Where do you draw the line on technology in your life?

[BecauseICanTBH]

At this point, it's no secret that technology is going to keep advancing to the extremes in all fields. Pretty soon, people will be getting implants in their brains and whatnot. All sorts of sci-fi stuff is about to become a reality.

 

My question is, where do you draw the line? Where do you, personally, stop and say "this is enough tech for me"?

 

For me:

• 5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me.
• VR/AR. Too disconnected from real life. Unnecessary and intrusive to the mind. That includes smart glasses. Virtual tours like Google Street View is my limit for that type.
• Network connected home appliances, lighting, surveillance, door locks, etc. I demand full, analog control over that type of stuff, and wouldn't expose things in my home to potential hacking. I won't buy anything like that if it has the hardware for wifi/bluetooth connectivity. I'm all for robotics making my life easier (robot vacuums, lawn mowers, etc), but not if they're connected to the internet.
• Home assistant speakers and the likes, such as Alexa/Google Home.
• Implants. I'd have to be out of my damn mind.

 

What about you?

 

[Epimetheus]

That is a very conservative view about technology. Personally i'd just draw the line with implants but just as long as i know nothing about it, but could be open to it

[shaz2sxy]

Not sure for me. 

 

I would love to be a cyborg lol

 

I think ou might struggle with the first one

 

"5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me."

 

Its already around you lol

[BecauseICanTBH]

2 minutes ago, shaz2sxy said:

"5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me."

 

Its already around you lol

Nah I live in the middle of nowhere. It's not and won't be anytime soon. Hardly even another house for miles.

[WereCatf]

17 minutes ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

My question is, where do you draw the line? Where do you, personally, stop and say "this is enough tech for me"?

Line? What line? I'd happily replace every single body-part of mine, if possible and it was an improvement over my frail biological ones! Hell, I can't wait for that to become possible!

[Blademaster91]

The 4G coverage where I live is kinda bad, 5G seems pointless when 4G is more than enough.

I would want a VR headset for games, though I agree something like AR on a phone or glasses would be too distracting.

With network connected appliances, I'd rather have a basic fridge or washing machine. I don't trust a smart lock, or smart smart speakers because placing microphones all around the house just seems weird to me.

Implants? I dunno, I wouldn't replace my whole body however replacing limbs with improved ones would be awesome.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Whether made of Flesh or made of Metals,...

Lava Wins, but you do have to go looking for it

 

 

Don't fight near Volcano's or Smelting plants...

 

[TetraSky]

12 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me.

In a few years, when your current phone dies off, you won't have any other choices because nearly every phones will have 5G built in. Even if you don't use 5G, it won't stop the signal from going through you to someone else with a 5G phone nearby either.

You're buying a bit too much into the fear factor of 5G by uneducated people.
It's non-ionizing radiation (No, using the term radiation doesn't make it bad... it just "radiate"... Think a light bulb that radiate it's light around the room... anyone who didn't fail their high school physic class should know this), it won't affect your cells as it is too weak to do so.
Plenty of studies debunk the myths that cellphones cause cancer and I fully expect to see more of them after the advent of 5G. 

Then you have people who claim to be sensitive to electromagnetic "radiation"... Yet have been proven that they can't even tell in a blind test if they are near it or not. It's all in their head.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

where do you draw the line?

I draw the line at printing. 

I have a friend who manually writes down things I may want to reply to, and sends them to me by carrier pigeon. I then write my replies and send them back so that he can type them and submit them under my name. 

I want none of that new-fangled computer font stuff on my papers. 

 

And don't get me started on those strips with holes that you have to tear off the sides of the pages.  

 

 

 

(Yeah, Capt C is a real weirdo.  Best regards, the friend)

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

you lost me at

5 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

For me:

• 5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me.

 

[Lurick]

21 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

-snip-

Considering the fact that most phone carriers are looking to sunset 4G by 2025-ish with AT&T looking to sunset 4G by 2022 if I remember correctly, there isn't much time left for existing phones to even continue operating so if OP even wants a non-landline phone then they have no choice just based on the sunset dates.

[SomeLinuxPerson]

I dont piticularly like cell phones (maybe I would buy a fairphone with ubuntu touch but I dont like the privacy concerns with IOS and Android). Basically nothing smarthome at all because I prefer full analog control because its almost unhackable without physical acess.

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

At this point, it's no secret that technology is going to keep advancing to the extremes in all fields. Pretty soon, people will be getting implants in their brains and whatnot. All sorts of sci-fi stuff is about to become a reality.

 

My question is, where do you draw the line? Where do you, personally, stop and say "this is enough tech for me"?

 

For me:

• 5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me.

Why would you avoid 5G? You know that the radio waves will still be blasting you from all sides 24/7 anyway, regardless of whether you've personally got a 5G device?

 

I see people have this really weird, really polarized view of 5G. On one hand, you have people who keep saying that 5G is going to revolutionize the world and change everything - it's not. It's just faster mobile internet.

 

On the other hand, you have all these people who keep saying "4G/LTE was fast enough! I'll never need/own/want 5G!"

 

It's just weird.

 

5G is fundamentally pretty similar in terms of the radio waves as LTE. As such, there's no physical harm to it.

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

• VR/AR. Too disconnected from real life. Unnecessary and intrusive to the mind. That includes smart glasses. Virtual tours like Google Street View is my limit for that type.

Personally I would definitely get on board with AR once it's at the point where I can essentially have a HUD built into my otherwise normal reading glasses. I'd want a minimalistic design though that is configurable - like a modern digital dashboard in a car.

 

VR is very cool - and when the price drops enough that I can buy a totally wireless VR kit that's as good or better than an HTC Vive, for a few hundred bucks? Sure I'll probably pick one up. Eventually.

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

• Network connected home appliances, lighting, surveillance, door locks, etc. I demand full, analog control over that type of stuff, and wouldn't expose things in my home to potential hacking. I won't buy anything like that if it has the hardware for wifi/bluetooth connectivity. I'm all for robotics making my life easier (robot vacuums, lawn mowers, etc), but not if they're connected to the internet.

I can understand the privacy concerns for that kind of thing.

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

• Home assistant speakers and the likes, such as Alexa/Google Home.

There's definite privacy concerns there, but with the correct safeguards, they can be very useful. In particular, I'd probably get an Apple HomePod, if I were to choose one.

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

• Implants. I'd have to be out of my damn mind.

 

What about you?

 

I'd definitely be down for implants, but it would have to be hardened so that even if a hacking attempt was possible, there weren't any physical/mental risks (eg: they couldn't damage your brain or your psyche).

[The King of the Undead]

I draw the line when I can't live without it.

[samcool55]

I draw the line where it no longer makes sense to tech something.

Like, a smart dishwasher? Really? I want the damn thing to load and unload itself, not to turn it on and off remotely. What's the point of that?

 

Some things really aren't better when they are smart, tbh sometimes they are even worse because they are a lot more complex for absolutely no practical reason.

[akio123008]

 

6 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

At this point, it's no secret that technology is going to keep advancing to the extremes in all fields. Pretty soon, people will be getting implants in their brains and whatnot. All sorts of sci-fi stuff is about to become a reality.

 

My question is, where do you draw the line? Where do you, personally, stop and say "this is enough tech for me"?

 

For me:

• 5g. I'll probably never get a phone that is even hardware-capable of 5g. I don't want that around me.
• VR/AR. Too disconnected from real life. Unnecessary and intrusive to the mind. That includes smart glasses. Virtual tours like Google Street View is my limit for that type.
• Network connected home appliances, lighting, surveillance, door locks, etc. I demand full, analog control over that type of stuff, and wouldn't expose things in my home to potential hacking. I won't buy anything like that if it has the hardware for wifi/bluetooth connectivity. I'm all for robotics making my life easier (robot vacuums, lawn mowers, etc), but not if they're connected to the internet.
• Home assistant speakers and the likes, such as Alexa/Google Home.
• Implants. I'd have to be out of my damn mind.

 

What about you?

 

As far as 5g is concerned, I don't think it matters, we're already surrounded by dozens of high frequency short range access points, it's just that that technology is called "AC WiFi" rather than "5G" which apparently makes them perfectly safe.

 

Network/smart home systems, well I don't see the point of most smart-home stuff and I can't be bothered to use most of it. Networked security cameras are fine; those have been around for a long time and analog security cameras really suck. I do have to say that I have a strong preference for local network-only/non subscription based systems.

 

VR/AR, well I probably won't spend money on it, because I don't see a reason for me to use it, (just like with most smart-home stuff) but I'm not exactly against using it at all.

 

I'm not against the use of home assistants, but I find them rather useless, and even if they were incredibly smart, I wouldn't be able to get over the weird feeling of talking to a computer. I just can't do it. I've never been a fan of voice command systems, and I never will be. 

 

Implants: no way. Hate the idea, and for a reason that I will explain in my conclusion below.

 

Basically I draw the line based on how easy it is to turn off/get rid of/opt out of/ a certain device or service. I'm fine with most things, because most things are easy to opt out of, deactivate or even destroy when there's a reason to do so. I guess this doesn't apply to 5g, but I'm not afraid of that so for me that exception is not an issue.

 

For this reason I don't like the idea of implants. When the technology becomes part of you, deciding to go without it can be a more complicated problem to solve. Implants are the level at which the power switch we've always known is no longer really a thing.

[WereCatf]

52 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

it's not. It's just faster mobile internet.

In many cases it won't be even that. It seems 5G will be mostly centered around 3.5GHz on the low end of frequencies, which means it won't have a lot of penetration and will carry through walls and forests and stuff worse than even a plain-ass 2.4GHz 802.11n. Contrast this with e.g. 4G LTE, where there are several bands even below 1GHz available.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

In many cases it won't be even that. It seems 5G will be mostly centered around 3.5GHz on the low end of frequencies, which means it won't have a lot of penetration and will carry through walls and forests and stuff worse than even a plain-ass 2.4GHz 802.11n. Contrast this with e.g. 4G LTE, where there are several bands even below 1GHz available.

Agreed, 5G is a complicated subject because 5G is really multiple similar yet different standards rolled into one.

 

For example, 50 GHz 5G can provide ultra fast speeds, but penetration would be literally blocked by a piece of paper or a person standing in the wrong spot, etc. Only useful for wide open areas with little to no blockages.

 

However, 5G at the same frequency as LTE should include some performance boost.

 

Penetration and speed are different issues. 5 GHz WIFI has shit penetration, but faster speeds. 2.4 GHz WIFI has slower speeds but way better penetration. It's always a trade off.

 

Either way, 5G quite simply is not going to drastically change the way things are done.

[Suika]

7 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

Network connected home appliances, lighting, surveillance, door locks, etc. I demand full, analog control over that type of stuff, and wouldn't expose things in my home to potential hacking. I won't buy anything like that if it has the hardware for wifi/bluetooth connectivity. I'm all for robotics making my life easier (robot vacuums, lawn mowers, etc), but not if they're connected to the internet.

Kind of this, but I draw the line at certain appliances, not all of them.

 

I live by the belief that some paranoia is healthy, but I don't let it consume me. For example, if I were to pickup certain smart home appliances such as a thermostat, light bulbs, one of those little automatic vacuums, or a smart TV, I'd be perfectly fine with them. I'd segregate them to a different network and limit network communication, but I wouldn't ban them from my household. Most hackers don't target people, they go for easy pickings, so even the smallest amount of network security should deter a lot of attackers.

 

Certain other appliances, namely smart locks or whatever, I will not own. There's not a company that produces them that I trust enough to justify owning one. There was also a recent story about some smart oven randomly turning on overnight, and the CEO seemed really dismissive of the issue and claimed that it must have been like "butt dialing" someone. That kind of scared me off of the idea of owning one of those for awhile.

[Donut417]

38 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

around 3.5GHz on th

T Mobile plans on using 600 Mhz in some areas, it seems they are using low, mid and high bands for 5G services. At least from the literature they have provided. 

[jiyeon]

As a very evidently open-minded person, I don't think I'd draw the line on technology at all, unless there was something that has no need to have tech implemented into it.

I'm open to things like smart lamps, TVs, and speakers, but not so much to fridges or dishwashers, or any other appliance that doesn't benefit it in any way.

[NineEyeRon]

For me:

• VR/AR.
• Network connected home appliances, lighting, surveillance, door locks, etc.
• Home assistant speakers

Pretty much OP's post minus the first and last.

[GilmourD]

Nothing that goes in my rectum.

 

Other than that, I'm game.

[Guest]

Implants that will go in the CNS. No bueno. 

[Dkunky]

TL;DR: No limit so long as its elective connection to any network public or private.

NeuraLink (the 5G network variants). DONT DO IT. 

Asides from that I would have to say an always online type of anything (bar cellular).

Think about what your machine is capable of on its own. As enthusiasts I think we forget about what our machines can do that's not reliant on the internet and focus more on what they can't do. Don't get too caught up in the rat race for the bleeding edge. I know we see our tech as an extension of ourselves but to others they become the extension of it.

Forgive my ranting guys I don't get to talk too much about this.