Tech-hating Girlfriends, Anyone?

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

you guyz have GF's? 

 

[Retrodex Gaming]

My wife hates tech... until she gets her hands on some of it, then loves what I do. Examples are as follows;

 

Nest Thermostat,

Nest Doorbell,

Huawei P30 Pro,

Domain controlled his & hers PCs, and gaming rig, and his and hers laptops that all have  the same files, software & links (That one especially she was hateful of until I got it all working!)

A f**k off great file server with Serviio for our video catalogue on any DNLA enabled device,

Our own VPN to access said DNLA streaming system.

Nest Smoke alarms,

Amazon echos linked up for seamless music around the house,

Playstation VR...

 

The list goes on!! 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

you guyz have GF's? 

If you're willing to compromise a little, you can have one, too!

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

If you're willing to compromise a little, you can have one, too!

[JoostinOnline]

2 hours ago, jstudrawa said:

Mine just asks why I have so many webcams pointed at our bed...

"It's for work, honey."

[Commodus]

A lot of this comes down to women having been discouraged from using tech when they were younger.  Computers and video games were "supposed" to be for boys, so it's not surprising they have no interest in it.

 

With that said: no matter what your hobby, there's a give and take.  Your partner doesn't have to like your pursuits, but they should respect them within reason; if they don't, they don't respect you.  Likewise, you also have to accept that your partner might never enjoy something the way you do, and that's okay.  And, for that matter, accept that your partner can call you out when your hobby is clearly going over the top; we all need a BS filter.

[Beerzerker]

I guess I'm lucky - The wife loves it when I do the crazy stuff with my hardware.

Had the benching setup in the house one day and she cleared out a spot for it just so she could watch me do it. Pouring LN2 in the kitchen area isn't something you'd do everyday but she loved what was going on with it - Fascinated by it in fact.

[RonnieOP]

14 minutes ago, Commodus said:

A lot of this comes down to women having been discouraged from using tech when they were younger.  Computers and video games were "supposed" to be for boys, so it's not surprising they have no interest in it.

Women havent been "discouraged" from using tech.  When i was taking cet and networking back in 2004 they were avidly encouraging women to get in to tech and its only be amplified since then.

 

Someone having no interest in tech has nothing to do with their gender. Its a personality thing. You cant really make someone get in to something they dont like. Plenty of men dont like tech either.

 

 

[Princess Luna]

Oh! Actually I'll give the other side nobody seems to think happens.

 

My ex-boyfriend was a tech illiterate who would always stress me over how ignorant he was and even worse how he'd not take my advises at all resulting in rather hilarious nonsense like:

 

He was finally building a new gaming computer, I tried to help him come up with the parts however he ignored me entirely and went with his other friends much worse advises. I still wanted to gift him something for his birthday so I bought him a 550W BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro 11 to use on the build but that same friend called me stupid and "you can't trust this to a girl" kind of offence telling him his rig needed 750W (it was a mainstream one that'd use no more than 500w ever) so he actually returned by gift and bought a CX750M which is a much worse PSU.

 

I'm glad my current relationship now with another girl, yes I gone lesbian, is with an actual network engineer who knows her stuff for real... we go along much better.

[Commodus]

Just now, RonnieOP said:

Women havent been "discouraged" from using tech.  When i was taking cet and networking back in 2004 they were avidly encouraging women to get in to tech and its only be amplified since then.

 

Someone having no interest in tech has nothing to do with their gender. Its a personality thing. You cant really make someone get in to something they dont like. Plenty of men dont like tech either.

 

 

I agree that people of all genders can dislike tech, but there's definitely evidence that women have been discouraged from using tech.  For example, enrollment by women in Computer Science BAs was as high as 37 percent in 1984, but dipped to half that today.  That's chalked up to PC vendors marketing computers primarily to men, to college courses largely being designed by and for men, and primary/secondary schools tending to encourage comp sci learning more among boys than girls.

 

Don't get me wrong, schools and companies have been encouraging women to get into tech for a while, but I wouldn't say there was a concerted effort to improve representation until relatively recently.

[Commodus]

22 minutes ago, comander said:

It's a mix of nature and nurture. 

One of the strongest predictors of technophilia is having Aspergers (I probably have a mild case of it and while I mask symptoms well it shows through at times). Women aren't as prone to having this disorder as men. 

Beyond that, the richer and more egalitarian the country, the less women want to bother chasing tech careers for money. Anecdotally, most of the females in tech that I know had families from "repressive" countries - China, Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, USSR, etc. and had families that valued cold hard cash/success. 

On my own end, I have TRIED to get a number of women (friends and family) passionate about technology. I've had very VERY limited success. If I try to force my good intentions on others, at some point it becomes no different than an evil deed. 

I'm not keen on that second paragraph, because it implies that women naturally gravitate away from tech the less they have to worry about money and rights.  I know this is the "nurture" part, but we can also argue that many of these richer and more egalitarian countries are also dealing with patriarchal legacies where men are supposed to be the technical ones while their wives work care-giving roles (teachers, nurses and the like).  Women may be discouraged from using tech because those countries have the 'luxury' of discouraging a whole gender from pursuing certain fields.

[RonnieOP]

32 minutes ago, Commodus said:

I agree that people of all genders can dislike tech, but there's definitely evidence that women have been discouraged from using tech.  For example, enrollment by women in Computer Science BAs was as high as 37 percent in 1984, but dipped to half that today.  That's chalked up to PC vendors marketing computers primarily to men, to college courses largely being designed by and for men, and primary/secondary schools tending to encourage comp sci learning more among boys than girls.

 

Don't get me wrong, schools and companies have been encouraging women to get into tech for a while, but I wouldn't say there was a concerted effort to improve representation until relatively recently.

But wheres the evidence?

 

I see evidence that its dropped but no evidence of it being due to girls being discouraged.

 

Schools in general are designed better for the female brain. Its why statistically they do better in school in every subject.

 

And they have been pushing for women to get into tech for a long long time now. Over a decade. Im 30 and when i was in middle school they were telling all students that tech was the future and it was a great subject to get in to. The fact that they have been pushing it and encouraging it to me proves that i has nothing to do with it being discouraged due to gender but females in general not having the same interests.

 

Also not having a tech job doesnt mean you arent in to tech. I love tech. I wouldnt ever ever want a job in the tech field though.

[Vejnemojnen]

Thread well worth following. In my area, I have experienced some discrimination 'gainst women, and it always made me wonder, what year it was. I just could not believe, that why would anyone should be hindered by one's gender. 

 

I do believe, that the attitude of some older men in higher education, or the general approach of discouraging women to work in tech fields has a lot to do with the phenomenon. 

 

Anyway, I hope others will also realize, that classic gender stereotypes of wmn being more emotionally guided, while men are rational and logical, is not entirely true, and gender should not affect the opportunities of the individual in any fields of profession. 

 

I know at least one guy who knows shite about electronics or IT. Yet I'm sure there are thousands of us out there.. 

[solarflare]

The worst is when your partner knows what you are when your still courting and then tries to somehow change it later after your basically committed or married. 

I'm a tech have been doing IT for 15 years as a profession, and i mess with all kinds of tech not just pc's and i game as well sometimes this is how things are I have a few other hobbies but at my core I enjoy playing with new pc's gadgets and games. 

 

Don't try to make me quit playing games or using computers the second were official it's nonsense and just makes everyone misserable. 

 

I dodged a bullet on marriage but a few of my good friends didn't. 

One has a wife that essentially implodes their life if he wants to try and play a pc game.. somehow xbox is ok tho. 

like what is he supposed to do .. search for hobbies that she approves ? force himself to become a car guy ? or something else he only semi has interests in essentially suppressing doing something that brings joy to your life is crazy.

 

It does blow my mind how some people think they can just impose their ideas onto others and this goes for everyone really , sometimes people just need to accept they dont have those hobbies in common.

 

I'm sure this goes both ways as well obviously. for instance my dad nagging at my mom about her using her iphone , its like we get it you dont think its fun .. move on. 

 

This all said it's not a excuse to ignore your GF or wife (BF -husband)  and go play games etc all night and day this is a thing some people forget! if your significant other explodes on you from being essentially ignored for weeks that's on you not your hobby. . 

 

 

PS** above the posts regarding woman in tech - i have only worked with 1 woman in the last 15 years who was btw amazing at her job. 

we dont discriminate hiring woman shes just the only one that's ever applied for a position other than secretary etc (clerical). 

It is definitely a stigma of some kind i feel , definitely feels boys club like at times its something thats rooted but seems to be changing finally. 

[Cylon Agent]

Regarding women working in tech, i think a lot of it is inertia in addition to earlier discouragement. Despite all the resources being made available in recent time, I think many women look around and don't see others like themselves working in the industry and subconsciously assimilate the message "guess, that is not for me". That is to not even mention the "boys club" at certain tech companies. I believe mentorship is a big deal in this regard - connecting with others (female professionals in tech) and learning about their role and impact. For boys, that is a lot easier - Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc. male role models that established themselves back when society was generally discouraging women from going into these fields. Anyway, interesting conversation that has developed here. I started the thread light-heated enough. I love my girlfriend, just find her comments funny sometimes. 

[spartaman64]

i found my gf in an mmo and she has some basic tech knowledge like a rtx 2080 is better than a rtx 2060 

[Retrodex Gaming]

1 hour ago, Cylon Agent said:

Regarding women working in tech, i think a lot of it is inertia in addition to earlier discouragement. Despite all the resources being made available in recent time, I think many women look around and don't see others like themselves working in the industry and subconsciously assimilate the message "guess, that is not for me". That is to not even mention the "boys club" at certain tech companies. I believe mentorship is a big deal in this regard - connecting with others (female professionals in tech) and learning about their role and impact. For boys, that is a lot easier - Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc. male role models that established themselves back when society was generally discouraging women from going into these fields. Anyway, interesting conversation that has developed here. I started the thread light-heated enough. I love my girlfriend, just find her comments funny sometimes. 

I think more of a song and dance should be made of Lisa Su (SVP AMD). Not just on the basis she's a woman, but on the absolute turnaround of the company during her tenure!

[Cylon Agent]

6 minutes ago, Retrodex Gaming said:

I think more of a song and dance should be made of Lisa Su (SVP AMD). Not just on the basis she's a woman, but on the absolute turnaround of the company during her tenure!

Yes, absolutely! AMD seems to be reinventing itself with some great leadership. 

[AngryBeaver]

My wife likes to randomly tell me how ridiculous it is to spend xxxxx on upgrades, builds, etc.

 

Then when I reminded here just how much I spend on everyone else in my house compared to myself... well then her temper dries up pretty quick.

 

I mean I make a very good living and having anyone tell me how to spend my own damn money doesn't sit well with me. Then there is the fact that I probably spend 30k or more annually on things for people in the family... so if I want to spend 3500 or even 5k on a new build annually or every 2 years who cares. Yes I also buy servers and HDDs to keep up with plex, but I think that counts as money spent on the family lol.

[Retrodex Gaming]

9 minutes ago, Cylon Agent said:

Yes, absolutely! AMD seems to be reinventing itself with some great leadership. 

Can't wait to see my stocks fly thanks to her once all this Corona rubbish is done with!  She is an absolute role model though! 

 

Unfortunately there's also the issue of its still more socially acceptable to be a "model" or an "influencer" than it is a CEO or Engineer for the ladies! (At least that's the impression I get with a lot of them in the UK!)

[GDRRiley]

nope, while mine doesn't want me to talk about it for hours, I've gotten her to build a PC for games.

I've been told at times she just tunes out and watches my face cus I get all excited.

 

She is a videographer and photographer. Daily drives a mac but it is okay cus at least its the good late 2013 after her 2015 got a broken screen. (still will probably fix it when we got the cash so she doesn't have to carry a 15in around all day and paring it with a apple LED cine display would give her a real nice editing spot)

[weaselciuy]

My wife just uses them, has no clue what makes them work.

 

Goes through a crappy 200$ laptop once a year to watch her shows while doing other stuff and dragging it after her.. Its fun when I get the $200 budget  & I have to find the best laptop available for that $. I have several broken ones in a box, might make a Frankenstein crappy laptop out of them...

[Fasauceome]

I turned my ex into a gamer girlfriend, it was pretty sweet

[Godlygamer23]

4 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

I guess I'm lucky - The wife loves it when I do the crazy stuff with my hardware.

Had the benching setup in the house one day and she cleared out a spot for it just so she could watch me do it. Pouring LN2 in the kitchen area isn't something you'd do everyday but she loved what was going on with it - Fascinated by it in fact.

that's pretty wicked to be honest dude. Both using LN2 and your wife being fascinated and supportive. The only place I've personally seen LN2 being used is my workplace.

[Beerzerker]

3 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

that's pretty wicked to be honest dude. Both using LN2 and your wife being fascinated and supportive. The only place I've personally seen LN2 being used is my workplace.

 

She definitely does.
I guess it's possible when the inevitable finally happens (Boom?) when I kill something for this to change but she knows how into it I am. It can be expensive to do since LN2 ain't cheap here but over time I'll do more of it of course.

 

One big thing is I don't push things as if I must do it at the expense of all else - If I don't have the spare $$ I don't do it, simple as that and she appreciates it.

 

She even wants to go with me if I happen to attend the upcoming Harrisburg benchmeet, I went last August and she wanted to go then but coudn't at that time due to a prior commitment over something else (Concert). 

I do hope I get to go and sling some LN2 again with the guys.