one. Even now, I just don't have the desire. I've played a few, but they just weren't fun. I do like the Wii system, but I am content to play someone else's when I can. Don't need my own.
I like books. I like to write with a fountain pen. My computer is a glorified typewriter with internet capabilities. I have about 20 sites that I visit on a regular basis, and most of those are webcomics.
I guess I'm just a simple man.
(Hi, Mike)
I do realize the irony of typing this on a laptop that is less than 6 months old.
I really don't get the obsession with all things electronic. Cell-phones, blackberries, video game systems, WoW type games, digital cameras . . . I have very little use for any of them. Well, maybe a digital camera, but even then it is a limited use.
Cell phones drive me nuts. They are so fucking intrusive. Restaurants, movie theaters, classrooms, everywhere, and usually with the most annoying method of letting their presence be known. And they create rudeness. I don't even want to think about the number of times I have been talking with someone, only to be pushed aside because of a call. No matter what anybody is saying, whoever is calling automatically has something more important to say. I once went to a bar with a few friends after one of them graduated. We were doing a bit of a bar crawl. At every bar we hit, they would all get on their phones and call whichever of their friends WEREN'T there to tell them where we were. They'd have a couple of drinks while this was going on, but basically ignored everyone who was sitting with them. Then, at the next bar, it would start all over, telling them where we were NOW. One of them even had a list of people she had promised to drunk dial at different times of the night. I got so fed up with it that I just left them and walked home.
And texting isn't any better. I have a cousin who can't seem to go 5 minutes without texting her entire phone-book. Doesn't matter if it's a family dinner, a night at the movies, or her sister's wedding, she has to have that little piece of shit out and be typing away at it.
My uncle who is an artist put it best: I have no desire to have my life run on someone else's schedule. And that is what all that instant communication does; makes you instantly available according to the whims of other people. Sure, you don't have to answer the phone, but how often does that happen?
As for video games and home electronics, that comes from the way I was raised. We were the last people I knew to get a TV with a remote control, and that was only because one of my uncles dropped the old set when we were moving. We did have a VCR with a remote that could change the channels, but there were about 5 steps to get all that to work. We never had cable until I was about 14 years old, and even then it was just for a year. I had it again in college, but there wasn't anything on. I still have rabbit ears, and when the digital change comes next year I might just toss the whole thing out. I have DVDs, but I can watch them on my computer.
I never had a game system while growing up. Didn't need one. I had imagination enough that I never really felt the loss. Sure, I tried to play on the ones my cousins had, but I don't really ever remember wanting one. Even now, I just don't have the desire. I've played a few, but they just weren't fun. I do like the Wii system, but I am content to play someone else's when I can. Don't need my own.
I like books. I like to write with a fountain pen. My computer is a glorified typewriter with internet capabilities. I have about 20 sites that I visit on a regular basis, and most of those are webcomics.
I guess I'm just a simple man.
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
But the thing I really have to take issue with is your opinion of video games.
I had imagination enough that I never really felt the loss.
That's really unfair, and indicative of a gigantic PR problem that video games have. Like all forms of expression, 99% of video games are steaming piles of crap. But unlike other forms of expression, the vast majority of the publicity focuses on the crap. The news never talks about the number of trees wasted on Danielle Steele or James Patterson, nor do they talk about how Uwe Boll should be shot for crimes against film.
But there's a hefty handful of video games out there that I think have really furthered the medium as a way to tell a story. The Myst series ranks pretty high on the charts, developing a universe and cast of characters worthy of Tolkien, and encouraging some pretty complex thought, both logical and philosophical, along the way. The Metroid Prime series tells its story in a mostly passive manner, but it leaves enough tantalizing bits of information lying out in the open that it fosters a drive to learn more (and by more I mean everything). Eternal Darkness is the video game equivalent of The Martian Chronicles, interweaving a series of vignettes into an overarching story. And then there's the largely unheralded group of video games making some pretty serious political statements. There was one flash game (I can't find the link right now, unfortunately) where you play a TSA screener trying to keep up with the rapidly changing list of what is and isn't allowed through the security checkpoint while the line gets longer and longer. Hilarious, and a really effective way of getting a point across.
My point is this: I have no doubt that video games are not for you. Not every medium is right for every person (I, for one, just don't get performance art), but I think you're making a pretty gigantic leap in being so entirely dismissive of video games.