By Larry Magid
This post first appeared in the Mercury News
OK, I admit it. I’m a baby boomer whose ideas of what is and isn’t cool and useful are, to some extent, oh-so-late 20th century. I’m not completely out-of-date. I get much of my news from (reputable) online sources, I stream most of my entertainment, I have lots of smart devices in my home, and I even drive an electric car. But I’m still a fan of some retro technology.
For example, I have an old-fashioned wired phone on my desk and by my bed. I long ago gave up my regular phone line, mostly because of too many spam calls, but my phones are now connected to an Ooma internet phone line which works just like that old landline, as long as I’m getting internet service and electricity to keep my broadband modem and router running. Given a choice, I’d rather talk through that phone than my smart phone when I’m home. It’s easier to hold, I don’t have to worry about battery life and — most of all — I rarely get dropped calls or have trouble hearing the other party. Just today I had a long talk with a friend via my smartphone during my daily walk and had several dropped calls within a half hour.
I’m not 100% sure if those calls dropped because of a problem with my cellular signal or his or whether it had something to do with the connection between my phone and my Bluetooth earbuds. But that’s part of the problem, there are too many variables to deal with while walking and talking.
Inexpensive earbuds
Speaking of earbuds, I’ve owned and lost more than one pair of wireless earbuds. They’re easy to lose because they’re small and they can fall out of your ears. Some, like Apple’s new Air Pod Pro cost as much as $249, which is a lot to have to pay to replace them if they get lost. I’m not willing to take that risk, so I recently spent about $20 for the Tranya F1 wireless earbuds that look a lot like Apple’s first generation earbuds and sound quite good. I’m not seeing this model available now, but I do see the newer F4 model, which, as of this writing, was on sale at Amazon for $19.99. I’ve also have a couple of pairs of wired earbuds that I use a lot. Unlike wireless earbuds, you don’t have to worry about charging them, and, because they’re attached to a wire, they’re easier to find in a cluttered room and generally less likely to get lost. There are also plenty of cheap ones that work just fine.
Most phones no longer come with standard 3.5 mm headphone jacks, but there are plenty of Lightening connected earbuds for iPhones and USB C models for Android phones available starting at under $10. True audiophiles might not love these cheap earbuds, but I find them more than adequate for phone calls, news programs and, yes, listening to music.
Email vs texting
I’m also a bit old-fashioned on how I communicate. These days, it seems as if everyone I know prefers sending text messages to email. I’m not against texting. I think it’s a great way to send very timely messages such as letting someone know you’re running late. Texting is also useful for conversations. I’ve used it like a chatting app to have a back and forth conversation with someone without even the short delay you sometimes get when exchanging email. But I don’t use texting for routine messages that can wait, and I hate it when I get a text from a company promoting a product or inviting me to an event that’s days or weeks away.
I still have my phone set to notify me when a text arrives, which is one of the reasons I don’t like texts for routine messages that can wait. However, I do admit that I’m much more likely to see a text message than an email, so I don’t mind if it’s urgent or even just very important. I like it when my dental office sends me a text to remind me of an upcoming appointment, and I have told some people to text me with important messages that I might have missed in my deluge of email. I text my newspaper editor and radio producer to let them know I’ve filed via email because they’re working on tight deadlines and also because my email sometimes accidentally winds up in their spam folder.
But for texts to get my attention, they have to be relatively rare. I’ve been around people whose phones hardly ever stopped beeping with incoming text messages. For me at least, I start to tune out anything that comes at me repeatedly and rapidly, which is why I would rather only get a text if it’s urgent or very important.
Finally, I get annoyed when I’m part of a group text where the messages keep coming long after I’ve tuned out. My family members often send texts to everyone in the family, which is a great way to arrange an imminent get together or exchange pressing news. But often one person starts responding to another, the topic changes, and I keep getting notifications about a conversation that I’m not part of and have no interest in.
But I’m happy to hear from you, so feel free to send me an email (please not a text) about anything you love or hate about our 21st century technology.
Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist.