I think about that often … we are lucky.
For those of us just a bit older, we know a world before an internet and worldwide communications. We also saw it come in and take over the world.
I don’t like the details and what happened, how it happened or what went wrong … I just feel fascinated that I happened to be born when I was because I got to this unbelievable change.
It’s like being the generation that saw the world switch from horses to cars … or candles to electricity.
It’s a monumental shift in human civilization and we got to see the start of it. And I don’t mean just my generation, everyone reading this now is still living inside the infancy of the modern internet and communications. It will change so much more in the future. It may be good, it may be bad, it may be neither, it may be both … but it will definitely change and we’ll look back on this moment in time and either be nostalgic and think of it fondly and quaint … or remember when things were a lot better.
Honestly, the fact that I can just talk to people on the other side of the world with zero effort is wild
And for no charge.
However, having had a voice chat for an hour this weekend with someone 200 miles away, I can tell you that 30 years ago it worked so much better it’s not even funny; it was just expensive.
My phone provider (Fi) gave me an internet connected call rather than use the cell voice network (proudly telling me it was encrypted). It was full of dropouts and there was a serious latency that really inhibited conversation. I switched to a few other options like WhatsApp and the audio quality improved but the latency did not, and even got worse. Young people may be barely aware that a 200 mile phone call had tiny latency - you would not know there was any - because there was a literal wire connection between each end and communication was at the speed of light. Even transatlantic calls had minimal latency unless it went by satellite.
Sure today we can do it with video, but frankly, for a chat, I don’t even see much benefit. I’d certainly choose voice-only if it meant zero latency, and sadly I seem to have chosen a mobile provider that does its best to prevent that.
The latency thing drives me nut as well. It depends a lot on the provider though.
Microsoft Teams is the worst in my experience (though it has gotten better), with 1 full second of RTT not even being out of the norm.
Discord though? It’s great. They built it for gamers, who need to be able to give information quickly, and it shows. At work everybody is accidentally talking over everybody in Teams due to the latency, then you get in a discord call and it’s like you’re in the same room. Insane that latency does not factor much or at all in Microsoft’s KPIs.
Thet sounds like a problem with your Internet or with your phone company. I use that feature all the time and it works flawlessly
And you can share your cat memes with them!
Half? Fucking rich people bitching.
Are you being sarcastic or just how much are you paying for rent??
He’s being sarcastic because only rich people can afford four blueberries with the money left over after paying rent. The rest of us pay 90% of our paycheck for rent then starve because we don’t have enough money left to buy four blueberries.
I live near Austin, and home prices have tripled since 2019, driving more people to apartments while cities ban new apartment complexes.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get a few promotions and double my pay in the last 18 months, but with the increases in rent and other expenses I actually end up having about the same amount of disposable income as when I made half as much money, and rent is a higher percentage of my expenses than it was before my raises.
And I haven’t moved into a more expensive place. I’ve lived in the same place for a decade now.
it’s funny cuz at first glance this looks like generic reddity sarcasm, but it made me think: while a lot of people paying half their wages to rent are in poverty, a lot of people with expensive homes are also probably living outside their means. all I know is my rent ain’t anywhere close to half
replace 3 of the 4 blueberries with actual drugs to cope with the sad from the little pocket computer for a fulfilling and short life lol
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Rent not own and it’s only two.
I just blue myself
Blueberries here have been ridiculously cheap, same as strawberries. They’re like $1-1.5 per punnet so we’re pumping them into the kids at the moment
Oh that’s good to know. I remember blueberries used to be very expensive, but I don’t pay attention to prices cuz if I want blueberries it’s a rare treat and my brain can only hold so much information, price comparison not being one of those things.
I have to stay on social media. Somewhere, there is injustice happening and only I can stop it.
Only I can stop the guy in my phone from saying “Only I matter!”
Sharing is caring
For some reason I read this in the voice of Nacho Libre.
I get to lay in a bed by myself, all of my life. It’s fantastic!
Just one more angry post about XYZ and I’ll win my cause and change people’s minds.
Image Transcription: Twitter Post
jordan, @jordan_stratton
Being alive during this modern era is great. Robots are creating artistic soulless versions of people, I spend half my paycheck on rent and the other half on 4 blueberries, and I’m addicted to a little pocket computer that makes me sad everyday. Fantastic.
At first I thought your entire comment was just
Image Transcription: Twitter Post
And I thought yeah… that sums it up.
The only thing I live for is the gay people in my phone. They are everything to me. When I figure out how to let them out of the phone my life will be perfect.
Yeah, but- and stay with me here- what if those robots made a movie with superheroes in it that costs $1 billion to make and you could see it if you want to pay $20?
Or pay nothing in money but rather spend your time in learning FOSS which would be necessary to build a Matrix AI. This because if you ever trusted Closed Source Software than you deserve the inevitable suicide that I can guarentee it’s writers wrote upon you.
I might be in the minority here but I love my pocket computer. Never has it made me sad, and only has enhanced my life
People are definitely obsessed with their phone machines, but I just think mine is OK and I use it only in small durations as needed. I enjoy using Real Computers far more than the pocket sized ones.
A little bit of a selection bias though; he’s using the worst social network and you’re using the best one.
I’d start by abandoning xitter if I was him…
It’s pronounced “shitter” because it’s just Twitter but way shitter.
oh I’m aware how it’s pronounced 😉👍
I dont care about AI art, I set healthy boundaries with technology and find fulfillment elsewhere, and while income inequality sucks I’m grateful for what I have. You could call this gratitude bootlicking but I call this tweet “Moralizing Depression”.
chin up, Im sure it cant get any worse
remembers upcoming elections
err chin up, if it gets worse, you can always look back fondly on these times
Where I live… try 70% of your paycheck on rent. Heck, a lot of agencies and landlords won’t rent to someone like me unless I was earning £10k more.
