Re:Doing Laundry on Campus Without a Phone
by ghaff on Saturday September 02, 2023 @07:10AM
(#37360421)
Yeah. If you look at a list of technical innovations I expect that there is a whole list of often perfectly rational reasons why some inventions took longer to hit high penetrations levels than others. It's not just "I hate change."
I certainly don't think I'm a luddite in general but there are a lot of things that I'm just "Meh. Don't need it."
Re:Doing Laundry on Campus Without a Phone
by whynotmaybe on Saturday September 02, 2023 @09:05AM
(#37361152)
I'm the "meh don't need it type" but whatever the feelings I have, I can't rent a car or buy a plane ticket without a credit card.
Some shops don't even accept cash anymore. Don't get me started about the worst recent innovation : a Friggin 21" monitor for the "infotainment" in a car.
But I know that if I have to change my current car, it would be almost impossible to have a car without a television on the console. Unless I buy an old car which pollutes too much.
I think that "meh don't need it" is the first step to "I'm gettin too old for this shit"
There's an argument that this is quite the reverse: it's innovative behaviour since it demonstrates comparative rarity, leadership (pointing the way), novelty (we should do things differently), etc.
Frankly, I think this thread points to some of the weaknesses in the Diffusion of Innovations theory (which on the whole I quite like). It doesn't neatly model 'luddites', those who are exposed to 'innovations' and understand them, yet reject them for whatever reason.