BRING IT BACK
Some might think I’m a Luddite. Nope. I’m logical and realistic. To prove it I will list several things which were far better or cheaper before modern tech.
For instance, phones worked incredibly well before cell towers. Pick up the receiver and dial a number and it worked. No swiping a pattern, no facial recognition or thumbprint to open it. In an emergency you could merely dial 0 and emergency services knew your location. When the phone rang you had 8 rings to get there if needed (compared to now when if you don’t have it surgically attached to your body you can’t get to your phone in time*). Callers knew that you wouldn’t talk to them if you didn’t identify yourself in the first sentence (now, unless your phone recognizes the caller’s number it goes immediately to voicemail). No one bothers to check voicemail anymore. There were things about phones which were BETTER before. (* I use this to my benefit. Telemarketers don’t leave messages, but my friends do.) The phone didn’t cost $1,200 every 4 years, either, and was constantly “charged.”
What about car headlights? In the old days before tech, the dash wouldn’t light up unless you had your headlights on. Now it lights up even if you don’t … so you think your lights are on and everyone else on the highway is freaking out because they aren’t. That’s another technology which was BETTER before.
Christmas trees were better. I miss the real light bulbs. 25 bulbs was a full tree of light (and would light up the entire room). Now a tree can have 7,000 tiny ugly LED bulbs and you can hardly see the outline of the tree if all the other lights are off. Sure! You’re saving the planet? But you’ve misplaced Christmas. Add a pine-scented candle and you’d think someone in the neighborhood bought a real tree.
Cash is nice. I even carry change when heading to the store. It used to be that a cashier could count back money. Now I enjoy an immense level of pleasure from watching the cashier trying to figure out how much a dime is worth. If the power goes out I still can do brain math, but the new crop of electronic dodo brains have no clue. Without a computer they can’t add two sticks and a rock.
Want to watch people squirm? Put 7 people in a brightly lit room without any electronics. They can’t survive the boredom unless they go to sleep.
Cloth hankies. If I wanted to blow snot on my finger I wouldn’t need a tissue. Facial tissues fail more often than succeed. I understand the point of “one use,” but other than that … So, in the comfort of my own home I utilize the wisdom of my ancestors…I use something which is more efficient and costs less. When out and about I’ll gladly throw my nose waste in your trash holder.
Risk of Nuclear War (sarcasm is hard to write well). I remember the Civil Defense Bomb Shelters and the CD symbols on buildings. They stockpiled water and a “forever cracker” in them. There were drills (hiding under desks and taping plastic over windows … as though plastic would not vaporize if a nuke hit nearby). The point was that we had things to do which mattered. It was a survive or not mentality. That has been replaced with micro-aggression fearmongering about microplastics, strange-boys competing in girls’ sports, how to properly recycle electronics, man-made global warming (as though warmth is bad), and the high cost of doughnuts. I want to bring back the fear of nuclear war so I have something meaningful to do: survive.
Sensible Student Loans. When I finished college I had $7,500 in student loans (at 2.8% interest). The average college grad, at that time, had a starting wage of around $38,000. With that in mind, had I an average wage I could have paid it off in one year with less than 20% of my income and I would have been 25 years old. There was value in getting an education then. Now students end up with $80,000-120,000 in loans at 8% interest and the average starting wage is $70,000-90,000. It takes 10-15 years to pay off the loans at 20% of income. If the average grad is age 24, he won’t have his loan paid until he is almost 40. [By the way … We had communal bathrooms (for 32 men), no A/C, metal bed frames with thin mattresses, and cafeteria food. What mattered was the education. It was more like a summer camp than a swanky resort.]
Stores that sell the same things year after year. Bring back Sears. You could buy tools that would last forever … and if they broke they would hand you a new one if you brought the broken one in. I’m tired of buying “online” at the store. They should have it in stock.
How-to Books. Actual books which explain how to do survival stuff. If we are hit by a meteor every electronic gizmo will be toast (including your car). We will need old-fashioned knowledge … how to smoke a hog … how to build a cabin and a fireplace … how to make a bow and arrow … how to start a fire without matches. By the way, it is time to upgrade to hand saws, hand-crank can openers and pencil sharpeners, hatchets, axes, and shovels. What good will your power saw be when the electricity is gone? I’ve even laid in boxes of nails and a few sheets of plywood.
Sitting on the front porch to TALK face to face. No texting. No emails. Just simple, straightforward communication. What we have now is definitely not better. On the front porch you didn’t have to choose LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter (or whatever that is this week). You looked at Joe and said, “Hi, Joe. How’s it going?” Joe would tell you. His punctuation was perfect … because he wasn’t using any. You could ask a clarifying question in the middle of a response. You could even get mad at each other, walk away, and tomorrow pick up where you left off. Texting is better? BIG NO!
Camping in a tent, no phone, just a weak flashlight. Cost = $20 for the day. Hot dogs roasted on sticks tasted so great you’d eat three.
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]
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