We REALLY Need to Talk!

I'm with you fellers' Email and phone (not necessarily in that order) is all I use. I was emailing and phone talking prior to the WWW and do not see any need for anything else. I do however, enjoy the hell out of using the USPS. Great dollar value, having someone pick up a document at my doorstep and getting it hand delivered to anywhere in the USA for less than half a dollar. Best deal around..

Email and phone number for me, too! Too many of the other means of communication are designed around the premise that everyone needs to know every little thought or action, and that's not my way of thinking at all.

You are right Bob, email and phone is essential.
All the others are luxury which I don't want and need. Beside that these are collecting tons of information, don't respect privacy and use it for other purposes. I still don't like them and spend time on it.

So glad to hear I am not the only one that thinks the over load is crazy. I'm directing your article to many who just might see the light......but they'll need the app for that won't they! LOL

Well for me it's primarily email. Still use the landline phone answering machine. Got a cell phone but barely use it. Texting is becoming a bit more necesary as I am working with a lot of 20-somethings and that's about all they know. I ended up with a Facebook account somewhat reluctantly but it became neccessary when a group I work with decided to use it for all primary communications (via a "secret group"). Plus the younger members of the family seem to communicate that way so...

And here's a tidbit for all of you. Was talking to an ATT installer/repair person recently after my landline went down. According to him we will be kissing landline service goodby within about 4 to 5 years around here as they switch over to "everything over a cable/fiber optic" system like U-Verse or cellular service. Copper wire POTS is following the dinosaurs into the sunset.

I completely agree with you - someone told me recently the being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the cool table in the cafeteria of a mental institution...................

email and cell phone mainly, 2 cells ($15 for the pair/ mo.).. USPS also. No texting, as that seems like reverting to Morse code especially on older phones. No social networks of any kind either. We did drop our land line as it was seldom used and got faster internet instead.

I completely agree with you - someone told me recently the being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the cool table in the cafeteria of a mental institution...................

I've come to appreciate my cell phone... and even texting. Especially now that I have an iPhone where I can voice text. No need to laboriously spell it out.
I would give up my landline in a split second if I knew how to send and receive faxes easily without one.

As for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. - they all seem like they're a pain in the rear.

I'm with you fellers' Email and phone (not necessarily in that order) is all I use. I was emailing and phone talking prior to the WWW and do not see any need for anything else. I do however, enjoy the hell out of using the USPS. Great dollar value, having someone pick up a document at my doorstep and getting it hand delivered to anywhere in the USA for less than half a dollar. Best deal around..

I am so happy to read that I'm not the only Boomer that prefers to keep things simple. One un-smart cell phone, one email address, and a hand full of stamps is about all I care to put up with. Business is business and it probably moves commerce along to have available a gazillion avenues of communication, but being sociable always meant face time to me. This old dragon thinks things are just getting too darned fast.

Almost all households have a TV however since analog systems were replaced with digital. That said Cable company's have boomed. My pseudo phone is digital from the cable company. Use it all the time. E-mail is the next best thing since I have cable and hi-speed internet. I do have two mobile phone (Trak) and never text and never voice mail. For those with hand held computers and small screens and a million apps you will come to rely on then so much, you won't be able to function without them. I wonder why? Is this the reason people can't add your change at the cash register I feel sorry for you, yes I am an old foggy of 75 but I still can function without the technology.

I prefer to pick up the phone and talk to someone as apposed to text or e-mail. I can get more done in a one minute phone call than I can in 30 minutes of texting. My second favorite means of communication is e-mail. I do have Twitter and Facebook accounts but they a cumbersome and take up to much time.

@ Mike Goody "I completely agree with you - someone told me recently the being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the cool table in the cafeteria of a mental institution"

Hey Mike, very funny but a tad unkind if not unfair cos one of my big kids lives and works remotely and Facebook is useful in keeping us and her mates informed of what's going on in her life :)

bob, i feel we're the same age;-)
i, like you, only concentrate on communicating by email, & since last year emphasize a person emailing me if they request something i can help them with.
so like you, if they don't send me a message through that medium to remind me of our conversation & refresh the memory, i assume it wasn't that important to them to begin with.
with all the stuff you mentioned here, it's no wonder i found through my dissertation's literature review that the average american tries to cram in between 31-36 hour's worth of activity in a 24 hour day.

I completely agree with you - someone told me recently the being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the cool table in the cafeteria of a mental institution...................

I fully agree with you Bob. I come from the old school were we wrote letters, practiced our penmanship so that our writing was legible and if I wanted to communicate, I bought some envelopes and stamps. I don't miss the old crank telephones though. Much prefer my old corded and cordless touch tone phones with buttons to push.
My grandchildren send me a message on email via Facebook and it takes me a while to figure out what they have short hand a text message. It is like a foreign language to me. Too many gadgets and distractions with all the technology. I wonder sometimes how far it will go before the bubble bursts. Anyone remember 33 1/3 speed 78 records that played on a mono turntable and one little speaker. That was my technology when I was a kid. And a Marconi AM tube radio which supplied entertainment to no end. Ahhh the good ole days when life was much slower and ppl had time to stop and chat in person for an hour or so.

Facebook messaging has allowed me to talk to my family, friends, and clients (I do web design & SEO), so I don't avoid that one.

I see a lot of companies use Skype now days & there's a great advantage: free & you can do video. But with my system I'm on now, it takes up too much memory, so I don't have it on 24/7. I just bought a faster system, so once I get it up & running, I may have it whenever I'm on.

And me? I'm 62.

Bob, just a note ... I reading over all of the comments, 48 of them ... Most all of them, agree with your article!

I kept wondering, when will the "Powers That Be", in ALL Corporations and Companies ... Realize that, more and more Baby Boomers are becoming Senior Citizens and the 18-49 Demographic Group that, they all keep striving to "reach out to" ... Are in the MINORITY!!!

It's the same thing with TV programs. In all honesty, just how "stupid" can you get??? A large portion of the Senior Citizens are doing quite well, as far as money is concerned. Yes, many of us are on a Fixed Income, I am, but, I still can handle my monthly expenses and have a bit over, to spend on extras. Just to show you and others, I rarely watch any Major TV Stations, like CBS, NBC or ABC ... Simply, because I detest their programming and shows. I am not the only one, doing this, either. Since, these TV Stations want to mainly "reach out to" the 18-49 demographic bracket and I am in the 50-90 bracket, they have just lost all of my financial support, of their commercials!!!

As with preferring to use the PHONE ... I prefer to watch the Cable/Satellite Channels, like the Hallmark Channel or Hallmark Movie Channel or the History Channel or the H2 Channel or the Smithsonian Channel or the Science Channel, so on and so on. I want to either learn something or watch a movie that is truly, family friendly.

Wow Mme Moxie just wow! You’ve somewhat put paid to the concept that we're all individuals with diverse and different thought patterns as your comments almost if not totally equates to mine (as I grow older yet another assault on my understanding of reality).
My good lady and I have totally stopped watching stuff that focuses on college kids, explicit sex and violence and lament at what these fast food claptrap of productions are doing to our kids and grandkids psyche let alone what fast foods do to their physique. Much like you I watch a lot of science and fact related material delivered by amazing learned people - both male and female.
I'll stop there lest my pontificating drives everyone nuts :)