Recently, my computer has become more and more insistent about the need to upgrade to windows 11.
That is to say, every so often I "wake up" the machinery and all the real estate is being taken up by angry messages from Microsoft telling me that I need to buy a new computer because my current system is not Windows 11 compatible. And there will be no more security updates and support for my Windows 10.
Yes, I know, I should just install some other OS with a smaller footprint and less invasiveness. That's not the hard part. The hard part is undoing and reconnecting the hudreds of tendrils to things I do/have online that are all Microsoft based/dependent.
The irritating thing about it is that much of the time the only way to get rid of the full screen window is to click on an option that either involves reading about Windows 11 or buying a new computer there is no just closing the window.
When I worked in IT, it was push technology that shoved extras down people's thoats, and the only way to bypass dealing with it was to buy it.
Granted, my current machine — with some modifications and updates made along the way — dates back to about 2013, but it still works and pretty much does what I need to do. I don't do video editing, and I'm not a gamer and I don't do anything significantly graphics intensive. I also don't use any AI assistants/clients.
But I'm also gradually coming to the realization that my world is becoming increasingly obsolete and out of date.
I say that, because I come across more and more apps and websites that very obviously are designed primarily to be used on your phone or possibly mobile device and not on a conventional desktop computer.
Maybe it's a bit of a chicken-versus-egg situation, but I do admire those who can type out 1000 word article on their phone… I just don't happen to be one of them.
But then again, maybe they're not typing out thousand-word articles on their phone, because they're not consumers of thousand-word articles, because thousand-word articles are what's obsolete. All you have to be able to do type out a 256 character tweet or send a meme.
It leaves me contemplating the entire question of whether I just need to get with the times or whether I am permanently obsolete... purely because of my preferences.
The thing is, if I have to be authentically myself I have very little interest in short form content and looking at short form content, scrolling memes, and watching 30-second TikTok reels accounts for probably less than 5% of the time I spend online. And just because "it's the thing" doesn't make me one iota more interested!
Hence the actual dilemma — at least as it exists inside my brain — is one of "getting with the times," meaning doing something that I have no authentic interest in doing or simply allowing myself to be a relic.
I really have no authentic interest in not being authentic!
But getting back to the chicken-versus-egg commentary, I could suggest that maybe those people are not typing out thousand-word articles because the technology doesn't facilitate it, as a result of which everything is short or content... but what came first? The demand for shorter content, or devices marketed to be cool that only really support short content... who's leading who?
Fortunately, I don't have that many years left on this planet, and most of my adult working life is over so it's not like I have to adapt to something that I find unsuitable and then feel forced to live with it for the next 40 years. I can continue to just do me and move forward from there.
But it does give me pause for thought and I makes me wonder whether every generation throughout the history of humanity has sat back and said "you know what? I feel like I have just become obsolete!"
Is that what people felt when there was a transition from horse drawn carriages to automobiles? Is it what people felt when they went from life simply being a matter of working in the fields to suddenly working in a factory alongside a bunch of other people doing work for other people rather than for yourself?
I know it's somewhat what my parents felt when I started talking about working on computers back in the 1980s. 20 years later — even though I showed her all the ways that it would make correspondence easier for her — my mom resisted ever given getting a laptop and e-mail until her dying day.
"Yes dear, it's very nice and I can certainly see how it's a time saver, but you know what? I really prefer sitting down with a nice piece of paper and envelopes and pens and writing to people by hand. That feels real, this does not."
She's not wrong. To this day, there's something pretty awesome about getting an actual handwritten letter that arrives in your mailbox, that someone took the time and effort to create... and it is tangible evidence of their existence.
It also makes me wonder what comes next. When and how will we reach a point where we look at those who were using the smartphones of today and declare that "they're just so obsolete for carrying those bricks around."
You know it's going to happen!
Thanks for coming by, and have a great Friday!
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Created at 2025.10.23 23:58 PST
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