View Full Version : The sad state of modern life...
I've just read this sorry tale on pfm: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123235
I hope that no-one here is in such an unfortunate position? :(
A very telling comment, for me, is this one:
25 yeas ago the common thought was that as technology is going advanced, the stress at work will decrease and people stay less hours at work and more time at home. The reality is that technology confuses the line between work and between home. The good examples are the cellular and the mailing. People dealing with issues of work when they are at home with their family or when they are in vacation (if they are...).
Dear oh dear, and regarding technology, I completely agree... Furthermore, holidays are for relaxing, unwinding and totally disconnecting from the 'outside world'! If you can't do that, then you're in the wrong job.
And folk wonder why I advocate shunning the use of technological gadgetry, whenever possible? :rolleyes:
If 'Big Brother' can't find you, it can't control you!
Your thoughts please, gentlemen?
Marco.
Back in the 1960's mass production was hailed as a revolution, we'd be all able to work part-time. Of course this never happened. We became more efficient but we wanted a higher standard of living.
Then what happens? Many more women go into the workplace, more disposable income puts up house prices so most couples now both need to work to afford to buy a house. If we had a culture of one person working and one looking after children, we'd have lower house prices, family raised children (not by child minders) and better quality of life.
The Technology gadget thing is this all over again. Sad really but it's hard to avoid except for a lucky few.
Part of it though is UK culture, Scandinavian countries and France, Italy etc have far greater delineation between home and work.
Some people do really enjoy their work so it is not a problem for them. My father always used to say 'my job is my hobby - I don't know what I will do when I retire'. (The answer was 'golf', incidentally). I've been in that position myself, happily putting in 6 day, 70 hour weeks because the work has entertained me. None of that now, it is strictly Monday to Friday 9-5 but I do find I have problems filling in all the extra spare time I now have. Maybe it is just me?
As Blur so rightly stated....'Modern Life Is Rubbish'.
I enjoy my job immensely, and surprisingly it is in the military. I think Golf beckons in 20 years though.
Back in the 1960's mass production was hailed as a revolution, we'd be all able to work part-time. Of course this never happened. We became more efficient but we wanted a higher standard of living.
Then what happens? Many more women go into the workplace, more disposable income puts up house prices so most couples now both need to work to afford to buy a house. If we had a culture of one person working and one looking after children, we'd have lower house prices, family raised children (not by child minders) and better quality of life.
:clapclapclap:
Nail > head, my man!!
Marco.
Hi Martin,
Some people do really enjoy their work so it is not a problem for them. My father always used to say 'my job is my hobby - I don't know what I will do when I retire'.
Oh, I dunno...travel the world with your wife or partner, go out for meals and/or to the theatre/cinema, and spend more time together, in general, enjoying each other's company? Spend more time with your children and/or grandchildren Take up gardening or a sport? Learn some foreign languages? Start a small part-time business from home, relating to something you enjoy? Do the 'hokey-cokey' in the lounge of the local asylum, dressed in a monkey costume, with the rest of the inmates??
The world's yer oyster, amigo! :)
What you describe is very common, but I've never understood the mentality. Work is simply a means to an end, not the end in itself!
I've been in that position myself, happily putting in 6 day, 70 hour weeks because the work has entertained me. None of that now, it is strictly Monday to Friday 9-5 but I do find I have problems filling in all the extra spare time I now have. Maybe it is just me?
Time for some horizonal jogging, perhaps? :eyebrows:
I take it that you don't have a wife/partner and, or indeed, any kids? ;)
Marco.
Rare Bird
30-07-2012, 13:30
I detest modern life with a passion, i tell people often enough. I do get to a low point a lot where i feel like topping myself, no word of a lie. I cannot get away from modern lifestyles & people, they are always in the way. The only salvation is to lock myself in the home with my 40 year old surroundings & way of life..
Going online is the biggest biggest hurdle i have to jump, i cannot buy records i want without doing it on line :steam:
Give me a cottage in the middle of nowhere where i can live off the land & have the chance to never communicate with anyone ever again & i would jump at the chance. Cut yourself completely from modern society you are as good as living in any period you want.
o_-QGNUYL5g
Believing all the lies they’re telling ya.
Buying all the products they’re sellin ya.
Big sick joke…..
I detest modern life with a passion, i tell people often enough. I do get to a low point a lot where i feel like topping myself, no word of a lie. I cannot get away from modern lifestyles & people, they are always in the way. The only salvation is to lock myself in the home with my 40 year old surroundings & way of life..
Going online is the biggest biggest hurdle i have to jump, i cannot buy records i want without doing it on line :steam:
Give me a cottage in the middle of nowhere where i can live off the land & have the chance to never communicate with anyone ever again & i would jump at the chance. Cut yourself completely from modern society you are as good as living in any period you want.
Interesting points, dude, which I'll get to later. I do worry though about what's written in the second sentence of your first paragraph... :(
Marco.
sq225917
30-07-2012, 15:48
I'd shit a 48 hour week, my average is 70 hours easily. 7am to 2am once or twice a week is a given.
I get trapped into at times but generally can avoid it.
It tends to be expected these days
I had a email from my boss sent at 130am this morning and they on Holiday
daytona600
30-07-2012, 16:56
work to live - not live to work Rather have a bad day of work than a good day at work
Of course, times are bad in the jobs market, so telling your boss to shove it is difficult even in the face of completely unreasonable demands.
New technology is, like most things, a mixed blessing. No IT = no AoS!
Spectral Morn
30-07-2012, 17:25
Interesting points, dude, which I'll get to later. I do worry though about what's written in the second sentence of your first paragraph... :(
Marco.
Me too :(
New technology is, like most things, a mixed blessing. No IT = no AoS!
As they say, Joe: everything in moderation. Accessing AoS is just about my only reason for using a computer! ;)
What I dislike is the notion of having to be 'connected' 24/7, like some people feel is necessary. For example, you'll never see me taking a mobile phone with me into a pub or restaurant, or anywhere where I'm socialising - and if I'm on holiday it stays at home!
I'm of the 'switch the bloody thing off, unless it's absolutely needed' school of thought...
Marco.
I'd shit a 48 hour week, my average is 70 hours easily. 7am to 2am once or twice a week is a given.
What is it you do, Simon?
Marco.
As they say, Joe: everything in moderation. Accessing AoS is just about my only reason for using a computer! ;)
What I dislike is the notion of having to be 'connected' 24/7, like some people feel is necessary. For example, you'll never see me taking a mobile phone with me into a pub or restaurant, or anywhere where I'm socialising - and if I'm on holiday it stays at home!
Of course. I don't actually own a mobile phone, and Caroline can never find hers, which AFAIK still has the £10 credit for calls she got when she bought the thing!
If 'Big Brother' can't find you, it can't control you!
Totally agree Marco and I have been at odds with my employers lately (after they shafted me a few times) by not publishing my personal mobile number on a contact list at work, just my work provided mobile number. The thing is, after I leave work I refuse to take the work mobile home, so they cannot contact me. I don't get paid to be on call and they don't pay for my personal mobile phone, so I don't feel obliged to give them the number. My time is just that . . . mine, they can go whistle for anything else - and god forbid, but lately I have been going out and leaving my mobile phone at home.... shock horror :stalks:
Technology is supposed to assist us, not enslave us.
I embrace technology but I don't let it control me. I decide if I'm going to look at e-mails and I decide if I'm going to answer the phone. Many times I don't and I'll keep it as my choice. However, the idea that technology is bad derives purely from those who don't know how to use it. Thirty years ago I dreamed of access to the kind of information I have at my fingertips now. I revel in looking up things that would have entailed a trip to the library back then.
It's all just a mindset. I know exactly when to leave the phone/laptop behind, relax and enjoy my family and friends.
So much depends on work cultures. I work for a large US corporation. My US bosses expect me to check email and internal social networks in the evening and weekends. They even tried to sack someone from France for not doing this. Of course French HR regulations prevented this. There would be no such support from UK law....I should add these are relativity senior positions.
The problem is, Martin, many people don't have your discipline, and allow technological gadgetry to take over their lives. You must've seen couples texting each other across the table at restaurants (:eek: :mental:), or kids who, instead of TALKING to their friends in the same room would rather send them a text, thus eroding their (already painfully lacking) people skills, in the process? :rolleyes:
Del sees that kind of stuff all the time in her college, and it's all WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, and symptomatic of allowing technology to control you, rather than the opposite. No-one's saying that technology is bad, far from it; simply how many of us today are becoming slowly more and more obsessed with it, and worse reliant on it - and that rather dangerous trend shows no sign of abating!
Marco.
Stratmangler
30-07-2012, 21:42
You must've seen couples texting each other across the table at restaurants (:eek: :mental:)
Has it not crossed your mind that they might be performing foreplay?
They might get arrested doing it any other way :eyebrows:
What's wrong with a good old fashioned blowjob under the table? I suppose with that you don't get any free minutes! :D
Marco.
What's wrong with a good old fashioned blowjob under the table?
You might bang your head getting up.
You might bang your head getting up.
Yep. Health n Safety issue innit? 'You'll need a risk assesment doing first before you start that, mate.'
northwest
31-07-2012, 00:43
Yep. Health n Safety issue innit? 'You'll need a risk assesment doing first before you start that, mate.'
LMFAO!
WOStantonCS100
31-07-2012, 04:52
My plain jane cell phone has text turned off. No iPhone. No apps. Just dial and talk. I don't use it when I'm taking a crap. It's turned off when I go to sleep. I don't answer it when I'm driving (unless it's my wife... sometimes).
I don't have a FB account.
I don't Tweet.
I don't own an iPod.
I (a former Network Admin) don't own a computer. My wife's laptop suffices for this type stuff (ordering records, gear, email, forum chatting). It's not that I'm old and retired (as if there's anything wrong with that). I'm just restructuring my life; trying to live it on my terms where it comes to both work and play.
Some days I don't check my email.
I don't do online banking.
I can't turn my car on from inside the house.
The only language my car understands is my foot all up in it's gas tank.
I can't control the lights and temperature of my house from any PC connected to the internet.
And, somehow, I still feel like a whole person. :scratch: ;) :)
sq225917
31-07-2012, 07:08
What is it you do, Simon?
Marco.
I run the marketing dept for a US based sporting goods manufacturer. So I have to be online when our European guys are up and still around at night working with the US based guys who,any of who are still at their desks at 9pm, hence 2 am for me.
Check out www.bestkiteboarding.com if it's written, photographed, video or a 3d model then it came across my desk. Website Is due to be replaced for sept1st. SO it's crazy busy at the minute.
When I worked for Xerox they always organised conference calls to suit them, i.e. late afternoon. Many a time I was on a conference call hands-free in the car, rather crazy and would have given them a lot of injected noise but I considered it punishment for never considering the European contingent.
I run the marketing dept for a US based sporting goods manufacturer. So I have to be online when our European guys are up and still around at night working with the US based guys who,any of who are still at their desks at 9pm, hence 2 am for me.
Check out www.bestkiteboarding.com if it's written, photographed, video or a 3d model then it came across my desk. Website Is due to be replaced for sept1st. SO it's crazy busy at the minute.
Nice one. I think it's rather different when working 'mad hours' for an international organisation, whose clients are based worldwide, and thus requiring to be around when the other half of the world is awake, than in that respect, for a UK one, simply taking the piss.
For me, the big problem today is that too many people insist on funding a lifestyle that they can ill afford, and so are constantly chasing their tails in order to try and maintain it. It therefore follows that if you have lots of debt or outgoings to manage, and your current level of salary is crucial in order to service that, then you're in a rather weak position to make any changes for the better.
That's why, it makes more sense to minimise debt and outgoings as much as possible, by simplifying your lifestyle and living more frugally, thus having greater disposable income, and therefore staying more in control of your destiny... Basically, if I can't afford to buy something outright, then I don't buy it - simple! I pay cash for almost every purchase I make, and Del's the same.
Ask yourself if you *really* need to live in a £350k+ home (mortgaged up to the hilt), in some soulless modern housing estate, or drive a £25k car, go on two expensive holidays a year, buy your kids endless amounts of toys and computer games, designer trainers and clothes (do they REALLY need all that shite?), or redecorate your house every year, simply to mindlessly follow fashion, etc, etc, or whether you could 'downsize' to a smaller home, and live a more frugal existence, with less material possessions, therefore reducing the stress and pressure of having to earn a huge amount of money, simply to keep up an image and fund, what is in reality, unnecessary extravagance?
What on earth is the point of it all???
I always find it fascinating watching those programmes that allow families to 'go back in time' and live as people used to do in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and observe overall how much happier people were then, simply by being closer together as families and having TIME to enjoy what's most important in life.
What's always crystal clear too, is that kids are much happier when their parents have time to give them proper attention and love, than merely 'artificial love', provided in the form of fancy computer games, simply because their mummy and daddy are too busy working all the hours under the sun to pay for the mortgage and the shiny new Range Rover sitting outside, to play with and spend quality time with their children.
It becomes quite clear that the technology-derived toys and games owned by kids today are only serving as a poor substitute for what they really want: quality time with their parents – not to be dumped with child minders during the day, and largely ignored at night because their parents are too tired to give them the proper attention they deserve. The reality is that we put ourselves under way too much stress and pressure these days in order to fill our lives with unimportant superficial material possessions, and our quality of life and those of our kids (if applicable), is suffering as a consequence.
In order to rectify the situation, we need to get back to basics, ditch the superfluous materialistic bullshit, and learn to live simpler lives, where the onus is on old-fashioned family values, and thus achieve a far healthier work/life balance, before the decision is made for us by a serious health warning from our doctor, or even in some cases where that unfortunately comes too late.........
Marco.
I agree.
If i can't pay cash for it i don't have it.
The have now pay later seems to have come in from the mid 80s.
The 70s was totally different.
The have now pay later seems to have come in from the mid 80s.
The 70s was totally different.
Well, sort of. people did still buy things 'on tick' - it just tended to be essential items that they could not afford to buy outright, not lifestyle crap. prior to the Consumer Credit Act you could not get credit anyway (except through a loanshark) and I think that came in quite late - about 1969?
I've not been in debt since 2002 - which is great but it is not realistic to expect everyone to live like that.
Yes your right.
Think it was on a lot smaller scale though.
Radio rentals springs to mind for tellys.
I've not been in debt since 2002 - which is great but it is not realistic to expect everyone to live like that.
Why not, Martin? What's wrong with 'cutting your cloth to suit', as it were?
Incidentally, I'm referring only here to people earning a reasonable income, not those who may need to get into debt, simply to survive.
Marco.
What's wrong with a good old fashioned blowjob under the table? I suppose with that you don't get any free minutes! :D
Marco.
Aye no free minutes however you do get free connection and no standing charges ;)
EDIT: Excuse me I am playing catch-up... :D
Rare Bird
31-07-2012, 13:13
For me, the big problem today is that too many people insist on funding a lifestyle that they can ill afford, and so are constantly chasing their tails in order to try and maintain it. It therefore follows that if you have lots of debt or outgoings to manage, and your current level of salary is crucial in order to service that, then you're in a rather weak position to make any changes for the better.
Well for many years i could never understand how people could afford flash houses, flash cars, flash cloths & stereo's etc, when both the wife & i work more than full time, have no debt, but can't afford a garden shed never mind an house, nor a car or flashy stereo, not that id even want the latter (i wouldnt buy one if i could afford one)..
I recently put 2+2 together & came up with , take away credit cards/finance i doubt they would have any of it, it's a crazy excersize in most instances, as many inevitably loose it all in the long run because they can't keep the payments up! now what is the point in all that?
Some people are genuinly cuckoos, basically living on another planet, that thrive on living a extravigant lifestyle regardless of their peanuts of an income, they do it for so long they would find it Crusifying to actually live within their means
I learned a very big lesson regarding debt over the years (Not related to the above but still debt) which is now history.. I now sleep well at night, i pay for things straight away, if i can't afford anything, i do not buy it, i cetainly don't live beyond my means & certainly wouldnt buy anything that is redicularsely expensive..Expensive is not always best, ive descovered this many many times, especially with Hi-Fi
Aye no free minutes however you do get free connection and no standing charges ;)
Although your lady friend will certainly want to take care of something 'standing'! :D
Marco.
Rare Bird
31-07-2012, 13:16
I always find it fascinating watching those programmes that allow families to 'go back in time' and live as people used to do in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and observe overall how much happier people were then, simply by being closer together as families and having TIME to enjoy what's most important in life.
Well i continiously bind on about my dream of transporting myself back to the 60's to live happily ever after, for people to blurt out the usual 'It wasnt that Rosey' back then you know'! Sorry but compared to these days it was very Rosey in my eyes, these days is a bloody nighmare compared to the 60's.It's as if eveything has just been drained away from life these days.
However the 1970's i think id pass on that decade.
Some people are genuinly cuckoos, basically living on another planet, that thrive on living a extravigant lifestyle regardless of their peanuts of an income, they do it for so long they would find it Crusifying to actually live within their means
An excellent and very valid point, Andre! People have just become used to having their lives full of unnecessary 'stuff'...
Del and I are fortunate to have a very comfortable lifestyle, which we've both worked hard to achieve, and we skimp on nothing, but then everything we own is bought and paid for (including the homes we own), and we don't have kids, nor smoke, or drink to excess, so we have a ball in every other sense! :cool:
Marco.
It's very true that many of us have lots of unnecessary stuff. I think some gets bought as personal reward for working hard so it becomes a vicious circle.
One of the things that pisses me off this the way the tax system encourages both partners to work. Two people on £40k each will take home a lot more than one person on £80k with the other partner doing useful things like bringing up kids.
I'm proud to say that I've never borrowed on a credit card, I used to have a mortgage some years ago but cleared it. I can't stand being in debt.
Why not, Martin? What's wrong with 'cutting your cloth to suit', as it were?
Incidentally, I'm referring only here to people earning a reasonable income, not those who may need to get into debt, simply to survive.
Marco.
Life is too short - especially if you are never going to be rich, why deny yourself? I have some sympathy for that attitude.
Life is too short - especially if you are never going to be rich, why deny yourself? I have some sympathy for that attitude.
It's not much of the step to then say "I can't buy that but I'll take it anyway". Some take that step.
Personally I've just blundered along, sometimes in debt, sometimes not. Some sleepless nights, but nothing went badly wrong.
I recall my horror when a friend stretched himself to a mortgage of £80,000 to buy a house in West London. Fool, I thought, especially when he was made redundant shortly afterwards. His house is now worth about £2million.
Life is too short - especially if you are never going to be rich, why deny yourself? I have some sympathy for that attitude.
Sorry, I don't, unless you're spending your OWN money, not the bank's. It's precisely that sort of attitude which has caused such huge levels of personal debt in this country.
Who manages the debt when you're gone, if you die before you've had a chance to pay it all off??? :doh: That's sheer selfishness.
Brits, in general, have way too many aspirations for their own good! People abroad are generally happy with a simpler lifestyle. I've witnessed this first-hand.
Marco.
Sorry, I don't, unless you're spending your OWN money. It's precisely that sort of attitude which has caused such huge levels of personal debt in this country.
Who manages the debt when you're gone, if you die before you've had a chance to pay it all off??? :doh: That's sheer selfishness.
Brits, in general, have way too many aspirations for their own good!
Marco.
We're not as broke as the Italians though!
Not the Italians I know!! ;)
Marco.
We're not as broke as the Italians though!
We are in terms of debt. The difference is that the world believes we're more able to pay it off. Worrying!
I learnt my lesson when I was young, had my credit fingers severely burnt (my own fault, I was an utter prat). These days I only buy stuff if I can afford it...
Not the Italians I know!! ;)
Marco.
I don't know any poor people either!
Here's a table of debt level and a breakdown of them. I believe it's in $ and is a little out of date - it's from a little over a year ago.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/cmeakins/Capture.jpg
I don't know any poor people either!
:lolsign:
Apparently, they smell of wee?
Marco.
I learnt my lesson when I was young, had my credit fingers severely burnt (my own fault, I was an utter prat). These days I only buy stuff if I can afford it...
Me too, got into ridiculous debt with credit cards and just kept moving it around, but never paying it off. All sorted now and I have not owed a penny to anyone since 2001 and I never buy anything unless I can afford to buy it outright. I still use a credit card, but never fail to pay the balance when due, unless its an interest free offer, then I leave the money in the bank until the offer ends, then pay it off in full. I feel so much better since adopting this approach and by using a reward scheme credit card, they now pay me for using it :)
I learnt a long while ago that living beyond your means and trying to impress people with material wealth is an utter mugs game.
sq225917
31-07-2012, 18:03
You've got it about right there Marco. I use the following judgement to see if I'm working too hard. If I haven't been to the cinema at least once between opening time and 5pm and if I haven't been to the gym at least once during office hours each week then I'm working too hard.
It seldom happens. I'll be working hard tomorrow all day watching the cycling as I type up reports... lol...
It is tough sometimes, like I said 18 hour days aren't unheard of, but the 'balance' is right over all.
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