Is it better to take advantage of new technology or to stick with the "Old Fashioned Way"?

Question

My step dad and I always debate about this. He's one of those people who think the "Old fashioned Way" is better. He has a cast iron cookware set (he rarely uses them and they've rusted), he uses a "swabbing the poop deck" mob (always complains how mopping is hard), and thinks people are lazy by googling answers instead of getting it from a book. While I believe we should take full advantage of the technology we have today.

When we debate about this he only has one argument which he just recycles in a different way thinking it's a different argument. People are getting too lazy, people are getting too lazy, People are getting too lazy, People are getting too lazy, People are getting too lazy, People are getting too lazy. So he doesn't have a real argument, but here are mine:

1. New technology is designed to make life simpler and easier and make completing tasks a lot faster. Most things done back then required a lot of work and time. Like the whole book vs google thing. Is it better to go to the library, look through the card catalog, look for the book if it's there, then read the entire book and hope you find what you're looking for, or you could take 10 seconds and Google it.

2. If the "Old Fashioned Way" is better then we wouldn't have the new to make new technology.

3. It's the way we evolved as a species. First we had rocks, then spears, then bows and arrows, then crossbows, then muskets, then cannons, then semi auto guns, then machine guns, and now we have missiles. One invention lead to the next in some way, shape or form.
I mean look what we have today, we literally have all knowledge known to man right in the palm of our hand

We should be using this to invent the next step. Something that schools spend a year to teach you now can be learned within a month or even a week if you dedicate enough time. Most of the things I know I learned from watching YouTube videos.

Take advantage of new technology

Stick with the "Old Fashioned Way"

Select age and gender to cast your vote:

GirlGuy

Answer 1

Anonymous

It's a toss up between making your life easier and getting weaker/more stupid. Sure, technology makes your life a lot easier, but the more you rely on it the weaker you get. This heavy reliance on technology is the reason so many people are so useless.

Imagine two men. One of them walks everywhere. The other has a very fancy electric wheelchair. He actually looks down on the guy who walks everywhere, wondering why he even bothers when he could make his life easier like he has.

The first guy continues to walk everywhere. The second guy continues to wheel around in his wheelchair. For a long time.

Eventually the second guy's wheelchair breaks. He needs a new one. Maybe he doesn't have enough money, maybe he can't get one any time soon. It doesn't matter what the reason is, he can't get a replacement. His legs, because he hasn't been using them for so long, are like shoe-strings. Weak. Almost useless. He's lost without the wheelchair.

Meanwhile, the guy who has been walking everywhere is still walking everywhere. His legs are strong. He's healthy.

This goes for any technology.

Increased use of smartphones, laptops, googling whatever information you want to find? In the past people would learn and remember. Now you just google it. You lose the ability to memorise information.

You always use GPS to tell you where to go? Before people would use a map. They'd also memorise routes, navigating without any help. Without a GPS now you lose the ability to navigate.

It's not just about people getting too lazy. The reason we have all of this technology is to make our lives easier because by nature that makes perfect sense. Why would you do something the hard way purposely when you could get it done quicker?

If you think about the past and survival, and the way we're wired, it made perfect sense to make things easier. In the past we couldn't go to the supermarket to get food, we had to hunt. Sometimes we'd go without food. Doing something the hard way purposely would mean being less likely to get that food, and expending more calories to get that food. That would be counter-productive. We still have that same wiring now.

On the flip-side, now this wiring has become detrimental in some ways because we've gotten to the point where things are so easy that it impacts our minds and our bodies in a negative way also.

I think that the trick here is to recognise that. I work a job in which I sit down a lot. Sometimes I can't be bothered to do any exercise - that's the old wiring there telling me not to burn calories needlessly. But now there's a need, because I've been sat down all day - unlike back then when all work was physical - so I hit the gym anyway and as a result, I'm still healthy.

React

1 Person

Answer 2

DamnSam | 75 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Yoda

Clearly young people are more into new tec but thats only triggered by the fact that they still learning how things work...

The cast iron cookware... I can explain that easy...
For you its just heavy, needs much time to heat up and needs some work from time to time to prevent rust
For your stepdad its just the best tec his time showed him... but there is more about the new tec you want to use instead, teflon is the answer... teflon is made by DuPont, which contaminated 99% of every living being (plant, animal, sealife and humans) with teflon, which is one of the most toxic man made chemicals you can imagine... the story behind is actual in a movie, "Bad Water" if you want to know more about

Then there is computer tec (internet, smartphones/watches, tablets, laptop and tower pc's)... which are all nice tec but, when you reach ~30 you will notice its harder to learn new things because you are too much into what you're used to...
And he already is over that step and probably he also learned that every time there is something behind... and there is, there is a special kind of dirt which is needed to make displays for smartphones, only point where we can get it is africa, the people who work it out of the pure stone under days, are mostly kids because the mines are just 1.4m in height... so every smart device with a touchscreen out there supports child labour...
And the trash after... google "trash of sodom" and you find the first worlds complete illegal dumpplace (sure legal by law here)... was voted many years as the badest place on earth in general for life (official bader than standing direct in the lava flow of a volcano), population is between 50k - 80k

Tec is nice, but you can't just buy and use it, it needs to be good in long therm and to be sure of that you need to be able to understand it

Like softdrinks... they taste good and hydrate your body... but your teeth and liver will show negative effects after years, which you just can't get back to normal... old fashion sticks to selfmade juice and can just say "old fashion is the better way"...

React

Answer 3

Emilia_45

Xper 5

I personally think we should take advantage of new technology, and it doesn’t mean we’re lazy, on the contrary, i think we can get much more done than if we had to go through a ton of books to find information. But this doesn’t mean we should leave the “old times” behind completely, we could take some valuable things like spending more time in nature and talking to people face to face rather than being consumed by social media/the internet 24/7.
I believe we need to take the best of both “worlds” in order to have a better quality of life.

React

1 Person

Answer 4

alc24

Xper 7

Take advantage of the new technology, it’s easier after all. Its always good to keep the old fashion way in mind though.

React

1 Person

Answer 5

sensible27 | 128 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Guru

Depends on what you get benifit from. Don't move just because it is supposed to be better think about if it is actually going to improve your life and if it's worth the trouble in all it's pros and cons. This is how I moved to my kindle. If the advantages are big enough move, this is supposed to be common sense. A book (a real book) probably would have been more likable and providing more comfortable way to do notes or making notes but kindle is too damn advantageous to not sacrifice.

People like your dad are the ones who would make amazon build a note drawing feature but you could argue the already existing customer base has more of an impact on that. It is probably a bit hard for your step dad to adapt since all this is probably like alien tech to them (well depending on how old he is).

React

Answer 6

hellacray | 143 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Guru

I think it's both good depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

Like if you were in a kitchen of course it's better to do everything from scratch or the "old fashioned way" cause you'll get a better result versus something that's canned or frozen.

Now let's say you're learning how to cook, now you can buy a cookbook or you can Google it. Now in this case Google is probably the better way to go cause you can search up multiple recipes for the same dish and pick the best one. Also Google spits out YouTube videos which I personally think is way better than just following a recipe from a book.

And then you also have diet restrictions. Maybe you can't have dairy or peanuts well Google can give you alternatives to a recipe. While a cookbook may not provide these options.

So I think there's pros and cons to both.

React

Answer 7

Madhatter920

Guru

It's good to know "the old fashioned way." When a real catastrophe hits, we lose that technology and you don't want to be one of the people who are lost without it. At the same time, it's pointless to spend hours scouring books for information you can find with the touch of a few buttons. Is it lazy? Sure. But it's not a waste of energy.

React

Answer 8

humanearth | 319 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Master

Old way is better, the old way dont need the internet, electric, or computers

My farm is full of working stuff from the 1800s and early 1900s. None of needs none of the modern stuff like electicy.

When shit hits the fan. At least I can still live and survive with almost or very little ajustment.

I'm going to sit back and watch people freak out

React

Answer 9

R3DthatDude

Yoda

It’s always better to use tech in conjunction with old fashion. Never relying totally on tech because it’s not perfect and can screw up and leave you messed up, but you don’t want to be stuck churning butter when you can buy it from the store and eat right now.

React

3 People

Answer 10

Hornyguy198

Xper 2

It's a healthy mix of both, a lot of the "old ways" as you call them are actually better than the new ways of doing the same thing. Like the cast iron cookware, it has and always will be the best way to cook the besy tasting food if you take the time to properly care for it (and no rusted cast iron is perfectly fine to cook with, wash it with warm water and a rag (no soap EVER with cast iron) and then re-season it.).

React

Answer 11

AllThatSweetJazz | 72 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Guru

The same argument applies to books as to phones.

Fucker reads a book? Lazy. Do the experiments and research to figure things out. You want to learn about physics? Newton did it the old fashioned way, before this newfangled printing press. Wanted to learn about gravity, invented calculus as a method to explore it at 24. Books? Psssh, no excuses!

React

1 Person

Aaron_Stone

+1 y
What an counter argument 👌 👍 His dad will surely get face palmed in his own mind.

Answer 12

Aaron_Stone

What an counter argument 👌 👍 His dad will surely get face palmed in his own mind.

Answer 13

OddBeMe | 169 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Master

The old folks standing by the doors at Walmart refused to learn new things and that’s the only job they could get. I intend to stay as fresh with technology and industry trends until I die. And then hope for a Matrix like upload into a robot body.

React

Answer 14

theChineseWASP

Xper 7

Not every new technology sticks around though. Why learn something that could just be a fad?

React

Answer 15

Sixgun77

Explorer

It's context dependant. I use new tech and vr for video games, but you can't beat cast iron in the kitchen. Actual books don't require batteries or infrastructure.

React

Answer 16

Kiachi

Xper 1

I think the answer would be to use the newer technology because it saves precious time, however most of us waste the time saved by doing mindless things, for example, dawdling on Social Media or YouTube. So that's the lazy part.

React

Answer 17

crazy8000 | 59 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Yoda

Both is good.

Through electronics can be unreliable since it doesn't always work and can be disturbed little to easy.

React

Answer 18

zagor | 382 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Master

I voted A, but with the caveat that new isn't always best. That is where rational comparison comes into play.

React

Answer 19

Thatsamazing

Guru

A mix of the two. Depends what you're referring to.

React

Answer 20

Anonymous

Take advantage of new but dont give up on old.

For example I was with this girl who didn't know how to use a map book. Which I I thought was bit stupid.

React

Answer 21

Likes2drive | 716 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Master

It’s good to know both and I take advantage of new technology too

React

3 People

Answer 22

Walrus_au | 59 opinions shared on Technology & Internet topic.

Yoda

Depends on what it is you are doing.

React

Answer 23

arabgoddess

Yoda

Stick to what works for you and what's comfortable

React

1 Person

Is it better to take advantage of new technology or to stick with the "Old Fashioned Way"?

Most Helpful Guys

Most Helpful Girls

Related Questions

What Girls & Guys Said

Related myTakes