Why I'm a late adopter of technology

When the iPhone 5 came out I purposely bought an iPhone 4s. The main reason was cost but not the type of cost you might think.

It was because I didn't want to contribute to the demand for electronics that creates more e-waste. I didn't want all my existing charging cables and docking speaker system to become useless and incompatible with my new phone. Apple decided to create Lightning, a new proprietary connector for the iPhone 5 rather than use the Micro-USB which is standard across other platforms. I voted with my dollars to not reward Apple for their bad behavior. 

About 70% of globally generated e-waste ends up in China.

I also didn't want to upgrade my phone when the one I have works just fine. It may no longer be new but it still allows me to accomplish pretty much everything I need it to do. I will need to re-evaluate when the phone gets slower or when I will no longer be able to use certain apps because my iOS is no longer supported (I'm on iOS 6). Or I'll just have to learn to live without them. Thankfully a lot of sites have a mobile web experience and all I need for that is a browser. 

I was just thinking about this today - sure we've seen many advances and life is "easier" now but is it really? You were able to do a lot of things back then too but it was a little more difficult but there was a certain mystery to it. Now you can find out almost everything you need to know before you experience it yourself. Where's the anticipation? The patience? And for all the conveniences we have why is it still so hard for friends to get together? There should be an app for that. ;o)

Read more about e-waste in this CNN article China: The electronic wastebasket of the world
Or simply do a Google image search for "ewaste" to see where most of the world's ewaste goes - piled up in a third world country.

For better or worse

There have been so many advances in technology in just the last 20 years... It's hard to imagine the world before the Internet or smartphones. I was just thinking about all the ways technology has changed our lives - for better or worse. Remember the good ole days when...

1. If you made plans with someone, you showed up.
2. You had to rewind rented VHS tapes before you returned them.
3. You actually knew people's phone numbers by heart.
4. If you needed to make a phone call when you were out you used a pay phone.
5. You had to look at an actual map to figure out directions before you drove to a new destination.
6. You recorded your favorite songs off the radio and had to live with DJs talking over the song intro.
7. If you missed your favorite TV show... well, you missed it.
8. You took your bathroom breaks during TV commercials.
9. You had to line up to buy concert tickets.
10. You had to call or fax a hotel to make reservations.
11. You didn't know what to expect when you showed up at the hotel - you hoped the description in the AAA guidebook was accurate.
12. You passed notes in class or in the hallway.
13. You had one pair of contact lenses that were supposed to last you all year.
14. You typed your school papers on a typewriter.
15. Your first printer was dot matrix.
16. Jelly bracelets were merely decorative and weren't a badge of your sexual exploits or desires.
17. If you were on the phone, no one else could call you.
18. You had to dial the operator to dial an international number.
19. You had to go to an actual record store if you wanted to buy your favorite song. And you hoped they had it in stock.
20. You got to take drafting, home ec, driver's ed, and woodworking in high school.
21. You were your parents' remote control as in you changed the channel for them.
22. Exciting video games involved controlling one of two lines on a screen. The other line was controlled by your opponent.
23. It was an Olympics year once every four years.
24. You had pen pals from whom you would receive actual snail mail.

Do you have others you'd like to add to the list?